What the hell are these things! Question about skin ... "thing".

In My Humble Opinion
1

On the side of my right rib cage I found two small skin areas about half the size of a dime in size separated by 8 inches from each other. They were this weird pinkish to light gray color and the skin covering them was slightly “wrinkled” for lack of a better term.

I have an extremely low tolerance for weird skin things, and took my fingernail to them. They scraped and pulled off with some effort and beneath was tenderish skin that bled a little bit, and were slightly painful under the shower water after i pulled the covering off, but it was nothing like what would have happened if I pulled off a section of healthy pink skin where there would have copious bleeding and lots of pain. The pain and bleeding went away within minutes after removing the wrinkled skin cover. It was almost like the skin on top of these sections was dead. I had experienced no accidents or traumas that would have caused injury to the skin in that area.

The happened once before a year of so ago in the same area (there was one skin 'thing at that time, and after pulling off and letting it heal the dead it seemed to recover with healthy skin.

What the hell are these horrible things? I shudder the think if there were more of them or they were larger.

2

I have had burns (heat and chemical) and blisters that behaved the same way. I also get a similer experience on my fingers when they get really dry.

3

So you have a skin abnormality that has been recurring in the same area over 12 month?

For God’s sake, go an see a doctor. Carcinomas are not fun.

4

Yep, this right here.

5

I get the same things, and they have always been benign. Yours may not be. See a dermatologist.

6

My guess is some sort of fungal infection of the top layers of skin, or the beginnings of psoriasis. But yeah, ask your doctor about them.

7

These skin things are things you should see a dermatologist about. Could be a localized allergic reaction to a bit of laundry soap not thoroughly rinsed, could be cancer, and lots of things in between. No way for us to know, even if we had pics, which we don’t.

8

—Mod Note----

Since this is a medical question about your specific case, I’ve moved it from General Questions to IMHO. That’s where we now prefer to put these questions. You’ll most likely be getting non-professional WAGS, so that’s our rationale.

samclem, Moderator

9

Sounds like they might be “skin tags” or “seborrheic keratosis” Google has some nice images of them. Skin tags I just pinch off. Seborrheic keratosis can be a melanoma in disguise, so those might warrant a look at by a doctor/dermatologist.

10

This x 2

11

I’d say they’re seborrheic keratoses, which actually have nothing to do with skin cancer of any kind, and aren’t any more likely to become cancerous than any other area of skin. Imagegoogle them and let us know if that’s it.

12

Yeah that’s it. Mine aren’t quite as dark though.

Re fixes for them I liked this!
I Use Fingernail Surgery to Remove My Seborrheic Keratoses
George D. Lundberg, MD