What should you know about skin tag thread?

Wrapping thread around a skin tag is intended to compress its stalk, but pressure can damage surrounding skin as well. Tight material may become embedded, trap moisture, and create a route for infection. Pain or colour change can signal tissue injury.

Not every small hanging growth is a skin tag. A clinician may need to examine a lesion that is firm, irregular, rapidly changing, or bleeding without contact before discussing removal.

Leave the growth alone and avoid tying sewing thread, dental floss, or elastic around it. Minimise rubbing with loose clothing and arrange a clinical assessment. If removal is appropriate, the clinician can explain the procedure, local wound care, and expected healing.

Possible in-clinic approaches include [Cryotherapy (Lesion Removal)](/treatments/surgical-dermatology/cryotherapy-lesion-removal/), [Electrosurgery](/treatments/surgical-dermatology/electrosurgery/), or another method selected for the lesion and body site.

Get prompt medical help if thread has cut into the skin, or if there is bleeding that continues, severe pain, increasing swelling, spreading redness, warmth, pus, fever, or a foul smell. A rapidly changing or persistently sore growth also needs examination.

Ask whether the lesion needs testing, how to remove thread that has become embedded, which removal option fits the site, and how to keep the area clean while it heals.