Hi all,
What is a skin tag?
I have many symptoms of PCOS, but not skin tags.
I was just curious to what they are.
Thank you.
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Ericka(29) Tony(33) Married 9 years Sepember 4, 2006 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
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I have quite a lot of skin tags - inside my right elbow, in my left armpit, and around my neck area, under my left boob. They are little nodules of skin tissue that stick up, proud from the main surface of the skin.
Oddly, a lot of mine seem to grow underneath freckles or moles, and my GP says this is quite common. Dunno why!! Also dunno why they grow - one of life's little mysteries!!!
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Also, they are normally your skin color, but occationally they can be alot darker. They also vary in size. I have one that's the size of a mustard seed and the biggest one I have is the size of a peeled sunflower seed.
I only have a few. I've always had 2 on my underarms and one on my neck but I recently found one on my back and i have a very small one on my eyelid.
My dr. said they were hereditary (before I found out I had PCOS)so I don't know if it shows up if you have a family history of it. Most of my dad's side of the family have them. My dad had like 100 lasered off when I was a kid.
Skin Tag (acrochordon)
A skin tag is a small soft skin growth commonly occurring on the neck, upper chest, eyelids, or near the underarm.
Symptoms - Skin tags are usually skin colored or may take on a reddish or pinkish tint. They grow on a stalk and are painless.
Cause - The cause of skin tags is not known. They tend to occur more frequently as we age.
Diagnosis - The diagnosis is based on the appearance of the growth.
Treatment - Skin tags are harmless and require no treatment. They can be removed if they are unsightly or cause an irritation due to tight clothing (such as a bra) rubbing against them. Removal may involve cryotherapy (freezing), cauterization (electrically burning), or other surgical procedures.
This article - http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic1.htm - mentions how skin tags are usually found on patches of acanthosis nigricans. In my case, this is true as I have at least one skin tag in the following areas - eyelid, armpit, back of the neck, groin area - all of which are also affected by the acanthosis nigricans.
I have skin tags too. I've actually removed them myself. I have two on my neck that used to bother me when I would wear certain tops. I just took some sewing thread and looped it around the stalk of the skin tag. I thne pulled as hard as I could. It felt like a little pinch. I cut off the ends of the srting and just left it. By the end of the weekend the tag and turned very dark color and fell off. There is absolutley no scar. I don't know that this is a "safe" way to remove them but personally I didn't have a problem.
Please be careful if you do that. We did that to my dad once and the tag did start to darken as it should. Then it started to turn green where it was tied. It got really badly infected. We ended up having to take him to the dr because he couldn't move his head, because it hurt so bad. The dr. had to remove it and he was put on an antibiotic for the infection.
I thought about doing that, but I remember all the hassle w/ my dad... I'm too scared to do it.
Well what a trip. I asked this question out of curiosity, only to find out I have a couple under my left underarm. When I looked at the picture Hezzer put in her post, it looked just like what I have under my arm. I noticed them a couple of years ago, but had no idea what they were. They didn't look like moles, so I wondered. They never went away, so I ignored them. They never bothered me, even when I shave.
I always thought skin tags were like circle spots on your skin that were discolored. I was way off base.
So, there not harmless or anything? Should I just just ignore them then? Since I already had them for a couple of years without doing anything about them?
...Uggghhh....one more thing to add to my list.
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Ericka(29) Tony(33) Married 9 years Sepember 4, 2006 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
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Ericka . . . I'm wondering . . . Do you also have acanthosis nigricans? I ask because all my skin tags happen to be on a patch of it - although fortunately my patches are quite mild and light.
Acanthosis nigricans or AN for short, is darkening and thickening of the skin. The benign form is usually caused by insulin issues.
Acanthosis can also be found on the folds along the neck, armpits, groin, knuckles, between the legs, at the elbow, under the breasts, and around the belly button.
I don't think there is necessarily a limit to where AN can pop up. I have AN in areas where there are no folds. That list in my above post just mentions where it most occurs.
A dermatologist could tell you for sure if what is on your thumb is AN.
Edited to add:
Jesi - I in no way mean to freak you out, but I came across this tidbit and immediately thought of what you mentioned about your thumb.
"If a patient rapidly develops acanthosis nigricans, especially on the palms or soles, occult malignancy is a possibility."
Hezzer ....
What do you mean when you say the benign form? (I have the darkening on the back of my neck, which is what prompted my doctor to suggest pcos as a possiblity.)
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Originally posted by katydyd Hezzer ....
What do you mean when you say the benign form? (I have the darkening on the back of my neck, which is what prompted my doctor to suggest pcos as a possiblity.)
"Acanthosis nigricans usually is classified into 2 types: a benign form, not associated with malignancy, and a malignant form.
Patients with the malignant form of acanthosis nigricans tend to be thin and older than 40 years of age, and their eruption is of recent origin. Malignant AN, which is associated with internal malignancy, is the most worrisome of the variants of AN because the underlying neoplasm is often an aggressive cancer. The most common malignancy associated with malignant acanthosis nigricans is abdominal adenocarcinoma, especially of the stomach.
Most patients with the benign form are obese. Some have an endocrinopathy, such as diabetes mellitus, especially of the insulin-resistant type; pituitary or adrenal adenomas; Cushing's syndrome; intake of stilbestrol; or the Stein-Leventhal syndrome (polycystic ovary disease). Other causes include chronic hepatitis and ingestion of large doses of niacin."
I've looked at pictures of the malignant form. I'll try to find one and post it.
Wow, very impressive, and more importantly iformative answer Thank you.
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Me - 31, DH - 32,
Momma to Kaelyn (10), Devon (6), and Savanah (4)
The shortest distance from a problem to its solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The man who kneels before God can stand up to anything!
Now I'm totally freaked out! I got it from one day to the next. It seems to have faded a little now (it's been about a month). The skin is rougher than the skin on my hand and it covers about two thirds of my thumb.
What are skin tags? 
