Your appearance is important to you, and when you discover a skin growth on your eyelid, your body image can suffer. You may stop going out in public or avoid looking people in the eye. If this sounds familiar, you aren’t alone. The great news is that skin growth on the eyelid, skin tags on the eyelash line, and other skin tags are treatable. Here, you will learn all about skin tags and how dermatologists remove skin tags from eyelids.

What is a Skin Tag?

A skin tag is an excess growth of skin that is painless and benign. These growths are attached to your skin by a peduncle – a small piece of skin tissue that appears stalk-like in shape. It is not know exactly why some people develop skin tags but it occurs most often in areas where there is skin rubbing against itself. Areas that more often develop skin tags are the neck, armpits, groin, and eyelids.

A skin tag on the eyelid is one of the most commonly occurring types of skin tag. However, they can be found any place on your body, predominantly in areas of skin folds, such as:

• neck
• armpits
• groin
• thighs
• beneath breasts
• eyelids and eyelash lines

Skin tags do not usually appear until after the age of 50 and can be found in both men and women.

The main characteristic and what makes them easy to identify is the stalk-like peduncle. This causes the tags to appear to ‘hang’ from the skin, unlike moles that are completely attached. Other characteristics include:

• Skin stags are soft and usually small, less than 2 millimeters; however, they can grow larger.
• There is no distinct shape. They may be wrinkled or smooth, round or crooked, or unbalanced in shape.
• Coloring may vary from flesh-colored to dark. Skin tags that lose their blood flow due to twisting may become black.

If you are unsure if your growth is a skin tag or a mole, have your dermatologist check it to make certain. A skin tag is benign while a moles could be cancerous.

What Causes Skin Tags?

Doctors are not completely certain what causes eyelid skin tags or skin tags in other places on your body. They have identified some skin tag causes, including:

• Friction: Most skin tags appear in skin folds. These are areas of your body that have more friction and break down the outer layer of skin, causing damage to collagen and blood vessels. This is thought to be one reason for these growths.
• Pregnancy: Pregnancy weight gain causes the skin to have more folds and increases the occurrence of skin tags. There is also a hormonal change during pregnancy that is thought to play a role in the emergence of these tags.
• Insulin: Insulin resistance is a hormonal condition that leads to diabetes. A study in 2010 showed a correlation between multiple skin tags and insulin resistance, among other factors.
• HPV: The human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection, may increase the odds of getting a skin tag. Studies have shown a link between HPV and skin tags – 50% of the tags examined contained HPV DNA.

These are just the causes that doctors have thus far identified as possibly causing skin tags. Heredity may also be a factor. However, skin tags are not contagious and can’t be spread to others.

How to Get Rid of Skin Tags

Since they are normally painless and harmless tissue growths on small skin areas, they do not necessarily need to be removed for your health and wellness. On the other hand, without skin tag removal, some people may find they cause irritation to the surrounding skin and would prefer a dermatologist provide treatment. If a skin tag on eyelid is interfering with your vision, removal definitely helps.

If you do want to remove skin tags around your eyes or under your eyes, you need to have it done by a professional such as a dermatologist. Removal of eyelid skin tags at home might cause permanent eye damage. Always have a professional remove a skin tag.

If you are considering have your tags removed, you need to understand how dermatologists remove skin tags from eyelids before making your decisions.

If small, your skin tag may not require numbing but if it is larger or across a large skin area, treatment may require local numbing. The methods your doctor may use for skin tag removal include:

• Cutting: Surgical removal using a scalpel or scissors.
• Electrosurgery: High-frequency electrical current burns the tag off.
• Cryotherapy: Liquid nitrogen freezes the tag off.
• Ligation: Tying off the peduncle to cut the blood flow to the tag and cause it to die.

Your dermatologist will go over the best option for removing eyelid skin tags. Cutting off the skin tag on the eyelid is most likely the route they will suggest. It is quick, relatively painless, and costs less than other options.

Home Remedies for Skin Tag Removal

Home remedies abound for solutions to issues like skin tags. However, when it comes to skin tags on eyelids and eyelash lines, you need to leave that to a dermatologist. You run the risk of causing damage to your vision that could be permanent.

Home remedies for other parts of the body include:

• Tea tree oil
• Apple cider vinegar
• Lemon juice
• DIY peels
• Cutting off tags
• Tying off tags

While these are removal options may seem appealing, only have a physician assist with cutting or tying as you might run the risk of infection and bleeding when removing them.

How to Prevent Skin Tags?

You can’t completely prevent harmless skin tags since it is not entirely known how you get them. However, there are things you can do to lower your risk.

Maintain a healthy weight and exercise. This works in multiple ways. First, a healthy weight decreases folds in the skin where friction could occur. Second, eating right and exercising reduce your risk of diabetes, which is caused by insulin resistance.

Conclusion

Skin tags around the eye area are not uncommon, nor are they dangerous. However, they can be bothersome to bother your vision and your self-esteem. If you have lumps like skin tags on your face or eye area, you should not try to remove skin tags at home. You run the risk of damaging your eyes. Instead, see a dermatologist who can recommend the best removal option.