My GP told me ‘I would just have to live with’ the unsightly skin tags that have haunted me since I hit my 30s. But then a simple £100, 15-minute procedure changed my life

When Ezinne Igboke visited her GP last autumn, concerned about the collection of tiny growths that had appeared on her neck, the doctor’s conclusion was: ‘You’ll just have to live with it.’

The 35-year-old nurse had sought help for the ten nodules – commonly known as skin tags – which had become a daily nuisance. Some 60 per cent of Britons have the unfortunate growths. 

Jewellery, collars and seatbelts would constantly catch and pull on her skin, making the area sore, red and ‘angry’.

‘It was uncomfortable but, the worst part was, it looked unsightly,’ said Ms Igboke, who hails from the West Midlands.

With little help from her NHS GP – the problem is considered ‘cosmetic’ and unnecessary by the health service – she turned to risky DIY treatments. 

Strongly discouraged by doctors, at-home remedies involve attempting to cut off the blood supply to the growths by ‘trapping’ them with tiny plastic bands.

Risks include infection, severe bleeding and permanent scarring. 

But since December, Ms Igboke has been skin tag free – thanks to a single procedure which lasted little longer than 15 minutes, and cost her just over £100.

Called electrocautery, the treatment destroys skin tags by burning them with a probe that’s heated via an electric current. 

There’s no downtime, little pain and multiple growths can be removed in one session.

‘Within seven days, all of them had gone,’ she said, adding that the procedure, performed at Birmingham-based Skin Blemish Studio, felt ‘like a series of small stings’. 

‘It wasn’t comfortable, but it was tolerable.’

Ms Igboke said she suffered no changes in quality or texture to the surrounding area of skin – which can happen with alternative treatments, especially in patients with darker skin tones.

‘My neck is completely clear. It’s like nothing has ever been there,’ she said. 

The impact on her confidence has been ‘unreal’. 

‘Finally I could wear dresses with necklaces again, and I felt like myself. I can’t believe I spent so long living with something so uncomfortable, when there was a super quick solution all along.’

Skin tags are one of the most common skin complaints, and are more likely to develop in those over 50. 

Medically known as acrochordons, they are benign little growths made largely of loose collagen and blood vessels, covered by normal skin. 

While most people see them on the neck, they can also develop on the groin, inner thighs, under the breasts and even on the eyelids. 

Experts don’t fully understand exactly what causes skin tags, but a common contributing factor includes friction or chafing – when skin rubs against skin – which is often seen in those living with obesity.

The problem is also associated with type 2 diabetes. In fact, experts say they can be a telltale sign of the condition.

High levels of insulin in the blood, as is seen in type 2 diabetes, can stimulate skin growth, accelerating the development of skin tags. 

Unfortunately those blighted with them are given little resolution on the NHS.

Skin tags are considered cosmetic surgery by health chiefs and, therefore, treatment is only available to those who suffer regular bleeding, or in cases whereby the growth interferes with vision. 

For the vast majority of patients, the only option is private treatment, usually conducted by a dermatologist, which can cost several hundreds of pounds per skin tag.

The most common remedies involve either snipping off the tag using sterile scissors, or freezing it off using liquid nitrogen in the form of either a spray or within a specialised probe.

However, not only is cutting the tag directly off pricey, there can be unpleasant side effects involved, such as bleeding, scarring and, potentially, infection.

Freezing the growths – otherwise known as cryotherapy – is also popular but it’s not particularly precise, meaning surrounding tissue is at risk of damage, and often changes in colour.

Advocates of electrocautery say the procedure is ‘more accessible’, as it costs just £70 for one skin tag removal and roughly £100-£120 for several, and can be performed by a nurse with specialist training.

The procedure involves using a tiny, hot needle to both ‘burn’ off the skin tag, and seal the blood vessels supplying it, dramatically reducing bleeding and instantly healing the wound.

‘The needle used is very small, which allows us to be precise and reduces the risk of harm to surrounding tissue,’ says Monicha Mignott, a specialist nurse and electrolysist who performs the procedure and is based in Birmingham. 

‘The circumference of the needle is miniscule, whereas with a cryotherapy device, the probe is roughly the size of a pen.’

Ms Mignott adds that, depending on the size of the growth, it can either be instantly removed at its base, or ‘pierced’.

‘If you send heat down the middle of the growth it shrivels like a raisin and then falls off within two weeks,’ she explains, adding that she finishes the treatment with soothing ointment to promote healing.

The procedure takes a maximum of 15 minutes and scarring is very rare. Unlike cryotherapy, which can require several follow-up treatments to destroy the growth, electrocautery is effective after one session.

In 2024, dermatologists at the Iranian University of Medical Sciences asked 24 patients and doctors to rate the results of electrocautery and cryotherapy for removing skin tags.

After a three-month follow-up, both doctors and patients were more satisfied with the results of the electrocautery procedure. 

Another advantage is clinicians can remove several skin tags in one treatment, although this is also the case for cryotherapy. 

The downside is it can be mildly painful, as not all practitioners will use numbing cream.

‘You have to be a nurse qualified to prescribed medication to be able to offer numbing cream, and not every clinician who performs this treatment is,’ says Ms Mignott.

‘But some of my patients find it completely pain-free – I have some who fall asleep halfway through.

‘Others, however, might score the pain at around a five out of ten.’

Ms Mignott advises patients to invest in Emla cream – an over-the-counter ointment with numbing properties, which can be bought from high street pharmacies – and apply it before the treatment.

Ensuring the clinician does a thorough examination of the growths you want gone is essential, experts say.

If a skin tag is a very different colour to your skin, is bleeding and painful, or growing rapidly, it may not be a skin tag, but a form of skin cancer.

‘Usually there are characteristics signs of this particular skin problem. If a skin tag doesn’t look like a skin tag, I’ll tell clients to go to their GP to get it checked out, or I’ll take pictures with a special camera and send them to a dermatologist,’ says Ms Mignott.

Ms Igboke has spent the last six months recommending the treatment to ‘anyone who is interested’.

‘I have quite a few colleagues who struggle with skin tags and I’ve told them to go and get this done ASAP.

‘I was surprised that a nurse doing cosmetic treatments would be more knowledgeable about this than a GP, but I’m glad I found her.

‘Not only was I very happy with the results, but it felt good to be listened to.’