What should you know about safely removing skin tags?

Skin tags are soft growths that often appear in folds such as the neck, underarms, eyelids, or groin. They can catch on clothing or jewellery and become irritated. A changing, bleeding, painful, pigmented, or firm growth may need a different assessment rather than immediate removal.

A clinician may discuss snipping or shave removal, cryotherapy (lesion removal), or electrosurgery. The choice depends on the attachment, thickness, position, symptoms, and whether tissue should be examined. Local anaesthetic may be used for comfort.

Arrange an examination before treating a new or uncertain growth. Do not cut, tie off, burn, freeze, or apply wart products to a skin tag at home; these approaches can cause bleeding, infection, burns, or a scar and may delay diagnosis.

After a clinical procedure, follow wound-care instructions, keep the site clean, and avoid friction while it heals. Use sun protection once the skin has closed to reduce lingering colour change. A small scab or tenderness can be part of healing.

Seek assessment soon if the growth changes quickly, bleeds without repeated rubbing, becomes persistently painful, develops uneven colour, or does not resemble your other skin tags. After removal, contact the clinic for increasing redness, warmth, swelling, pus, fever, or bleeding that does not settle with pressure.

Ask how the growth was identified, which removal method suits its site, whether a sample should be examined, how to dress the area, and what changes should prompt a review.