Skin Tag Removal – Silent Facts And What You Can Do

Skin tag removal can be considered once you have a deeper understanding of what skin tags really are and the impact they leave on the individual’s health and wellbeing. In this article, you will learn about what are the causes of skin tag and what are the available treatment methods for you should you suffer from multiple skin tags.

A skin tag is a small skin growth or tumor that develops on normal skin. They are attached to the skin by thin tissues called stalks or peduncles, and are normally a few millimeters in thickness. They can have the same colour as the surrounding skin or are slightly pigmented. Skin tags would commonly be found on the neck, armpits, eyelids, under the breasts, groin or genital areas and under skin folds where frequent abrasion takes place.

Skin tags, medically known as acrochordons are generally harmless and non malignant like other skin abnormalities that could possibility become cancerous. They would appear without noticeable symptoms as well.

Some people are more prone to suffer from skin tags. Researchers have found out that skin tag occurrence could be attributed to several factors. Fat or obesity seems to be a major factor as skin tags are commonly found in obese folks. This could be due largely to the excessive skin folds they have. Skin tags have also been observed in pregnant women probably for the same reason. Age does have a role to play. Older people tend to have more skin tags when they progress in age. It is reported that skin tags occurrence could be passed down from one generation to another, ie hereditary. Even gender would affect the tendency of developing skin tags. Women tend to have a higher propensity to develop ugly skin tags.

Since they are benign and does not have an adverse impact on the health of the individual, people may wish to ignore them. However, in some cases, the sufferer could have multiple skin tags in huge numbers. They can be aesthetically undesirable and affect the overall appearance of the person. Imagine how one would look like with clusters of tightly spaced skin tags dangling in obvious visible body parts like the eye lids and neck? Very few people can accept and tolerate their existence in such circumstances. These poor victims would also fall prey to low self-esteem as they lose confidence in their physical appearances.

There is yet another group of individuals who would prefer to have the skin tags removed for another reason. Remember that these skin tags often occur underneath the skin folds and on the neck, and other body parts that come into close contact with the clothing we wear? A lot of abrasion or skin friction takes place and can be rather irritating and uncomfortable. They may even interfere with our daily activities such as playing sports, or just about any physical movements. Skin tag removal is obviously necessary.

In summary, there are several widely accepted methods of removing those skin tags, such as freezing the tag and stalk by cryotherapy, burning off the skin tags by a process called cauterization, or stopping the blood supply to each skin tag by binding the peduncle and letting them die off in weeks. The skin tags can also be surgically cut off with scissors or a scalpel at the dermatologist’s clinic. Finally, there are other effective and natural methods which you will find out in my subsequent articles.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.


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About the Author: Davion is a successful webmaster and author. Find out more about effective and natural skin tag removal methods that you can apply from home at his blog skintagremoval.blogspot.com.

This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Seek the guidance of a licensed physician if you need medical advice.

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Gynecomastia Treatment Alternatives – What Really Works?

Finding the best gynecomastia treatment alternative can sometimes be quite challenging. There are a wide variety of treatments available, but finding the best one really depends on the cause of your enlarged male breasts.

Being overweight is generally the number one reason for gynecomastia. The excess fat builds up in the chest area and creates large male breasts.

The treatment for this type of cause can be a diet and exercise program under the care of a nutritionist or weight loss counselor.

In severe cases of obesity it is best to see your doctor first and have an exam.

For teenage boys who suffer from enlarged breasts and obesity, dieting is almost always the cure. There is usually no need for further medical treatment.

Medications are also another contributor to gynecomastia. There are several prescription medications that are known to cause enlarged male breasts.

Talk with your doctor or health care provider about this if you suspect this may be affecting you. In most cases you can have your prescriptions changed and eliminate the problem.

There are also other gynecomastia treatment alternatives available such as a couple of the various programs designed just for each individual. You can find these online and many people have experienced great success with them.

Finally, liposuction is yet another treatment that can eliminate gynecomastia, but should be used only as a last alternative. If you have tried losing weight, exercise and changing medications, then surgery may be your only choice.

The key with deciding on a surgical option is finding a doctor that is well qualified and answers all your questions. Be sure they are board certified in the area of gynecomastia.


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About the Author: By the way, you can get a FREE Sample Lesson on How To Eliminate Male Breasts sent to you immediately as well as much more information on gynecomastia at http://www.LoseManBreasts.com

This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Seek the guidance of a licensed physician if you need medical advice.

Gynecomastia – Male Breast Reduction Resources

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Stretch marks are a normal part of puberty for most girls and guys. Stretch marks occur in the dermis, the elastic middle layer of skin that allows it to retain its shape. However, when constantly stretched, the dermis can break down leaving behind stretch marks. Stretch marks are generally associated with pregnancy, obesity, and can develop during rapid muscle growth from body building. Between 75% and 90% of women develop stretch marks to some degree during pregnancy. Stretch marks are the result of the rapid stretching of the skin associated with rapid growth (e.g. puberty) or weight gain (e.g. pregnancy), and anabolic steroid use. Men and women can get stretch marks on several areas of their bodies, including the abdominal area, thighs, hips, breasts, upper arms or lower back.

