What should you know about electrocautery for skin tags?

After examining the bump, a clinician cleans the skin and may use local anaesthetic. A fine instrument delivers heat to the tag and its attachment point. This can reduce bleeding while the tissue is removed. The treated spot becomes a small wound or crust, then repairs over time. Temporary tenderness, redness, swelling, or a change in skin colour can occur.

Not every soft or hanging bump is a skin tag. A lesion that is pigmented, firm, rapidly changing, painful, or bleeding may need a different assessment or treatment. Do not cut, tie, or burn an uncertain lesion yourself.

Share your medicines, especially those that affect bleeding, and mention diabetes, immune conditions, allergy to anaesthetic, or a history of thick scars. After treatment, wash as directed, pat dry, and use the recommended dressing. Avoid rubbing, shaving over, swimming, or applying irritating products until the surface has closed according to your clinician’s advice.

Ask for medical advice if discomfort or swelling is worsening, the area becomes increasingly hot, or discharge develops. Prompt review is needed for fever, spreading redness, persistent bleeding, or a wound that is not closing. Arrange assessment if a bump returns or if the original diagnosis was uncertain.

Ask whether the bump has the typical features of a skin tag, why electrocautery is suitable, whether another removal method may be preferable, and how to reduce irritation in a skin fold. Discuss scarring, colour change, healing time, and follow-up.