Skin Tags During Pregnancy

Skin Tags During Pregnancy

If you think that baby bump is the only physical change you notice during pregnancy, you are wrong. While there will certainly be a long list of food cravings, there will definitely be several changes to your skin during pregnancy. Be ready to deal with issues like spider veins and Stretch Marks along with skin tags. Many women do not expect skin tags during pregnancy, but these tiny pieces of hanging skin are quite common and usually develop in areas where your skin rubs against clothing or skin. They may develop along the neck, eyelids, underarms, in the groin, and under the breasts.

Why DoTheyOccur?
People usually develop skin tags when they have Diabetes or are obese. Why you develop skin tags during pregnancy is still unclear. Experts believe that this happens due to a change in hormones that trigger growth of skin cells in certain areas. Some believe that skin tags are the result of the excessive friction caused by rubbing of skin. It is due to this particular reason that women develop these skin tags in the later stages of their pregnancy when they gain more body weight.

Are TheySerious?
No, there is no need to worry about skin tags. They are harmless, but they may become irritated easily when they are in the groin or armpit. This can cause slight discomfort. In many cases, skin tags go away after you have delivered your baby. However, they may sometimes persist even after delivery, but you can try several ways to get rid of these skin tags.

How to Get Rid Of Skin Tags During Pregnancy


You do not experience any discomfort unless the skin tags are in areas where they get irritated easily. Your doctor will ask you to wait until your pregnancy is over before trying any treatment option for skin tags. Your dermatologist can remove them easily if you find them unsightly. It is possible to snip them off with scissors, but that usually depends on their size and number.

What Doctors May Do
While your doctor may suggest against removing skin tags during pregnancy, they may use one of three approaches to resolve the issue. For instance:

• Cutting it off with surgical scissors or a scalpel. Your doctor will make a cut to get rid of these skin tags, and this may leave a cut. How deep the cut is usually depends on whether tags have cells that go underneath the skin. Making a deeper cut is important to remove the tags completely to keep it from growing back. Deeper cut may require stitches as well.


• Freezing it with liquid nitrogen. The procedure involves spraying a small amount of cold liquid nitrogen on the skin tag and then removing it. You may develop a small blister but it usually heals on its own.


• Burning it off by passing an electric current through a wire and using it to eliminate the tags. They touch the wire with the upper layers of your skin to get rid of the skin tags. You may require multiple treatments to remove skin tags completely.

What You Can Do


In addition, you can also use essential oils to get rid of skin tags. The most effective essential oils for skin tags are frankincense oil, tea tree oil, castor oil, and oregano oil. Applying tea tree oil to the skin tags is by far the best way to remove skin tags naturally. You may not like its smell but it works great and is safe to use during pregnancy.

While these methods work quite well, you may develop new skin tags after you remove the first ones. Talk to your doctor if you are prone to getting skin tags during pregnancy.

Other Skin Changes to Expect During Pregnancy
Skin tags in pregnancy are harmless but can be quite irritating. They look ugly too. However, getting skin tags is not the only issue you will experience during pregnancy. There are some others as well. For instance:

• Glow: You will develop that special "glow" everyone talks about pregnant women to have. It looks as if you are blushing and it happens due to an increased blood flow during pregnancy.


• Blotchy skin: During the second trimester until the end of your pregnancy, you may notice blotchiness on your skin. Most women notice yellow or brown-colored patches. This happens because your skin starts producing more pigment due to a change in hormones. The issue will resolve on its own once you have delivered your baby.


• Acne: You may also have to deal with acne breakouts during pregnancy. Be sure to use a gentle facial cleanser to keep your pores from getting clogged.


• Itchy Skin: It is not uncommon to develop a rash that looks quite like Heat Rash. It can be quite itchy too. All you can do is use anti-itch cream to relieve itching. You will start to feel better after delivery.

Skin Tags

Skin Tags






Skin tags are small bits of hanging particles from the skin. It develops on both men and women on the chest, neck and groin area. Normally the skin tags occur on the area in which there is friction of skin to cloth. They run in families and are passed on to the child from the parents. The number of skin tags increases as you grow old and normally it is seen on 25-30% of adults. In medical terms, they are called as ‘acrochordon” and other names are fibromas or fibro-epithelial polyps.

What are the problems faced when one gets skin tag ?

