What should you know about little red skin tags?

A skin tag, also called an acrochordon, commonly hangs from the skin on a narrow base. It may be flesh-coloured, darker, or red. Redness can follow friction from a collar, jewellery, shaving, or repeated touching. A clinician may still examine a new, changing, bleeding, crusted, or firm growth because not every bump is a skin tag.

Do not tie thread around it, cut it off, or apply wart-removal products. Those approaches can cause bleeding, infection, burns, or a scar, and they may delay diagnosis of a different lesion.

Keep the area clean and reduce rubbing with a comfortable neckline. Avoid picking or twisting the growth. Arrange a dermatology assessment if you are unsure what it is or if it keeps catching and becoming sore. After examination, removal may be discussed for irritation or appearance.

A clinician may use cryotherapy to freeze a lesion, electrosurgery to treat it with controlled heat, or a small removal technique. The choice depends on the growth’s size, position, base, and appearance.

Book an assessment promptly if the growth changes quickly, bleeds without being caught, develops a persistent sore, forms a dark or uneven area, or becomes painful, swollen, or repeatedly infected. Seek urgent help for bleeding that does not settle with steady gentle pressure. These signs do not identify a diagnosis by themselves, but they warrant direct examination.

Ask whether the lesion has the typical appearance of a skin tag, whether removal is medically useful or mainly cosmetic, which method suits its location, and how to care for the area while it heals.