Healthy, beautiful skin can be marred by unattractive and disfiguring tumors. Even growths that are benign, or non-cancerous, can still cause significant emotional pain.
Skin tags and warts are two fairly common disorders that are similar in appearance. Both can multiply and spread to other parts of your body. However, warts can be controlled through healthy hygiene practices. Learn about the differences between the two conditions to determine how and whether to treat them.
Skin Tags: A Mid-Life Crisis
If you are over 40, you have probably noticed small overgrowths of skin on your neck, armpit, trunk or elsewhere. Although skin tags, known to the medical world as acrochordons or fibroepithelial polyps, can be unattractive or annoying, they seldom pose a problem unless they become irritated. These painless, flesh-colored tags occur more frequently in obese people, older individuals and diabetics, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Characteristics and Treatment
Acrochordons are made of collagen, which is a connective tissue protein, and blood vessels. Sometimes, skin tags are pedunculated, or hang from a stalk. They can look like other, more serious skin tumors. Therefore, it is wise to ask a professional to take a look at them.
Skin tags may result from skin rubbing against skin, but scientists are not certain of the cause. Therefore, there is no known preventative for the condition. Acrochordons can be unsightly. You can have them removed by a dermatologist, who will clip, freeze or burn them off.
Warts: Causes and Concerns
Warts resemble skin tags but are not at all the same. The human papillomavirus, or HPV, causes warts. HPV triggers excessive growth of the skin cells, causing the warty growth to appear. These benign growths can be found anywhere on the body. They vary in color from light to dark. Although warts are usually painless, plantar warts on the feet can cause a lot of discomfort. Warts can be contagious among people. More often, they spread within a person from one part of the body to another.
If you have a wart, its location is an important factor to consider when deciding treatment. Although over-the-counter wart remedies are readily available, you will want to see a dermatologist to have warts removed from sensitive areas such as the face and genitalia.
Controlling the Spread of Warts
There are many variations of the human papillomavirus and several different types of warts. For example, genital warts are caused by a specific HPV that is transmitted through sexual contact.
Children, young adults and anyone with a compromised immune system have a higher susceptibility to wart-causing viruses.
The spread of warts can be contained through careful hygiene. If you are prone to warts, protect your feet in public showers. Don't allow yourself to come in contact with another person who has warts. If you have a wart, keep it from spreading. Wash your hands after touching the wart and avoid breaks to the skin in that area.
Some warts disappear without treatment within two years.
Other Considerations
The location and quantity of skin tags are important considerations in deciding whether to have them removed. Cost is another relevant factor.
Some warts disappear on their own within two years. If your wart is not problematic, you could adopt a "wait and see" approach. Self-treatment of warts could result in scarring.