Skin tags are benign (non cancerous) in nature. Except for cosmetic purpose, they are harmless and do not cause any pain or discomfort for the person. But the person may get irritated due to the ugly appearance of skin tags on the arms and chest.

On very rare occasions, skin tag may result in bleeding of skin or it may cause death to the tissues of the skin. For some women, it may irritate them while wearing jewelry on the chest area causing discomfort.

Causes :

Exact reason what causes skin tag is not known. It is believed to occur when there is friction between the skin folds. It may grow on the chest, underarms, below the breasts, neck, eyelids and even on groin.

If you are obese, you are prone to get skin tags often. Age factor also increases the risk of getting skin tags.

Some say that skin tags are inherited by birth and it keeps running on family. People with other type of skin problems and Crohn’s disese are likely to get skin tags in their life.

Excess of hormone can trigger the formation of skin tags. This is more particular in women when they become pregnant.

Symptoms :

Skin tags take the color of the skin or it may grow slightly dark brown in color. The size of the tag may vary from 1mm to 3cm and looks either smooth or wrinkled in appearance. They are attached to the skin by stalk and for some people it is seen in the form of raised bumps from the stalk. When the skin tag is cut off from the blood supply it may change into black or red in color. If they are tied with clothing, it may bleed and cause discomfort.

Is there any chance for skin tag to become tumor?

Skin tags are benign and harmless and they do not cause cancer even after long period. But one has to monitor if there is any change in the color of the skin tag and may do skin biopsy to get rid of the chance of getting cancer.

Unlike warts, skin tags are not contagious and do not spread from one person to other.

Pictures of Skin Tags :

Images, Pics, Images and Photos of Skin Tags

Treatment :

Generally no treatment is required for removing skin tags since they are harmless. But for cosmetic purpose, people may remove it. It does not wither off from the skin on its own though it is very rare occurrence.

You can tie it off using a piece of string or dental floss which will gradually fall from the skin.

Other methods of removing skin tag are by electro cautery method in which it is burnt using current. You can try removing it cutting it off with the scissors but it may recur.

Doctors may freeze the tag using liquid nitrogen. Normally no anesthesia is needed for electro cautering if the size of the skin tag is small. However it can cause pain and discomfort in case if big sized tags are removed. So doctors may give you local anesthesia for creating temporary numbness in the area before removal.

Topical creams like betacaine or LMX 5% is applied on the skin tags before this method for anesthetizing the area. No ointment is currently available for easy removal of skin tags.

Skin Tags – Removal, Pictures, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment

Skin Tags – Removal, Pictures, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment

What are Skin tags?

They are benign, tiny out pouching skin which is normally attached to the skin underlying it by a stalk which is thin. Skin tags often look like tiny pieces of skin that is hanging and normally occur in those sites where clothes rub up against any skin as well as areas where there is friction from skin-to-skin, for example as underarms, groin, upper chest as well as neck. Cutaneous skin tags are usually small and harmless skin growths.

These skin tags are never there at birth but their occurrence grows with age. They may be seen in about 25% of all adults. Research has shown the possibility of a genetic tendency to the growth of these tags. As a result, these tags of skin run in families.

Tags of skin are known by the medical term as acrochordon. Often, other terms are used to refer to these tags. These can include soft warts, soft fibromas, fibroepithelial polyps or FEP, pedunculated fibroma as well as fibroma pendulans. Other names are cutaneous tag, cutaneous papilloma, soft fibroma, papilloma colli as well as Templeton skin.

Skin Tags Causes

Cutaneous tags are very frequent growths of skin. They are thought to grow because of friction between regions of skin which are adjacent or between skin and clothing. Bunches of blood vessels as well as collagen are trapped inside these thicker bits of skin. They commonly form in skin folds. The sites which are most common for these skin tags often include the upper chest (beneath the breast if women), underarms, eyelids, neck as well as folds of the groin. Because overweight or obese individuals have the most contact skin-to-skin as well as friction, tags of skin are most common in these individuals. While skin tags can regularly be seen in children, normally they have a propensity to boost with age and are more widespread in older or middle-aged individuals. They are normally painless and do not change or grow. These tags are very common in individuals who have diabetes.

Research has connected an inherited receptiveness to the increase of tags of skin. In individuals who have Crohn’s disease, these skin tags are often established about the opening of the anus – periAnal Skin Tags – are frequent. During the changes in hormones during pregnancy this can also encourage skin tags to grow – normally during the 2nd trimester of the pregnancy.

