Skin Tags
Natural Remedies

Natural Skin Tag Removal: 7 Home Remedies for Skin Tags

| Modified on Oct 06, 2024
The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Castor Oil
Posted by Debbie (New South Wales) on 12/22/2021
★★★★★

I have / had A LOT of anal skin tags that were left over after I have FINALLY successfully treated my decade old hemorrhoids that would likely have been chronic (if the underlying cause hadn't been identified and treated). I am currently treating these skin tags with castor oil. Before I get into how I'm treating my anal skin tags, I'll give you a story I got them.

- I have attempted to treat my hemorrhoids via multiple natural means unsuccessfully for about 10 years. They only gradually became worse over time despite my attempts to treat them on my own. I have spoken to my GP before from time to time about this issue, but I often feel like he doesn't take my hemorrhoid problems seriously (possibly because I look young and healthy). Whenever I do see him about this issue, he just gives me generic advice about adding more fiber to my diet and prescribing ointments or creams that at best only provides temporary relief.

- It is only when I was in ALOT of pain (where I wasn't even able to sit or lie down without crying in pain) that my GP finally referred me to lady doctor to check out the condition of my hemorrhoids, who then referred me to a gastroenterologist. It was then that I was diagnosed with prolapsed thrombosed hemorrhoids. He recommended a colonoscopy and banding surgery to fix the issue.

- The wait in between waiting to see the doctor, then the gastroenterologist and then finally the scheduled surgery was excruciatingly painful. That period lasted for months. During that time, I had to postpone any plans to work or study. All I could do is stay at home, manage my condition via sitz baths, adjust my diet and toilet habits to minimise any pain from doing a no.2 and continue attempting to treat my hemorrhoids during the wait. I had asked why I had to wait such a long time to get my problem sorted. The reason I was given was that hemorrhoids are not a life threatening disease, therefore are not a priority for treatment. Not to mention that I'm fairly healthy otherwise.

- During the wait, I was introduced a acupuncturist who had successfully treated other people to had hemorrhoids. He was able to identify the underlying cause to my condition and used acupuncture to treat it. This, along with adjusting my diet (to include probiotics, fruits and vegetables) and adjusting my toileting position to avoid straining, eventually made my bowel movements easier and painless. I cancelled my scheduled surgery in favor of doing the acupuncture treatment, since waiting for the surgery seems to be taking so long and the acupuncture treatment seems fairly successful.

After the acupuncture treatment, I thought I still had hemorrhoids, despite my bowel movements being a lot easier and painless. I still had flesh coming out of my anus and I still have difficultly cleaning the anal area or sitting comfortably on it. At first, I tried diluted apple cider vinegar to treat the flesh. They did slowly get smaller but I didn't enjoy this treatment and it didn't do much for me aside to giving me an uncomfortable burning sensation. Later, I tried just simply applying castor oil to the flesh after reading the posts about castor oil for hemorrhoids on earth clinic. The castor oil seems like a gentler and more effective treatment than apple cider vinegar. I was able to get rid of more of the extra fleshy part of the anal area over time but I still couldn't get rid of it completely.

It wasn't until later that I worked out that these weren't hemorrhoids anymore, but skin tags in the anal area. Because I already seem to have some success with castor oil for treatment, I decided to so some internet research about using castor oil to treat anal skin tags. I learnt that castor oil has the ability to drain moisture from skin tags, causing it to shrink and die off when it is in contact with it. The internet also mentioned that mixing it with baking soda makes the castor oil more effective.

I did try castor oil and baking soda together once only to get a stinging sensation in the anal area. So I decided to just use castor oil on its own. However, instead of just simply applying it to the anal skin tags, what I decided do recently is get some toilet paper, saturate one side with the castor oil and wrap it around the skin tags to ensure that it is constantly in contact with the castor oil all day and night (and changing the toilet paper and castor oil 3 times per day).

- I've been doing the castor oil with toilet paper treatment for about 10 days now. My skin tags were huge and uncomfortable at the start of those 10 days. Now they're a lot smaller and barely noticeable. I still have some skin tags left over, but castor oil as a treatment for anal skin tag removal has been very successful so far. I'll keep going with this for now and hopefully they will disappear.

Vitamin C
Posted by Jean J. (Wheeling, Il) on 10/19/2018
★★★★★

Mix the contents of 2 1,000mg capsules of vitamin C with a drop or two of water. Apply to skin tag 3 times a day. Skin tags will be gone within a week.


