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Skin Tags

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 10:32 am
by Pearl1957
I have unsightly skin tags visible around my neck area and have been told i can only get these removed privately by a dermatologist. I am very self conscious of them and a GP said would cost the surgery £200 per tag as needs to be checked for cancer and of course comes out of their budget. Can i get some advice on this?

Re: Skin Tags

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 5:14 pm
by Mr Ioannis Goutos
Dear Pearl1957,
Skin tags are troublesome lesions of the skin and sadly do fall outside the NHS remit given they are considered primarily 'aesthetic' despite sometimes getting traumatised and bleeding. Clearly before removal an assessment by a dermatologist or plastic surgeon is mandatory to ensure they do not have sinister features. The argument of sending every single skin tag for laboratory examination is weak especially if patients have dozens of them and a sensible plan needs to be made as part of a consultation. Options for removal include local anaesthetic snipping off, freezing treatments to mention few.
I hope you can get some clarity via my response.
Best regards,
Ioannis Goutos
Plastic Surgeon