Firstly I have made an appointment to see a doctor - this thread is just to ‘tide me over’ until I see them.
So I have a growth in my armpit. It’s a small reddish bulb on a tiny stalk (if that makes sense.)
No pain - and I only noticed it today.
Your comments are welcome.
I have had several axillary skin tags that I’ve treated with trichloroacetic acid. One drop via a q-tip daily. It burns for a second. After a week or two it is gone.
Had a few over the years. Some colored, some not. No biggie and not a sign of something scarier coming soon.
I had a small skin tag under my arm that i cut off. Hurt at the time, and bled a little. Then it get better. No more skin tag.
My guess is the doctor will either tell you it’s benign and you should ignore it, or do that and also offer to cut it off. Or maybe offer an acid, but that surprises me as a treatment.
[Moderating]
This seems to fall into the category of medical advice. Moving to IMHO.
Is tge armpit an especially common area for a skin tag? Because I had one there once. It did no harm and didn’t even have nerves—I couldn’t feel anything when it touched it. Then one day I happeded to touch it and it came off in my hand. Apparently something constricted bloodflow into it (got twisted, maybe?) and it turned into a little black lump.
IME armpits are especially prone to skin tags. No clue why.
What causes skin tags?
Acrochordons occur when the body produces extra cells in the skin’s top layers. They tend to form in skin folds and areas where natural movement causes the skin to rub against itself. Skin tags often grow in these areas:
Armpits.
Eyelids.
Groin or thighs.
Neck.
Under the breasts.
Genitals.
Skin Tags (Acrochordons): Skin Tag Removal, Skin Tag on Eyelid
Also, anywhere stuff rubs against the skin. I had a few caused by shirt collars and necklaces.
Thanks everyone - it certainly looks like a skin tag.
I’m sure my doctor will sort it out.
I noticed a skin tag, without thinking much I pinched it and my fingernails cut off the stalk near the skin. Got one little drop of blood and that was it. Only later did I think “Geez, what would’ve happened if it had started spurting blood?”
That was ten years ago. I’m still pretty proud of myself for doing surgery (oh, and having surgery done on me without anaesthetic).
Not wishing to brag, but several years ago I had a dermatologist (over 5 or 6 visits) remove some skin tags from the thighs. How many? 200! I also had him freeze off some of those scaly patches where they were rubbing against clothing or were prone to being scratched bloody.
I’ve not had any skin tags in a while, but my removal method was to squeeze the stem with fine forceps or flat tweezers for a few minutes. Closes off the blood supply and it falls off in a few days.
Just FYI, there is a certain diameter of the stalk where you shouldn’t try DIY removal. I can’t find the number, maybe Qadgop will drop by with the info.
Sounds like a skin tag to me. Freezing, cutting, tying off are all viable ways of removing them, depending on size and other complicators. Biting them off has higher risks. As does doing it oneself by any of the aforementioned methods (tho I’ve certainly been guilty of doing that with a suture tie, but I plead special knowledge/experience).
Let your doc be your guide. Some can be quite vascular.
A happy update - I sent a picture to my doctor and she confirmed it was a skin tag.
Nothing to worry about and the advice was to leave it alone (unless If it grew or changed colour, when I should contact the surgery again.)
The NHS is wonderful. 