Skin tags

What are skin tags?

Skin tag, also called soft fibroma or cutaneous papilloma, is a small piece of soft, hanging skin that may have a peduncle, or stalk that usually occur in the neck, or under the armpits or breasts. They are usually flesh-colored or slightly brownish. Skin tags are a few millimeters in size and can occur both in single form and in tens at a time. 

WHAT CAUSES SKIN TAGS?

It’s unclear exactly what causes skin tags. And it is still unknown how to prevent them. What can play a role is genetic predisposition, age, obesity, hormones, rubbing against clothing or jewelry or a badly healed wound.

WHAT TREATMENTS ARE AVAILABLE?

Electrocautery

Electrocautery is a technique which destroys the tissue with heat, causing the treated skin area to die. The treatment can be carried out with us if the skin or vascular anomaly is benign (non-cancerous) and there is no indication for surgical treatment and/or further investigation.

BEFORE THE TREATMENT

If desired, you can numb the skin with EMLA cream before the treatment. Your family doctor can write a prescription for this. You can pick up the cream from the pharmacy. Read the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) carefully before use.

THERAPY

The skin therapist will remove the EMLA cream and disinfect the treatment area. A needle, which is heated by electricity, is applied to the treated area, killing the skin cells or cleanly cutting through tissue. What remains is a small burn. After the electrocautery, the skin is cooled with a cold compress. If desired, a concealing product can be applied after the treatment, so that it is no longer visible that the treatment has been taken place. The number of treatments required depends on the indication. In general, one to three treatments are required to achieve the desired result.

AFTER TREATMENT

After the treatment, there may be redness and burning effect. The crust formed over the removed skin tag will peel off over time. In the beginning, the newly formed skin may be a little lighter in color than the surrounding tissue, but over time this usually tans.
The treated skin is extra vulnerable after the treatment. This means that you should be extra careful during the first 48 hours after treatment with sunlight, tanning beds, saunas, hot showers or baths and other influencing factors. For four weeks after treatment, the skin must be protected with a sunscreen product with a high protection factor.

EXPECTED RESULT

The expected result is a smooth skin with virtually no residual symptoms where the skin or vascular anomaly was previously located.