When is electrosurgery recommended for skin tags?

Skin tags are soft, benign growths that commonly form in folds such as the neck, underarms, groin, or beneath the breasts. A clinician may use electrosurgery to heat and remove a selected tag, especially when its narrow base makes targeted treatment practical. Removal is not usually needed simply because a tag is present. The appearance should be checked first because warts, moles, and other lesions can be mistaken for a skin tag. The clinician also considers the tag’s size, base, location, skin tone, and your tendency to scar or develop colour changes.

Do not tie off, cut, or burn a growth at home, particularly if it is dark, firm, painful, or changing. At the appointment, mention diabetes, poor circulation, medicines that affect bleeding, allergies to local anaesthetic, and previous wound-healing problems. Ask how the area will be numbed and protected. Afterwards, keep the site clean and covered as directed, avoid friction from tight clothing or jewellery, and do not pull off a forming crust. Use sun protection once the clinician says the skin can tolerate it.

Seek an examination before removal if the growth changes rapidly, has an irregular colour, becomes hard or fixed, bleeds without rubbing, or develops an open area. After treatment, ask for help if pain, swelling, warmth, or redness is increasing, if drainage becomes cloudy or foul-smelling, or if fever occurs. Persistent bleeding also needs prompt review.

Ask whether the lesion has the typical features of a skin tag, whether electrosurgery is preferable to snipping or another approach, and how the location may affect rubbing during healing. Discuss scar and pigment changes, dressing care, bathing, and when normal activities can resume.