Thread: Skin Tags

Well I have a question for the shaving community, if you have a couple small skin tags on the neck in the way of nice smooth shaving, do you lop them off and move on or go around?

I have a couple small ones and wanted to know if anyone has done this before.

Sounds kind of gross BUT I did knick one shaving a month or so ago and then picked it off. Minor pain and just a small bleed.

I can't bring myself to encourage you to deliberately remove them yourself! If they bother you see a doctor. Meantime, shave round. It sounds like you make accidentally remove them anyway!

I had some removed years ago,the doc just slices them off.Since then I slice them off myself. Go for it!

When I saw my GP Doc a few months ago for a physical I had asked him. He said I had to go to the Derm Doc and that they are just cosmetic and NOT a covered procedure.

So since then I knicked one and it was no prob. They are small.

Just wondering if others had done something similar.



LOL

Originally Posted by crushnbugs

When I saw my GP Doc a few months ago for a physical I had asked him. He said I had to go to the Derm Doc and that they are just cosmetic and NOT a covered procedure.

So since then I knicked one and it was no prob. They are small.

Just wondering if others had done something similar.



LOL

I was told the same thing by my doc. I got tired of cutting them while shaving to I went to the derm dr. He took them off and billed insurance since they where causing problems while shaving, insurance covered it.

It won't hurt anything to cut them off they are pretty benign. These days you can get a freezing pen at the drug store and use that to freeze them the skins cells of the tag die and and come off pretty easy.
My wife is a Nurse Practitioner and removed them by freezing all the time:-)

I've had a few skin tags under my armpits. They tend to go away by themselves, but I had one swell up with blood before it "died" and fell off before I got to see a doctor about it.

Anyhow, they seem to be insignificant things, you may as well slice them off, before they grow. As long as you do it cleanly you are doing the same as a doctor would, and the result is no different to a weeper anyway.

Moles are a different matter. I would avoid touching them.

I remove these all the time in general dermatology clinics. Unfortunately, I can't officially condone removing them yourself mainly because there is the small possibility that one of these things is an invasive skin cancer rather than a skin tag, and this might not be immediately obvious, especially to the untrained eye. This is especially true if the skin growth is on an area of high sun exposure, such as the face or neck. For this reason, its not a bad idea to at least have a dermatologist take a look at it to say for sure its a skin tag.

A lot of times I just remove tags I see for free especially if I am working at the VA, but most dermatologists do charge for removal. Usually removing these things is considered cosmetic, but if you notice tags getting repeatedly irritated and painful, then a case could be made that its not cosmetic but rather a medical indication which could be covered by insurance. But it would be up to your dermatologist to take the time to lobby your insurance company and even still sometimes insurance companies can be inflexible about it. This is especially true in "after the fact" claims, when the doctor has already done the procedure and is asking to approval afterwards.

I would never remove a skin tag with a straight razor, its better to cut them using a small, very sharp pair of scissors at skin level, then stop the bleeding with some aluminum chloride solution. Its important to prep the area well with 70% alcohol and use sterile equipment to avoid infections.

I hope this info is helpful.

I'm a pediatrician. Razor Pete is right on!

Lewis

I happen to be looking around in the health food store one day and came across a product called "MOBU Herbals X-Tracting Balm". It said it would remove tags. Since I had a few the dermatolgist wouldn't remove while he was already removing a few moles and didn't think insurance would pay, I figured what the heck and got a tin. I put some of the balm on a few tags that evening and the next two. On the 4th day the tags were gone! My wife tried this stuff and it worked for her also. Might give it a try and see if it works for you.

Regards,