When it comes to DIY projects, you can take a good deal of pride in a renovated bathroom or great-looking garden. The flip side to DIY, however, can be costly, especially when it comes to your health. If you’re tempted by an online video to simply remove your skin tags in the comfort of your own home, you run the risk of turning a benign problem into a much larger one.
Here at Dermatology Center of Northwest Houston, we want your skin to be in the pink of health, which is why we provide comprehensive services to residents in Cypress, Texas, and the greater Houston area, including skin tag removal. Trying to remove these pesky growths on your own can leave behind a problem that looks much worse than when you started.
To find out why you should never remove skin tags on your own, read on.
Skin on the loose
Before we get into the correct way to remove your skin tags, let’s step back and take a look at what they are in the first place. The scientific name for these skin growths is acrochordon, and they form in areas where there’s considerable friction, such as under your arms, around your bra line (if you’re female), on your eyelids, around your groin, and along your neck.
Skin tags usually strike women over the age of 50, though this doesn’t mean to say that men are immune to developing the condition — they just do so at a much slower rate. People with weight problems are also more prone to skin tags because more areas of their skin rub together.
The tags aren’t dangerous and are simply extra cells that gather on top of the smooth surface of your skin, attached by a stalk. It’s this stalk that makes removal trickier than you might think.
Don’t play tag
As we mentioned earlier, the internet is full of advice on how to remove skin tags yourself, but we caution you against this practice for several reasons. First, the fact that your skin tag doesn’t have any nerves may embolden you to try removing them at home, but the tiny stalk that attaches the tag to your skin does have tiny nerves in it.
Second, you run the risk of damaging the surface of your skin if you don’t have the tag removed correctly, leaving you with a scar instead of a skin tag, and scars are far harder to remove.
Third, skin tags can, and do, bleed if you try removing them at home. With your skin opened up, you put yourself at risk for infection, making the original skin tag a problem you wish you still had.
The right tool for the job
If you’d like to have your skin tags removed, we have the right tools for the job, virtually eliminating the risks outlined above. Whether we cauterize or freeze them, we’re able to quickly and efficiently remove the tags in mere minutes, leaving your skin in pristine condition.
If you’d like to clear your skin of unsightly tags, we invite you to give us a call so we can set up an appointment, which you can even do on your lunch break. You can also use the online scheduling tool found on this website to book an appointment.
Author Lisa Hitchins