Skin Tags: Where They Come from, and How to Remove Them
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Tag—you're it. Decidedly less fun than the game you played years ago during recess, skin tags are one of those onbnoxious issues just about everyone has to tackle at some point in their lives. Though they aren't painful and aren't a cause for a health concern, the raised, mole-like appearance isn't exactly the most pleasant one, depending on where they tend to form. That's why we spoke to David Colbert, M.D. at the launch of his Illumino Mask in New York City to find out exactly what causes them, and more importantly, how to treat them. "Skin tags come from overactive epidermis cells. The skin controls the way it grows, so you can consider them a small area that has lost control, so the cells grow upward," he explains. "Friction can trigger them, as well as rapid weight loss, rapid weight gain, and sometimes having diabetes, but that isn't the case for all people. Once you've grown a skin tag, your necklace or something that rubs up against it can actually rip them off, which definitely isn't a good thing."
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Luckily, skin tags are very easy for your dermatologist to remove, but unfortunately for the DIY crowd, those at-home remedies you found through your extensive Google search aren't guaranteed to work. "A skin tag is really something that should be addressed by your doctor, either through surgery or a laser," Dr. Colbert explains. "There's nothing in a cream that is going to stop them or remove them."