Tags of skin are not cancerous. Any accounts of Skin Cancers arising in tags of skin are very rare.

Risk factors are factors which increase the probability of growing a disease or condition. Risk factors for skin tags are more frequent in:

• Individuals who are obese or overweight, since they have more skin folds as well as skin creases


• Women who are pregnant because of hormones


• Those with diabetes


• Individuals with HPV or human papillomas virus


• Steroid use which is illegal – this interferes with muscles as well as body which cause the fibers or collagen in the skin to attach, letting skin tags form.

Skin Tags Symptoms

These tags are normally flesh in color or can appear brown in those individuals with light-skinned. They can be wrinkled or smooth as well as range in size from extremely tiny – 1 mm – to approximately the size of a grape. Even though it is normally possible to identify a stalk which attaches the skin tag to the underlying skin, very tiny skin tags can look like bumps which are raised on the skin.

Other distinctiveness includes:

• Can be located on the armpits, neck, body folds, trunk, or other areas


• Often have narrow stalk


• Normally skin-colored, but occasionally darker

If a skin tag is twisted on its blood supply, it can turn black or red. These tags can bleed when caught on clothing or are torn some other way. Tags of skin are not painful as well as not linked with any other conditions or symptoms of the skin.
They typically don’t need medical treatment unless they become irritating to the individual or if they need removal for cosmetic reasons.

You're reading Skin Tags – Removal, Pictures, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment posted by minhhai2d, the information is for reference only.

Diagnosis of tags of skin normally is made just by observation as skin tags normally have a very distinctive look.

Tests in the lab or other diagnostic studies are normally not required. But, your primary care physician can recommend that a tag of skin be excised and sent to the lab pathologist for diagnosis under the microscopy to rule out any other conditions of the skin that can develop lesions similar in appearance to skin tags. There are certain kinds of moles, benign skin growths and warts which sometimes resemble skin tags. It is extremely rare for a cancer of the skin to resemble a skin tag.

Skin Tags Treatment

Tags of skin treatment are usually only recommended when they are disturbing to the patient. The treatment involves removal surgically of the skin tag.

Self-treatments are often used, including typing off the small tag stalk with a length of threat or some dental floss as well as allowing the tag to fall off after several days.

Medications or drugs have absolutely no role in treating skin tags.

The exclusion of skin tags can also be completed by severing with scissors or a blade, using electric cautery – burning, or by freezing with liquid nitrogen. Often an ophthalmologist can be conferred with to eliminate tags of skin on the eyelid.

Anesthesia which is local is given by injections or lidocaine or the use of a topical anesthesia cream, can be designated for very large skin tags. Smaller skin tags may usually be eliminated without using any anesthesia.

The removal of skin tags is curative, even though the individual can develop more tags of skin at a later time.

Normally there are no complications. Occasionally, discomfort or irritation can occur. When cut, they can bleed greatly. Skin tags are considered to be cosmetically unsightly.

Skin Tags Pictures

on armpit



on neck

Skin Tags – Removal, Facts, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment

Skin Tags – Removal, Facts, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment






Skin tags are small soft masses of skin hanging in the body and they are benign (harmless). They are flesh colored and project loosely from the skin as narrow stalk. Skin tags are dark accumulated pigments of the skin.

Quick Facts On Skin Tags :

• Skin tags are nothing but small skin growths on the body.


• Skin tags occur anywhere on the body but prominently develop on the neck, armpits, and breasts and on eyelids.


• Skin tags occur as single or in clusters.


• Every person tends to have at least one skin tag in his/her life at some point of life.


• The same individual can have more than hundred skin tags also.


• Skin tags can occur to anyone, but largely they occur on obese adults.


• Obesity is closely related to formation of skin tags.


• It is possible to remove skin tags and it will not grow again as popularly believed.


• Cryotherapy, threading and cutting off the skin tags are some of the methods for removing them.

Whether Skin Tags Cause Cancer ?

They do not cause cancer even if they exist for long term. Skin tags occur either as single or in groups at any part of the body. Acrochordon is the medical term for skin tags. Both men and women can develop skin tags. And skin tags formation is not related to any other disease or medical condition.

Where Do Skin Tags Occur In The Body ?

