# skin tags **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-tags/159060 "2003-03-04T19:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-tags/159060/1 "2003-03-04T19:22:46Z")
The little stick out thingies that form on my neck. What causes them? Can they be prevented? How can you get rid of them.Painlessly. I know a razor scrapes away those that form near my beard. Pulling them off is a little like poking yourself with a pin. They have a blood supply.At least they bleed when whacked off with a razor. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-tags/159060/2 "2003-03-04T19:26:22Z")
To answer your two questions: 1. No one knows. 2. No. I did hear many years on Dr. Dean Edell that “someone” had published a study that found that people with “abnormally high” numbers of skin tags also seemed to more predisposed to colon polyps. Don’t know if that is widely accepted, though. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-tags/159060/3 "2003-03-04T19:27:58Z")
Plug [skin tags] into Google. You’ll get all the info you need. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-tags/159060/4 "2003-03-04T20:28:46Z")
Apparently they _can_ be associated with obesity and an increased risk of diabetes (although there’s not necessarily a clear cause and effect there, just a statistical correlation). I get them under my arms and if they get really big I tie them off with cotton (mine tend to have too substantial a ‘stalk’ to just pull or cut). ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-tags/159060/5 "2003-03-04T20:37:23Z")
I heard yesterday on CNN that skin cancer can be treated like genital warts. I wonder why skin tags can’t be treated the same way?? Compound W says not to treat moles with their product. I wonder about using it for skin tags??? Do MD’s treat each tag as a seperate surgical treatment when removing them? I think I have several small ones on the back of my neck.Its beginning to get uncomfortable . ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-tags/159060/6 "2003-03-04T20:52:49Z")
My dermatologist just shaves them off flush with the skin. That’s the extent of the surgery. If they’re large, then he clips them. I also believe that a lot of them (mine, anyway) have a set price for “one to several” removals. (I just don’t recall what the “several” is.) However, they send them to a pathologist, and I wonder if the pathologist charges for each one. If so, that could be some serious bucks. Old people used to say “tie it off with a hair.” Makes since, cut off the blood supply, and in a few days it drops off.