We recommend sending us photos by email or completing our online consultation inquiry. Our nurse will talk to you about your best option for skin tag removal.

Please note: skin tag removal must be performed by a skin specialist, general practitioner or surgeon. This is imperative if your skin tag is in or around the delicate area of the eye or eyelid.

The skin tag may look like it could twist off but if you attempt this yourself you may cause bleeding, infection or scarring.

What is a skin tag?

Skin tags are little, benign growths that hang on the skin. They are common and usually soft and flesh-coloured or slightly darker. Mostly they will hang by a thin stalk. They are raised and can look knobbly, with a build up of skin. While skin tags are normally harmless they do have a blood supply connected to your body, so care needs to be taken when having them removed. Most often they will be in areas where skin rubs against itself or clothing and they are easily knocked. Commonly on the neck, underarms, groin or eyelids.

What causes a skin tag?

Skin tags are more likely to develop owing to:

• Age, as they’re more common in middle-aged and older people
• Friction from clothing or skin folds
• Hormonal changes, such as during pregnancy
• Being overweight, because skin tags may form in skin folds
• Conditions like diabetes
• Genetics, as they can run in families.

When should you have a skin tag removed?

In most cases, skin tags have no health risks. But you may consider having one removed if it becomes irritated, bleeds or because you are constantly knocking it. Or it catches on clothing or jewellery or you simply don’t like the look of it. If your skin tag is near or on your eyelid, it may be annoying as you feel it when you blink or see it in your peripheral vision.

If your skin tag bleeds or changes in some way, for example, the colour changes, the feel of it changes or it grows, then it is time for it to be removed.

Contact us if you have concerns such as these about your skin tag or if you are not sure that it is in fact a skin tag and want a diagnosis to confirm. Contact us, too, if you just want it removed. Complete our online consultation inquiry and send us photos and our nurse will contact you to discuss the best options for treatment.

How we remove skin tags

Small skin tags can be shaved off with a sharp scalpel blade or frozen off with liquid nitrogen. If the skin tag is larger our surgeon will remove it under a local anaesthetic, where the skin tag and surrounding skin is numbed and then the skin tag is excised. You are awake during the procedure.

Usually, no sutures are needed and just a plaster will cover the small wound.

How long does skin tag removal take?

This is a quick procedure.

Skin tag removal typically takes 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of your skin tag and where it is on your body.

Check out our minor surgery pages for more information.