Vitamin C
Posted by Tricia (Huntsville, TX) on 08/04/2024
★★★★★

I have had a skin tag under my breast for years. It has gotten painful, since it is right where my bra line fits. I have tried ACV, castor oil and essential oils, iodine, covered with Band-Aids or cotton balls - tried that for weeks. Nothing happened. I found a post that said to take Vitamin C, either the powder or empty the Vitamin C powder in a capsule, add a few drops of water to make a paste. I did that and applied it to the skin tag and covered with a band aid. I put new Vitamin C paste on it several times and in 2 days, the skin tag completely fell off! It might not work for everyone, but it worked perfectly for me.


Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Lamotz76 (Ohio, US) on 07/26/2014
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I have had this skin tag on my underarm for years. I thought I was stuck with it. It was bothersome because of shaving. Well I nicked it a couple days ago and decided to make an appointment to get it removed. But then had a thought to look on earth clinic. I tried ACV with much skepticism last night. I soaked gauze in ACV for about 20 minutes. and again this morning. A little while ago I peeked at it. It was black and shriveled. I touched it , it rubbed right off!! I am a believer!! ACV is slightly irritating, not too much. I won't be needing that appointment!!


Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Andrew (Cambridge) on 09/28/2015
★★★★★

For a fast and easy solution, pick up some apple cider vinegar from your local supermarket. You should have no trouble finding it, because it is a common cooking ingredient. In fact, if you Google the words apple cider vinegar, you will find that there are thousands of results relating to home remedies of all shapes and sizes apple cider vinegar is extremely versatile.

It works for getting rid of skin tags because it is so acidic. However, this does mean that it should never be used to eradicate skin tags on or around the eyes. For effective removal, all you have to do is carefully clean the area in question just do this as you usually would, with a mix of mild soap and water.

Once completely dry, dab a cotton ball in a small bowl of apple cider vinegar. Use your fingertips to squeeze out the excess liquid and then hold the cotton ball firm against the skin tag. You need to keep it there for approximately 10-15 minutes, so it could be useful to stick it to the skin with a bandage or plaster and then get on with another task.

To start getting rid of skin tags on your body, you need to do this three times every day for a 1-2 weeks (or until you can see the bit of skin start to darken in color, shrivel, and then fall off. There should be no pain involved with this home remedy, but if you do have any small cuts or scratches around the area which you are treating, you might find that the apple cider vinegar stings a little.

I had this problem in the past and I want to share some of my experiences.

All the best, Andrew


Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Lb (Oregon, US) on 06/08/2014
★★★★★

Hi, I came across this site and can't tell you how excited I am I tried the apple cider vinegar for removal of a skin tag I had under my arm for YEARS. I hated it and wanted to try another method other than snipping it off. I used regular Apple Cider Vinegar from the store - nothing special. It took mine just under 2 weeks to work. I wet a cotton ball with the vinegar and held it under my arm for about 5 minutes 3x a day. After a couple of days, the tag would turn white right after applying vinegar and then would be deep red. The stuff just disintegrates them - sometimes would sting a little, but not bad. Slowly parts of it turned black. At the end, it had shrunk and turned black and then one day I just pulled it off. So easy! Wish I'd done it long ago. It works!!!!!


Iodine
Posted by RM (Montana) on 01/09/2022
★★★★★

50 year old male. Got some cheap povidone and applied a couple of times a day to the skin tag with a cotton swap. Just a red spot left after a few days.


Zinc Sulfate
Posted by Cdawson (Sc) on 08/25/2017
★★★★★

When my son had a wart that wouldn't go away through over the counter meds and then freezing, I went to a dermatologist. She suggested Zinc Sulfate. In two day his wart of 4 years was gone. I began taking the supplement to see if it would boost my immunity, I have Crohns and Arthritis. A surprise! After a few weeks, the several skin tags around my eyes were gone!!! I looked one day, and they were not there!!! I continue to take this supplement because skin tags run rampent in my family. I do have one very tiny one on my eyelids that is not noticable unless you really look and I'm wearing eyeliner. Zinc Sulfate tablets have worked for me!!!


Iodine
Posted by Stuman (Oceanside, Ca) on 12/29/2016
★★★★★

Lugol's iodine 5% does remove the skin tags but for me it took over a week of daily application for them to fall off. I put a mini-drop on each skin tag and let it dry to allow the iodine to concentrate on the skin tag. Sometimes the iodine burns but not always.

I believe the skin tags to be caused by a virus because dry ice will remove skin tags. This technique has more risk due to possible freezer burn of the surrounding skin.

Under the thread skin tag theory I found sugar may be the cause. I thought this was important so I'm posting here as well.

