If you are one of the many people plagued by these unsightly blemishes, there are ways to remove a skin tag by yourself without going to the doctor.

What are these things anyway? These are small benign skin growths that protrude from the skin and typically show up in the more sensitive areas of the body such as the eyelid, face, neck, underarms, or groin area.

In many cases people choose to have a physician remove these growths simply because it is easier than dealing with the issue at home on your own. However, what you run into in this case is problems with the insurance company not wanting to pay because it’s basically an elective, or cosmetic, procedure which they don’t deem to be necessary or life threatening. While it’s true that these growths are generally benign in most cases, there is the rare possibility of a malignancy so it’s best to have them removed.

The doctor will usually freeze the tag and it will fall off in a number of days. In recent years some products have shown up on the market that allow you to freeze them yourself at home, and this is a great way to address the issue. Remember that these products, although fine for very small tags, are not as powerful as what your dermatologist would use, so you may not be able to use them on larger areas. Definitely worth a try though.

All manner of other home remedies have shown up over the years, and some work just fine if you are not the squeamish type. For example, many folks just snip them off with a pair of scissors or nail clippers. Other people find they fear pain or bleeding, so they might try the thread approach where you simply tie a piece of string or thread around the tag and wait for it to fall off. These methods work in a lot of cases but be very sure to use sterile technique so you won’t find yourself with an infection, thereby necessitating a trip to the doctor after all. Also, have something on hand to stem the blood flow if you plan to try snipping.

So basically it is not usually dangerous to try to remove a skin tag by yourself, but keep in mind that there are still some occasions when seeing your physician is the best alternative in the long run.

Have you ever been talking to someone and noticed they were not looking you in the eye but instead were staring at a skin tag on your forehead? Or maybe that one on your eyelid or that big one on your neck? I know how embarrassing that is because I’ve had it happen to me. It tends to make you very self conscious and your self esteem plummets all because of this tiny (or sometimes not so tiny) little growth of skin.

If you’re reading this you’ve probably decided to conduct an online search of how to remove these pesky tags yourself, and you’ve probably read a few accounts of how some people recommend cutting them off at home.

The good news is yes, you sure can attempt this procedure at home yourself. Using a knife is probably not the best method though. A better option would be a small pair of cuticle scissors or a pair of nail clippers.

Now we are assuming you have a pretty small skin tag that you need to remove. What you want to do is to make sure the area is very clean, and of course make sure your instrument (scissors, etc) is sterile. You can use some alcohol or boiling water to achieve this. Does it hurt? Not a lot really, but it also depends on the size of the tag. Larger ones will be more painful, and tiny ones are not too bad at all. Snip the tag as close to the healthy skin as possible and then apply pressure and a bandage. You might want to apply a bit of antibiotic ointment too just to be on the safe side.

If you want to remove a very large skin tag you may need to have it done at the doctor’s office since these could bleed more and be more prone to problems such as infection.

How can I remove a skin tag?