Stretch marks occur in certain areas of the body where skin is subjected to continuous and progressive stretching. The glucocorticoid hormones responsible for the development of stretch marks. Stretch marks may show up as reddish or purplish lines that may appear indented and have a different texture from the surrounding skin. Stretching plays more of a role in where the marks occur and in what direction they run. Stretching alone is not the cause. Various treatments are available for the purpose of improving the appearance of existing stretch marks. Chemical peel can be used to address unwanted stretch marks, and there are new advances in laser surgeries. The degree of success with any treatment will be impacted by your age, your skin tone and even your diet.

Tretinoin is another approach to the treatment of early stretch marks. There have been claims that this produces improvement. Topical retinoids are effective treatments for mild to moderately stretch marks. Use of a pulsed dye laser has shown to increase pigmentation in darker skinned individuals with repeated treatments A new modality, fractional laser resurfacing, offers a novel approach to treating striae. Using scattered pulses of light only a fraction of the scar is zapped by the laser over the course of several treatments. Drink plenty of water. Proper water intake keeps your skin soft and less likely to develop stretch marks. Caffeine can increase your risk of stretch marks. Avoid caffeine. Creams and other skin products on the market that claim to eliminate stretch marks.

Stretch Marks Remedies Tips

1. Drink plenty of water. Proper water intake keeps your skin soft.

2. Apply pure vitamin E oil locally to prevent or reduce stretch marks.

3. Exercise daily to keep your skin supple and free from toxins.

4. Apply aloe vera gel, cod liver oil, or vitamin E oil to affected areas to help the healing process.

5. Eat a well-balanced nutrient rich diet.

6. Massaging on the stretch marks serves as an excellent home remedy for stretch marks removal.

7. Avoid stress as much as possible when pregnant.

8. Take some cocoa butter and apply it on your stretch marks.


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About the Author: Juliet Cohen writes articles for feet care and beauty tips. For more information visit our makeup blog.

This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Seek the guidance of a licensed physician if you need medical advice.

Stretch Mark Resources

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Face Lift Alternatives, A Complete Guide

Lately I’ve noticed a stubborn little crease on my forehead. I lift the skin just a bit, mimicking a facelift – and the crease disappears. During a facelift, the surgeon makes an incision, usually around the hairline, and then pulls the facial skin upward to smooth loose skin and wrinkles, and provide a more youthful appearance.

While a face lift can provide dramatic results, I’m not quite ready for all that. I’d just like something to freshen my face a bit. And yet I’m smart enough to know that some products and procedures billed as facelift alternatives are likely to have more of an effect on my wallet than on my face. But how to separate the facts from the fictions? I turned to an expert for help – and here’s what I learned.

Topical Treatments

Dr. Joel Schlessinger, MD, FAAD, FAACS, president of the American Society of Cosmetic Dermatology and Aesthetic Surgery, assured me that creams can be very effective when targeting specific problems. No single cream can do it all, however, and sadly he could not tell me of a cream that is truly “better than Botox.” He recommends the Obagi line for pigmentation and age spots, and he has found creams that accomplish such things as increasing eyelash growth and enhancing pouty lips.

Peels are another option, and their level of invasiveness depends on what you’d like. Prices range from low strength AHA peels at $30 – $100 per treatment to very strong phenol peels at $4000 or more. Chemical peels burn off the outer, damaged layers of skin, revealing the younger skin underneath. Babies have such soft skin because their cells are constantly regenerating, but this slows as we age. Chemical peels speed the process up.

There are some nasty stories about what happens if a chemical peel goes too deep, so be careful in your choice of practitioner. Some of the newer options, like blue peels, claim to be safer. At $200 – $1000, these peels may be adjusted to the desired strength. Milder peels can be repeated at regular intervals to achieve a desired result and minimize side effects and healing time. According to the blue peel website, a measured application of blue glycerine is mixed into the traditional peel chemical, trichloracetic acid (TCA), to “improve patient safety by visually indicating the TCA solution strength and facial skin coverage.” Anything that helps keep the peel from going too far sounds good to me.

High Tech Salon Treatments

Laser treatments are increasingly popular these days, whether you’re trying to remove unwanted hair or get rid of wrinkles. Laser “facelifts” use a carbon dioxide laser to remove outer layers of old skin and tighten muscles.
Dr. Schlessinger tells me that the first laser treatments had “a long recovery time and fabulous results. Today’s technology produces only about 20-30% of the those early results, but with almost no side effects.” The new buzz word, Schlessinger tells me, is “fraxellation.” In today’s treatments, you can “strafe” an area so that the laser only disrupts pinpoints of skin, leaving enough surface untreated to speed healing time. This one sounded good to me.

