#SKIN TAGS UNDER EYES SKIN#

But it’s totally possible to mistake a potentially cancerous growth for a skin tag, and only a health care professional can determine whether or not you’re in the clear. By definition, skin tags are benign (non-cancerous). Your doctor is less likely to use scissors in this area due to the delicate tissues and curvature of the orbital bone, she adds.Īfter your skin tag is removed, you can go about your normal life, but your doctor will likely recommend keeping the site clean (to prevent infection) and, depending on the area, may also advise you to keep it covered (to prevent friction) for a few days. They will likely numb the tag with an agent like lidocaine or epinephrine to reduce bleeding, and then use a very precise electrocautery instrument to zap them off, Dr. The safest way to get rid of a skin tag on your very delicate eyelid area, for example, is to have it removed by a dermatologist or plastic or ocular surgeon. 6Įspecially sensitive areas may need an even more careful approach. 5 Because of the freezing temperatures and the inflammation they can cause, thick scarring is another possible complication of cryotherapy for anyone who tends to scar easily, according to Dr. That’s because the inflammation caused by extreme deviations in temperature can trigger excessive melanin production, which can then lead to more pronounced hyperpigmentation for those folks. “A larger, wider blood vessel will lead to more bleeding, necessitating electrocautery to burn the base of the skin tag.” “The thicker the stalk, the wider the blood vessel inside,” Dr. Sunder will often turn to electrocauterization of the stalk or the skin tag itself, which involves destroying tissue with a heated electric current.

Wider skin tags typically get a topical anesthetic, like lidocaine, to minimize pain, per Dr. If it’s small, it won’t be very innervated, and she’ll do the excision procedure without numbing cream, she adds. For example, if it's little and has a narrow stalk, the preferred method is a “snip” removal, where the doctor uses small, curved, sterile surgical scissors to, yep, snip the tag from the skin’s surface, Dr. There are a couple of ways board-certified dermatologists and plastic surgeons typically remove them, and the method depends on the size of the tag and the stalk attached to it.

While we wish skin tags would simply fall off on their own, they seldom do. How do doctors approach skin tag removal? (At that point, it’s probably worth keeping the skin tag.) These aren’t necessarily harmful ingredients, but they could potentially cause irritation, burning, or allergic reactions in some people, Margarita Lolis, MD, board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon, tells SELF. Other “natural” home remedies for skin tag removal you might hear about (er, read online) include apple cider vinegar, a commonly touted treatment for warts, and tea tree oil. “The biggest problem is that the things people use are not sterile and skin tags actually bleed quite a bit,” she explains. And that’s the best-case scenario you could also give yourself an infection. Unfortunately, the larger the tag-and the more likely you are to try the ol’ dental floss trick-the higher the chances of excess bleeding and skin scarring, Dr. You definitely shouldn’t try this at home though. “For larger skin tags, the hack of wrapping a piece of dental floss tightly around the base can actually work by cutting off circulation-after a few days, the tag will dry up and fall off,” Dr. There are other DIY methods modeled after ligation, an outdated practice that involves tying off the tag with a string or band. 4 “Developing a skin tag doesn’t mean that you have one of these diseases, and having one of these conditions doesn’t mean you will get skin tags, but we sometimes see an overlap in both.”

Regardless of your age, if you notice you’re getting a whole new crop of skin tags, schedule an appointment with your dermatologist or primary care provider, especially if you’re experiencing other symptoms that aren’t typical for you: “There are situations where a significant number of skin tags can signal an underlying issue, such as certain autoimmune conditions like Crohn’s disease, certain polyp-causing gastrointestinal syndromes, or a growth-related syndrome known as acromegaly,” Dr. Research suggests that skin tags can appear as early as your teen years, but are most likely to show up after you turn 40 (and that likelihood levels off again after age 70-who knew?). But many conditions that correlate with (not cause!) their formation are likelier to develop in adulthood than in childhood. There’s no direct connection between age and skin tags, Tracy Evans, MD, board-certified dermatologist and medical director of Pacific Skin and Cosmetic Dermatology in San Francisco, tells SELF.

Skin tags under eyes