It's Dec 29 and I just noticed some new skin tags on my neck. One in particular is large and itchy; it wasn't there last month. The association between sugar and skin tags seems to be true for my body type. During this holiday season, I've been drinking ginger beer soda and eating other foods loaded with sugar.



Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Shawn Marhsall (Raleigh, Nc) on 03/14/2014
★★★★★

Oh My Gosh!!! All of my co-workers called me crazy!! Or cheap because I was trying this. First maybe I am cheap but I would much rather spend my $25.00 co-pay on a cute pair of wedges.... Ever since I turned 40 a few months ago it seems like about four of those hideous things just popped up over night!! I was so embarrassed by them. Let me just say I only did a test run on just one that was located right above my collar bone and I have only been doing it for one and a half days. I put the ACV on a cotton ball and kept it in place with a band-aid once in the morning and one time last night before bed, I put fresh on on this morning, and that sucker is almost gone. I figure maybe another day and a half and no more ugly!!! I a a true believer in this method!!!!


Castor Oil
Posted by Debbie (New South Wales) on 04/24/2022
★★★★☆

Over four months ago, I made a post about how I was able to shrink my anal skin tags with castor oil. I'm making this post to give an update.

When I initially started using the oil, my skin tags shrunk dramatically after just using it for 10 days. However, although the tags continued to gradually shrink as I kept using the castor oil, progress slowed down considerably after those 10 days. During these past four months, there were times when the tags seem stubbornly remained attached to my anal area and refused to go away, despite my efforts to apply the castor oil to them twice/thrice per day everyday. Other times, it seems that the castor oil is having an effect on the tags and is working in dissolving the skin tags as they slowly get smaller and smaller as time goes by.

At the time of writing this post, my tags are now the size of two small grapes, whereas before I started this treatment, they looked like a cluster of grapes.

My current routine now is this: 1) After going to the toilet in morning, I would carefully and throughly wash my tags with water and pat it dry with some toilet paper (then wash my hands with soap). I also have been wiping myself with tissue soaked in a mixture of epsom salt and water 2) I then rub a paper towel against the tags to dry it and remove a layer of skin cells from the surface of the tags 3) Once they're clean and dry, I then massage the castor oil into the tags and cover them with 2 squares of toilet paper (to protect my underwear and pants from being stained with castor oil). When I'm done, I go about my day.

At night before going to bed, I take a sitz bath with epsom salts in water as warm/hot that I could stand for 20 mins. I then pat myself dry, pour the bath down the drain and repeat steps 2 & 3 of the treatment

Pros of using castor oil - It's an easy, comfortable and painless method of removing skin tags. You don't have to go through painful surgery to remove them and it's a remedy you can comfortably do at home. The oil can easily be obtained from a pharmacy, which sells it as a laxative.

Cons of using castor oil - You'd have to be very patient and persistent in your application to remove skin tags with this method. This isn't an overnight miracle cure. In my case, the oil has done an excellent job in making my skin tags much smaller after months of application, but they still remain. Still, I'm optimistic that the skin tags will eventually go away as I continue this treatment.

Also, be mindful that the skin tags will bleed occasionally as the castor oil dissolves the contents of the tags, not to mention that you will also need to carefully wipe away the dead skin cells off before each application. I gave this treat a rating of 5/5 in my last post since it was very effective in shrinking my skin tags. Now, I'm giving it a rating of 4/5 as it's taking ages for the tags to go away.


A String Tied Around the Skin Tag
Posted by Cb (Ny, US) on 06/08/2014
★★★★★

I had a skin tag on a...uh...shall we say private area...and it made me feel incredibly self conscious. Originally tried the nail clipper method but it hurt way to much when I tried to clip it off fast. I saw the idea to tie a piece of string or floss around it and the tag would simply fall off with no pain in a few days so I gave it a try. I used a piece of thread, tied it securely around the tag, and left it there overnight and by the next afternoon around 3pm (after tightening the string in the morning) it had turned brown and just fell off - just like that gone! No blood, no pain, no marks. Awesome! It works!


A String Tied Around the Skin Tag
Posted by Lilli (Kenmore, Wa) on 06/13/2013
★★★★★

I had to write and thank everyone on the site for yet another great remedy.

I have several skin tags. Most are flat, but a few were raised and itchy. I have to say that I put off dealing with them for quite awhile, but finally got up the nerve to try the string method.

