Sandy I did say in my original post to go see a Doctor and they can get rid of them and as another poster said, they can be a cause of skin cancer, so always best to consult a doctor and for health reasons perhaps get rid of them.
Me finding them unsightly is just a personal opinion, I certainly didn't tell people to get rid of them 'because' I find them unsightly. It just seems that out of all the things that we are faced with in life, they are very easy to get rid of (if you want to) and I wasn't sure if people realised this.
I have had them in the past and ended up twiddling them off with my fingers over a period of time and that is probably not a good idea, as it can lead to infection.
I agree that with anything to do with the body, you should seek medical advice first and I was only joking when I said I could offer it as a service. I'm too squeamish to do it in real life.
Also anything infected like the one in the picture should definitely be checked out, as they can be quite dangerous and another reason to have them removed if you have one.
I actually went to my doctor recently and had a conversation about skin tags, as I thought they were frozen off. Apparently they don't do that any more unless it is infected, they simply lance it off and it's done in seconds. It is only the infected ones that are frozen off, in the same way they would moles. Obviously if one is cancerous, they need to do a biopsy so they can examine the skin cells.
Have you actually asked the doctor to remove them? (assuming that is what you want from what you just said). The surgery I just moved to do it all the time and have no problems with removing them. I think you can tell a normal skin tag that is not infected and they tend to be in certain places that rub, which is what causes them. If you had one appear in a place where there is no rubbing, then I would be concerned.
When you are like me and have a lot of freckles and moles, you are very conscious of your skin and anything that appears that is new. It's important to be self aware and I always ask questions, which is how I know about this more recently.
So I agree, for someone who has never consulted a doctor about their skin tags, that was ill advice, but I had mentioned the doctor first and was going in line with having done that first. I should have made a point of saying that though, so I'm happy to stand corrected in this case, as I would hate anyone to do something silly.
Stella (05-09-14)
That's it then, mines for the chop, been assing about for too long now
Sorry Kate but doctors still freeze them off. It's simple and clean.
A colleague of mine had a wart done recently and another a sun spot.
However they are done the message should be do not become a diy doctor. Get medical opinion and then decide on the correct course of action. Much better for your health.
Read the above post please jpenney. Warts and sun spots are not skin tags, they are different things. I'm sure they still you the freezing method in some practices. I've had several moles frozen to reduce the size in the past and once I had one on my tummy that kept getting infected and the doctor was about to take a scalpel to it (bearing in mind I was a minor at the time) who got annoyed with me for getting a bit upset and then had to apologies to me, as he was not aware I was there due to it getting infected and he told me that he could not cut it and it would have to be frozen.
Personally I find the freezing method more painful and it takes a lot longer before it's gone, however if it is the only method available to me, I would still take it.
The fact is to have them lanced is safe and Doctors are practicing this method and that was my point.
Now the other side, is that people do get rid of them without seeking medical advice and people on this site have done so (including myself), so where it might be ill advised to do it and I was joking when I said I would do it as a service, it has at least got people thinking and is that ever a bad thing?
Do you think the average person can tell the difference between a skin tag and other skin blemishes ? I don't think so.
I am not going to play message board ping pong. Please do not advise people to take a scalpel to themselves.
If you want to start a discussion and increase awareness that's fine but don't advise unsafe practices.