Skin tags can occur at any age but are more common in obese adults than youngsters. Skin tags occur commonly on the neck, under the breasts, on the armpits, on the eyelids, on the folds of groin and on buttock folds. They are prone to develop on areas where the skin rubs against clothing or other skin.

Who Are At Risk Of Getting Skin Tags ?

• Obese people are at high risk of developing skin tags even before adulthood.


• People of age group 45 to 65 largely develop skin tags.


• Pregnant women and those with hormonal fluctuation are at increased risk of getting skin tags.

Whether Skin Tags Recur After It Has Been Removed ?

No. Skin tags do not grow again once they are removed. So far there is no proof that skin tags would grow on the same area where they are removed. Some obese people may develop skin tags on other areas of the body once they are totally cleared off from its site. For some others skin tags are removed regularly.

When Should I Bother About Skin Tags ?

Skin tags are in no way a tumor. It demands cosmetic attention if it occurs on visible areas like eyelids and on the face. If skin tags are very large or it bleeds and causes pain you need to consult your skin doctor. You need to visit your doctor at once if skin tags grow in size or changes color frequently. Your doctor may do a biopsy to check if it could be cancerous.

Are Skin Tags Inherited ?

Skin tags are not present during birth and they grow gradually.

Are Skin Tags Contagious ?

Skin tags are not contagious and it does not spread to others by touching or caressing.

Structure Of Skin Tag :

• Skin tags when observed under a microscope would show a small stalk to which soft skin tissue is attached.


• Epidermis is the outer layer of skin tag which encloses the inner dermis of flesh colored.


• Skin tags are formed due to abnormal growth of skin tissues (hyperplasia) on certain areas.


• Skin tags do not contain any hairs or moles in it.

Causes :

What exactly triggers formation of skin tags is not clear. But often obese people have increased chance for getting it.

Symptoms :

Skin tags can be seen as soft skin masses that are pink or flesh colored hanging loosely from the skin. They are not moles. They do not cause pain or discomfort. They occur on the eyelids, under the breasts and under armpits and even on the groins.

Diagnosis :

Skin tags can be easily detected by mere physical exam. However your dermatologist may look it through magnifying glass to check if there is any abnormality.

Treatment :

Skin tags typically require no treatment since they are not signs of any disease or condition. The only reason for removing skin tags is for cosmetic purpose. Skin tags are harmless and do not cause pain/discomfort. Skin tags can be removed if they are bothersome and occur on the groins or in the collar space causing irritation. In rare cases skin tags can start bleeding due to repeated friction of clothing. For some people it can caused discomfort when rubbed by jewels or seat belts.

How Skin Tags Are Removed ?

It is not a good idea to remove the skin tags on your own. Some of the creams and ointments that promise removal of skin tags are nothing but making cheap publicity for their products. It may also cause irritation of skin and secondary infection in some cases. You need to consult a skin doctor for getting suggestions for removing it.

• Cryotherapy :

Dermatologist would apply a drop of liquid nitrogen to freeze the soft tiny skin mass. It would shrink and wither off within few days leaving some space on which fresh skin layer will grow gradually. You may not feel any pain or discomfort while this procedure is done.

• Cautering :

Using minute electric current your skin doctor would cut off the skin tags carefully. This is an easy procedure which can be done at doctor’s office. The only precaution while doing this procedure is you should not shake your body which can make the doctor’s job more difficult. Complete removal of skin tag is possible in this simple process and fresh layer of skin will grow on the space. Your doctor may give a shot of Lidocaine or similar drug if the size of skin tag is large. Local anesthesia is given only for giving comfort for the patient and it is left to the choice of you and your doctor.

• Using Sharp Instruments :

There are some doctors who would remove skin tags using scissors or sterilized needles carefully. If it warrants removal of skin tags (big in size) under the breasts, doctor may suggest applying topical creams like Betacaine an hour before the procedure. This is highly useful for the areas where there are minute skin tags in large numbers and it requires removal from private parts.

No Coverage :

Since removal of skin tags are purely based on cosmetic purpose, you may not get insurance cover.

Skin Tags .Vs. Warts :

Skin tags differ from warts in their shape and structure. Warts are rough skin masses with irregular surface. But skin tags are soft skin tissues occurring in specific areas. Warts are flat structures but tags are bumps that hang from stalk. Warts are caused by HPV virus but skin tags have no known cause to appear.

If you have any doubts about skin tags, you can always consult your skin doctor who can tell you whether they are warts or other moles.