I had an enquiry from a young chap called J.P. recently who was wondering what the feck he might do to get rid of a skin tag that he says has been blighting the skin on his side for the last number of years. For anyone not familiar with them, skin tags are usually benign, small growths which project from the surrounding skin, can occur anywhere on the body but are most likely to appear in the body folds of the torso or around the eyelids, neck, underarms or groin area, are generally painless and do not grow or change. They can vary in appearance from person to person in terms of size, texture, and colour.
J.P. said he'd had a Google to see about removing it himself, and had come across a few home remedies and DIY solutions. The thoughts of someone whipping a skin tag off at home made my eyes water, and my immediate reaction was for him to take a trip to his doctor to (a) confirm that it is just a skin tag and (b) get advice on the best treatment option.
Depending on the method used, skin tag removal generally costs in the region of €40-€100. It's actually a really common procedure as people elect to have them removed for cosmetic reasons or because they're getting irritated by clothing or jewellery. Most GPs can perform surgical excision under local anasthetic (snipping them off), cryotherapy (freezing them off) or cauterizing (burning them off), usually depending on the thickness of the base of the skin tag. Specialist beauty salons may also offer skin tag removal through diathermy or laser treatment.
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Lots of options there for J.P. that do not involve a bit of string and a door slamming shut...
