Tag ... You're 'It'

*Warning: If you are squeamish, just look at the photo and go back to Facebook (or whatever)

More that 50% of all people have them, some more, some less. I am talking about Acrochordons. Those are those cute little tags of skin that just hang there and do nothing but aggravate their owner. Commonly found in the armpits, neck, groin, and eyelids, they are benign and quite harmless. Their removal is quite simple, but most people are too squeamish to do it. Years ago I had a large one in my armpit and it got irritated one day and started changing colour. At that time there was no Internet to check things out on so I got myself in a lather and made a doctor's appointment to check out the cancer growing on my body. There were wait times back then too and a few hours before my appointment, which was days later, the thing just fell off and everything looked normal and healthy in its place. I called to cancel the visit.

More recently, I had one that was itching me like crazy. With the help of the Internet this time, I took a piece of dental floss and tied it off at its base. Within days, it changed colour and fell off, with no pain or discomfort except for the string hanging down for few days.

The most recent episode has given me renewed courage in my battle against the tags. They tend to grow where there is skin rubbing together and I guess there was a little to much irritation for my favourite skin tag and it got a little inflamed one day and was getting ugly looking. "Enough", said I. and got out my special little scissors for snipping hair out of unwanted places. I grabbed hold of it, pulled it away from my body, and snipped it into oblivion. There was the ugly little thing between my fingers, the constant companion for many years, severed and bleeding. I flicked it into the toilet and never even said goodbye.

They say that skin tags are common in folks up to the age of sixty. That is good news because now the number of my little friends will only decline instead of increase.