lets talk skin tags!

[candyfluff]

ok so i have 4 under each armpit and i want them gone
so now does the cotton thing work?
have any of you tried it
what happens
and is it safe??

[hester]

You just tie cotton round it, tight. Keep tightening it and after a few days the tag falls off. Prob best to get medical advice if it's a biggie...

[clam]

Ooh. Went to the GP about the exact same thing last week. Have one on my neck that, embarrassingly, several people have tried to brush away with "hang on, you've got something.... oh, sorry!"
She's referred me to the surgery minor ops clinic. Should be done in a few minutes within the nest 4 weeks or so.

Didn't fancy the nail clippers. Too wimpy.

[SoupDragon]

Oh if its a small one, numb it with ice and snip it off. Job done in under a minute.

[hester]

I have a friend who was born with two extra fingers (with fingernails, but no bone inside) and her mum used the cotton method to get rid of them. Interestingly, all the women in her family for zillions of years have been born with this. It's such a 100% thing that with both her pregnancies she knew she was carrying girls because the extra fingers showed up on the scan.

These days they're too namby-pamby-health-and-safety to allow mums to remove infants' fingers with thread, though

[NancysGarden]

I had one on my eye, had it removed, tested, it's benign. (They did have to inject my eyelid tho - ouch!) Also one on my neck, having it removed too.

If you are wanting rid, I would get them checked just in case and you can have them removed fairly painlessly (if you put EMLA cream on first it numbs the skin before an injection)

[NancysGarden]

p-s Clam, EVERYONE tried to "brush" away the one on my eyelid!

[SoupDragon]

I wouldn't recommend removing extra fingers from an infant with nail clippers

[hester]

Not even with an ice cube, Soupy?

[SoupDragon]

Perhaps a bucket of crushed ice...?

[CandleQueen]

MIL did attempt to remove one of DS2's fingers with nail clippers. Well, she claimed she was only cutting his nail, but it bled like billy-o.

[sheneversaidit]

I have one right next to my vagina. I hate it. Its big. It appeared with a vengeance when I was pregnant. I hate it. I went to the GP as I thought I had skin cancer (because it just appeared so I thought... you know!) and he said oh no its just a skin tag. And that was it. No offer to remove it. I do keep thinking about going back and asking for it to be removed as I really really hate it.

[candyfluff]

im gonna try one and let you know -will have to get dh to do it though cant reach!!

[SpeckledHen]

I had 3 on my neck and I cut them off when I was a teenager with nail scissors. They did bleed and it hurt a little but they disappeared. I am not recommending this. I did not dare speak to my mum who would have dismissed it I think and I did not know that the docs could do anything. I recently went to the docs and had 2 ahiry moles removed (I sound so beautiful fdon't I0. So nice ot be an adult and to go to the doc!

[oliverboliverbutt]

tie floss around it really tightly and leave it there for a few days. it will just fall off.

[CMOTdibbler]

I have cut some of mine off with sterilised sharp scissors. But I now have loads, and really must go and see about getting someone to remove them properly

[thumbwitch]

my GP froze mine with a liquid nitrogen spray - took a minute, the appt took about 10 days because he only gets the spray every other friday (it's a shared spray between practices) and it fell off after a week. It did go a bit crispy beforehand but left no mark.

Mine was quite solid though, didn't have a nice thin neck. You probably should go via your GP - just in case it is something else. They won't think you're being vain - my GP didn't. I also had 2 moles removed at minor surgery clinic by another GP - all free, no long wait, took a few minutes, job done.

[candyfluff]

ok ive started it
i have tied one with floss and i will let you know what happens

[Biglips]

ive got about 4 skin tags......what is it exactly??

[jkklpu]

The cotton things is straightforward - I've helped my dh do 2 after my uncle (a GP) did one for him some time ago. Cut a length of cotton thread and tie it around the tag tightly. Leave it for a day or 2, drawing it gradually tighter. It will either go darker and just drop off or you'll end up cutting the last thread of it with the cotton as you keep tightening. No pain, no cost. They were definitely skin tags, though, so as long as you're sure, I'd say to go for it.

[candyfluff]

oh bum the floss fell off in the night!

[thumbwitch]

lol candyfluff - you can't have tied it on tight enough then so it wouldn't have worked anyway! You have to effectively "throttle" the tag, tie it tighter next time

[monkeytrousers]

you can get this done on the NHS. Many GP's do it in practice or you can be sent to a local specalist practice for minor surgery.

They like you to have some excuse and you could say you catch them while shaving - you'll get an appointment no bother

[VoodooApocalypse]

right I tied two little ones on my chest with cotton
it stung when I tied them really tight....

they have gone a little darker in 2 days...

[VoodooApocalypse]

wish Id used white cotton instead of black..