What Are Skin Tags?

2011-03-30T16:04:00.000+07:00

Skin tags, or acrochorda, are basically soft and small hanging tags of skin that are like a peduncle or a fleshy stalk. Skin tags have unknown symptoms and these are benign skin growths in nature. Occasional scratching or rubbing of the skin may worsen this skin condition. Skin tags appear whenever there are trapped bunches of collagen and blood vessels in thicker skin.

Some people, as a matter of fact, do not experience this skin condition although it is usual for skin tags to stay on the skin and not to fall off. Consulting a skin specialist is the initial step that must be done if skin tag treatment is to be considered. When it comes to skin tag removal, two options are cryosurgery and cauterization.

What Causes Skin Tags?

Skin tags are very common and as per an estimate every second has a skin tag on his body. The benign nature of the skin tag has not pushed medical researchers to an in-depth study of these masses of skin growth.

Heredity

Heredity has been termed as one of the causes of skin tags.

Pregnancy

Elevated hormone levels during pregnancy also causes skin tags in females.

Obesity

An association of obesity with skin tags has also been studied. Overweight or obese people are at a greater risk of developing tags than those who are ideally weighted.

Primarily, the cause of tags is the friction between the skin and the clothing. This signifies that tags usually occur in areas where the skin rubs against the skin. Also as mentioned hormone levels and genetic factors are responsible for the growth of tags.

Executive summary about causes skin tag by John Somaniko

All About Skin Tags

What Are Skin Tags?