What should you know about organic skin tag?

Skin tags often hang from a narrow stalk or sit as a small, soft bump in a fold such as the neck, underarm, groin or eyelid. Friction from clothing or skin can make one catch, bleed or become sore. Similar-looking growths include warts, moles and other lesions, so appearance alone cannot establish the diagnosis.

A clinician may inspect the growth and ask how long it has been present and whether it has changed. Do not assume that a lesion is a skin tag because it is small or painless.

Arrange an assessment if the diagnosis is uncertain, or if the growth is repeatedly irritated for a practical reason. Do not cut, tie off or burn it at home; these methods can cause bleeding, infection, scarring or delay recognition of another lesion.

If removal is appropriate, a clinician may discuss freezing with cryotherapy, controlled heat with electrosurgery, or another technique suited to the site and size. Keep the area clean afterward and follow wound-care advice. Protect healing skin from picking and unnecessary friction.

Book a medical review for a growth that changes in colour, shape or surface, becomes persistently painful, bleeds without clear friction, forms a sore that does not heal, or grows quickly. Seek prompt care for heavy bleeding, spreading redness, pus, fever or severe pain after removal.

Are you confident this is a skin tag? Does it need testing before removal? Which method suits its location, what wound care will I need, and what signs would suggest infection or another diagnosis?