You can have skin tags and warts removed at any Exer Urgent Care clinic.
Skin tags (acrochordons) are small, flesh-colored growths. If the body starts producing extra cells in the top layers of the skin (epidermis), then it’s possible for skin tags to develop, usually where the skin rubs against itself. As unsightly as they may look, skin tags are noncancerous and don’t affect your health.
Warts are small skin growths caused by an HPV infection and usually also don’t affect your health.
However, it’s important to not try treating or removing skin tags or warts yourself; you can end up with skin damage and might not even get all of it.
What Are Skin Tags?
Skin tags are typically the same color as your skin, but they can sometimes be darker, giving them the appearance of a mole. The most common areas where people develop skin tags are the groin, armpits, thighs, eyelids, neck, and under the breasts. You don’t really need to worry about them for the most part as they are harmless.
However, if they are irritated, bleeding, or painful, have a doctor take a look at them. A skin tag or multiple skin tags can be cut off, frozen off, or burned off. Attempting skin tag removal on your own can lead to infection or heavy bleeding that requires medical care.
The likelihood of developing these growths in skin folds increases with age. Other contributing factors include:
- Health issues such as obesity, diabetes, or skin conditions (like Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome)
- A family history of skin tags
- Pregnancy (increased levels of growth hormones in the body can cause a skin tag)
There are no symptoms associated with skin tags. In some cases, friction from the skin rubbing against jewelry or clothes can cause discomfort or bleeding.
Please note that sometimes what looks like a skin tag may be something else – i.e., a wart, skin cancer, or skin disease. As skin tags are extremely common, people tend to overlook the possibility that it might be something that needs the attention of a healthcare provider. You should see a medical professional at Exer Urgent Care or a dermatologist to get an accurate diagnosis.
What Are Warts?
Warts and skin tags are often put in the same category because both are noncancerous growths on skin. The difference is that warts are formed when you are infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV), which leads to the growth of additional cells in the skin that thicken and harden. Warts can appear anywhere on your body, but they are most common on the hands and feet.
Depending on their location and appearance, there are multiple types of warts:
- Flat Warts: These are smaller warts, typically only 1/8 of an inch wide, but they almost always grow in a cluster of anywhere from 20 to 100. They look smoother due to being flat-topped bumps. They are most commonly found on the face, back of hands, and legs. Flat warts also tend to appear on children and adolescents more frequently.
- Plantar Warts: These are small, rough growths on the feet. If you have a wart on the sole of your foot that feels like a pebble in your shoe you can’t seem to shake, it’s a plantar wart. Rather than growing outwards, it grows inwards because of the pressure put on it when standing or walking. Sometimes confused with calluses, plantar warts can be identified by black dots found in or around the surrounding skin.
- Common Warts: These warts tend to be about the size of a pea, mostly found on the feet, hands, and near the nail beds. They generally contain dark spots that look like tiny “seeds”, which are actually little blood clots.
How Are Skin Tags and Warts Removed?
The procedure to have a wart or skin tag removed varies case-by-case, but the following are the most common options:
- Excision: Cutting out a skin tag or wart using a scalpel
- Cauterization: Burning off a skin tag or wart using an electrocautery tool
- Cryosurgery: Freezing off a skin tag or wart using small amounts of liquid nitrogen
- Ligation: Cutting off the blood supply to the base of a skin tag growth using a band; without the supply, the blood vessels and cells die, and the tag falls off. Ligation can only be used for skin tags, and not warts
If the growth is located near your eye or on your eyelid, you will need to see an ophthalmologist for safe surgical removal. Most other types of warts and skin tags can be taken care of by a primary care physician or family doctor.
Exer Urgent Care is an excellent option for getting your warts and skin tags removed – all of our specialists, including ophthalmologists and dermatologists, are located under one roof. If it turns out you need more than one expert’s assistance in getting rid of the growths on your skin, you don’t have to visit different doctors in different facilities over the course of several weeks – it can all be done during one visit.
Additionally, every Exer clinic has a state-of-the-art laboratory, making it easier and faster to take a sample (biopsy) and analyze it, in case the doctor suspects something else.
Why You Should Not Use DIY Solutions to Remove Skin Tags
There are many over-the-counter products that claim to remove most skin tags, but please know these are not safe. A skin tag or wart remover cream or tool can cause infection, excessive bleeding, scarring, or damage to the nearby healthy tissue. In many cases, these creams don’t remove the growths completely, meaning they can come back.
Not to mention, you may end up using the product on something that is not a skin tag or wart at all. It could be skin cancer.
It’s important to have the skin growth looked at by a medical professional or dermatologist. If it turns out to be a harmless wart or skin tag, then it is up to you whether you want it removed or not. A lot of skin tags fall off on their own over time. However, if it’s on your face or eyes, the doctor will know exactly how to remove it with little to no scarring.
If it’s a cancerous growth, the doctor will take a sample and send it to the lab for a more accurate diagnosis.
Have Your Skin Tags Removed the Same Day at Exer Urgent Care
We offer same-day wart and skin tag removal procedures for your convenience. All procedures for removal are painless, except maybe for a little discomfort that fades within a few hours. After the growth is removed, the treatment area may scab over. Once the scab falls off, you will be left with visibly smoother skin.
You don’t need an appointment to get great care at Exer – just walk-in anytime you want. We are open daily with extended hours.
