Blasting a Skin Tag

General Questions
#1

Okay I’m curious here, I have a skin tag that has been bothering me for quite some time. It’s in an inconvienent place and it just isn’t all that attractive. Needless to say I want the thing gone.

So as I’m walking through Safeway the other day I happen to glance at some wart remover.

I’m wondering, can I use this to get rid of my undelightful blemish? Will there be any adverse effects?

I’ve had a wart removed in the past, so I know (roughly) what I’m in for as far as the removal goes - but that was for a wart not a skin tag.

Are there any doctors that can weigh in?

Thanks

#2

IANADoctor and neither do I play one on TV, but I don’t think that’s going to work very well; wart removers work by killing the top layer of skin; this might seem like a good thing for a skin tag, but it might just leave you with a sore skin tag. It’s not usually a good idea to use medicines in ways not directed in the instructions.

Skin tags are quite easy to remove by other means though; some people (obviously with good fingernails) just pull them off, or cut them off with sharp sterile surgical scissors (or get the doctor to do this) - I was never brave enough for either of these methods with mine, so I just got the missus to tie a piece of cotton thread tightly around them and they withered and fell off after about a week.

#3

I once cut one off with a pair of nail clippers. (I was bored.)

Be warned – if you do decide to cut it off, it will bleed like a motherfuck (like, leaving a little puddle of blood on the floor). Be prepared with lots of ice and gauze and bandages and stuff like that.

#4

I snip or pinch mine off, as well as my husband’s. I am not a doctor, though I did ask my doc about this, and she said that as long as I kept everything clean, I’d probably be OK. I’ve never had excessive bleeding after skin tag removal, but that might be because I tend to snip them off when they are small. I’ve also removed some small cherry marks on myself with a pair of cuticle scissors. Again, no biggie, not much blood, not much pain.

#5

Absolutely. Wart remover is just for warts.

I have a bump on the back of my index finger that I thought was a wart so I started putting salicylic acid (wart remover) on it. After several days it became raw and bleeding and sore. My dermatologist said it was not a wart (what she said it was I can’t remember) so that medicine wouldn’t work.

I also have a skin tag near my eye and the dermi said she could remove it. Although I’m sure people have done it, I don’t recommend removing this type of stuff at home unless you want to risk pain and infection, not to mention messiness.

#6

But salicylic acid is sold in acne products like my Neutrogena Blackhead Eliminating Daily Scrub. Must be a mild concentration??

For skin tags, I just snip em off with fingernails or embroidery scissors. Some bleed a little but haven’t majorly gushed.

#7

I don’t have the courage to snip my own. Every few years I let my doctor go at it, snipping with surgical scissors and stopping the bleeding by some sort of stick. Each hurts for only a moment.

#8

I found one once, so I used a compressed air computer duster thing to ice it down, and chopped it off with a pair of nail clippers. Later a friend told me she’s paid dermatologists like $200 for the same thing. :eek:

#9

People buy skin tags? I wish I had some to sell.

#10

My doc used some kind of super-cold nitrogen spray. It burned during and after he used it, but somehow it was less frightening than seeing him come at me with any kind of blade. However, now I have a new crop of tags. Are they just going to keep growing in the same place, like mushrooms?

#11

Here’s how I handle the ones I can see and reach.

Use a pair of tweezers, the kind with the wide flat end, to grab it down at the base. Give it a really hard squeeze for about a minute. This crushes the blood vessels and usually within a day or two it kind of withers up and falls off. :smiley:

About the same results as Mangetout gets with the cotton thread.

I’ve done several on my neck and eyelids with no problems, yet.

#12

Humph, one of the Google ads says “Duct Tape Wart Removal”. That makes me cringe just thinking about it.

“Hold still, Timmy. It won’t hurt if I yank it off real quick!” RIIIIIIPP! “YOOOWWWW!”

#13

I bought the wart freezer thing for what I thought was a wart on my finger. And I dutifully froze it. And nothing happened.

Turned out that it was a cyst and I could ask for it to be cut off if I wanted to, but it was in the category of “more trouble than it was worth” so I let it be.

#14

I have nipped off about a dozen with nail clippers, with attention taken for cleanliness. There is an instant of :eek: and then no pain. Very little bleeding.

That’s not how the duct tape wart method works. Read up on it; it’s not painful, but it takes a few weeks.

#15

Some skin tags are tiny. I don’t fuss at my patients too much if they tell me they’ve removed their own small skin tags.

Some skin tags are big. Don’t mess with this kind.

Most skin tags are just made of skin which decided to grow up instead of growing flat. That’s all. It gets worse with age, generally.

#16

Fixed tiny skin tag link. Sorry.

#17

Is there a reason certain areas of skin get them more often? I tend to get them on my neck, and I always have a chain on; could it be the irritation?

#18

OK, I have to ask. In the picture of the BIG one, I hope that’s a neck and part of a beard. :eek:

#19

Now if you could just break the one for the big skin tag I’d be much obliged.

Yeargh!

#20

Eloquently expressed. I really didn’t think I’d get grossed out looking a skin tag. Apparently I have much to learn.