I cleaned the three tags with alcohol. Then, I used plain white sewing thread to form a loop around each and tightened it as much as I could stand. After a few days I repeated the string because the tags shrink and you want to continue cutting off the blood supply. On the fourth day, one had almost fallen off so I clipped it with sterilized scissors. It bled a tiny bit so I swabbed it with alcohol, dabbed on some anti-bac cream and covered it with a bandaid. I was more patient with the other two and they just fell off with no bleeding.

What a simple solution to an annoying problem.

I would appreciate input on flat skin tags that cannot be tied with string. thanks.


Iodine
Posted by Simone33 (Burlington, Nc, Us) on 07/30/2010
★★★★★

I can't get over the amazing results of this simple remedy! When I read about it here I honestly didn't think it would work at all. Well let me share that it took my tag out in only TWO applications! I have around 15 skin tags on my neck. I got them when I was pregnant (very common) and had them removed by my dermatologist years ago. They all came back (again, very common) and then some. I had one tag that was very painful. It felt like a fire hot needle when my shirt would touch it. I couldn't see it because it was on the back of my neck so I asked my husband to apply the iodine. He said it looked like a stick of wood growing out of the tag! I thought, great! The iodine surely won't work on this bad boy! After the very first application I had immediate relief and vitually no pain afterwards at all. I didn't get my hopes up though. I had him apply it again the second night and when he went to apply it the third, he said it's gone! ! ! I couldn't believe it. I figured the iodine just relieved the pain, I had no clue it would work, and work so fast. But sure enough it was gone! Here's what we did: He took the iodine dropper and saturated the tip of a Q-tip with about 8 drops and simply coated the tag. I'm still reeling from the results and can't wait to get to work on the rest of them nasty little boogers. Thank all of you for letting us know about this simple, miraculous remedy!


Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Karen (Florence SC) on 03/30/2024
★★★★★

After reading posts on ACV for skin tags and the success of so many I decided to give it a try. Soaked a small gauze with ACV and held it in place with a bandaid. Just wore it thru the day. I removed the bandaid to shower the same evening and to my surprise and delight, the skintag was gone!! Probably 12 hours and it's history. I used Organic ACV. No burning, no discomfort, but wonderful results.


Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Julie-Anne (Australia) on 01/07/2023
★★★★★

I've had two anal skin tags for several years that were recently getting bigger, one getting longer and the other getting thicker and longer - it was almost like a biggish, round, hard ball at one point. The thicker one was getting so big, I could at times feel it when I was walking, which was a bit scary, to say the least. More were also appearing around the same location (seemed like all of a sudden).

After reading about people's experiences on this site and trying several of the remedies, what has been most successful for me, is apple cider vinegar (with the mother). After trying several different methods, I discovered that filling a cylindrical clear top with acv, e.g. top of hair smoother pump bottle, and holding that over the skin tags allowed them to soak in the Apple Cider Vinegar (which worked better than Qtip or cotton balls). I started doing this 2 times a day for about 5-7 mins. I put vaseline around the area first. They started to immediately get smaller. After a week or so, I also started to drink about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of acv, diluted in a glass of water, once a day. Occasionally I missed a day with my 'treatment' but it didn't seem to set it back at all. It's now about 10-12 days later and the difference is huge. The two are so much smaller and the ones that had started to develop have just disappeared and the surrounding skin looks normal again. I'll keep up with the treatment obviously, which has had fantastic results. I have had no real discomfort - just have to use the vaseline and I feel so much better! The area looks so much more normal now - amazing to see the develping ones disappear. I tried iodine and tea tree oil, but never really saw any noticeable improvement. Thank you so much to all the people who contributed to this site - your help has been life changing!!


Iodine
Posted by Nancy (Buena Vista, Co) on 06/26/2016 1 posts
★★★★★

Suffering from skin tags over my life, I thought I would add what I think on the subject. They are caused by the herpes virus in your body, which is in 98 percent of the population. Always use Vaseline to protect your good skin underneath. Once I tried to remove a lump of skin that was in my mouth, pressurized there from wearing braces, detached the corner of my mouth which has been very disfiguring and impossible to fix so far. I try to plump that area with glycerin and exercise. Viruses travel in one direction in the body and you will notice that oftentimes skin tags lean also in one common direction.

I think that applying iodine to skin tags is a great way to introduce iodine into the bloodstream thereby reaching the virus which lives at the base of your spine, manifesting itself as chicken pox, mononucleosis.shingles and in two percent of the population throat cancer.

Be careful with overdosing we all have a "full tank " capacity when it comes to muradic. acid/ iodine. God bless you!

P.s. T he thyroid regulates the level of iodine to cleanse the blood and calcium to provide energy to the body through the blood so get enough calcium or your blood will leach your teeth and bones to get enough.



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