What’s more, laser treatments are only one kind of skin resurfacing. Dermabrasion and microdermabrasion, which can be thought of as extreme exfoliation, are old standbys that are still quite popular.

In dermabrasion, the surgeon removes the outer layers of skin with an electronically operated wire brush or diamond-impregnated burr. It can leave you pretty raw and is moderately painful, with a 2 to 12 week recovery. Microdermabrasion is a bit easier on the patient. It involves spraying fine crystals onto the skin, then removing them along with the top layer of skin cells. It is not as painful as dermabrasion, and is safe to repeat every couple months.

Microcurrent “facelifts” go deeper, using mild electrical stimulation to activate chemicals in the skin. Dr. Schlessinger warns that some microcurrent treatments are nothing more than quackery. In general, he says, be careful of spa-type clinics that recommend the same treatment for everyone-chances are they might own only one piece of equipment!
Every woman trying to decide which procedure to have should have a consultation with a certified surgeon, Dr. Schlessinger tells me: “This is one area in which you get what you pay for.”

Needles Required

Dr. Schlessinger cautioned me to be especially careful in selecting a good practioner if I decide to go with Botox. These days, Botox is being offered everywhere, from salons to parties. And yet, Botox is a powerful chemical that should be administered only by those with the training to do so. It is derived from a toxin that causes food poisoning. Injected in small amounts into the skin, however, it weakens or paralyzes certain muscles or blocks certain nerves, causing fewer frown lines and wrinkles.

“Many wrinkles are due to repetitive motion on the face-frown acquired as a habit,” Schlessinger explains. These wrinkles disappear after a Botox treatment, and the very good news is that often after several treatments the habit is broken and no further injections are necessary.

But what about all the horror stories? The paralysis? Most of those are just urban legends. Botox is not permanent. In fact, injections last only three to four months, which means any side effects are also temporary.

According to Schlessinger, “the biggest complication we see is Botox done wrong.” For two reasons, he advises going to a professional who specializes in Botox. One: the proliferation of Medspas and day spas has resulted in many unqualified practitioners. Two: you’re more likely to get fresh Botox at a place that uses a lot of it. According to Dr. Schlessinger, we should buy our Botox fresh – just like we would want to get our fish fresh from a fish market.

Facial fillers are another injectable option. These injections actually help replace the volume that you begin to lose in your 30s. And sometimes they actually spur more collagen growth. A recent University of Michigan study even found that the supposedly non-permanent filler restylane sometimes provides long-term effects.

One popular name-brand filler is Juvederm, a hyaluronic acid dermal filler. Hyaluronic acid naturally occurs in all living organisms as a type of sugar. While the treatment does not last forever, it does last longer than Botox, typically at least six months or more.
I was also intrigued by the threadlift. In this procedure, barbed prolene facial sutures (threads) are attached to anchor points in the face (such as a sagging jowl) using a hollow bore needle. The threads are used to lift the sagging areas and can be tightened when necessary. I thought this sounded pretty cool, but unfortunately, it turns out that it’s a risky procedure that Dr. Schlessinger says is “so popular, but so incredibly wrong.” The threads used in the procedure are quite fragile and can break. When this happens, the effect becomes uneven and the threads can migrate to new areas, or even poke out through the skin! I have moved this option to the “no” column for me.

Go-Go Gadget Facelift

For those willing to try any weird science on their faces, there is such a thing as facelift tape, which uses exterior anchors and threads to physically pull the skin on your face tighter. Think Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. Unfortunately, you won’t have a makeup team to help attach the device to your face every morning, and it seems like you’d need an awful lot of hair to hide the threads adequately. Not for me!

Sweatin’ to the Oldies?

An au natural option is facial exercises. Rather than working from the outside-in, these programs claim to work from the inside-out, building tone and strength in your facial muscles. Some programs, such as Facial Flex, even include a resistance device that fits in your mouth to help improve the results of your “workout.”

Sorry to say, Dr. Schlessinger says that these program claims are “a complete fabrication. If it were true, a person who chews a pack of gum a day would look great, but in fact the opposite is true.” The more you stretch the skin out on your face, the more wrinkles you get. Remember, Botox works by temporarily paralyzing muscle groups, not by giving them a workout. I was a bit disappointed by this news, but at least I can take comfort in knowing there’s something good about being a couch potato.

Minor Surgeries

While it may not seem like an alternative to some, there is the partial facelift option, in which a surgeon does not complete an entire facelift (which is extremely painful, expensive, and requires a large recovery time), but simply targets the areas you would most like to see improved. Neck lifts, upper brow lifts, and cheek lifts are common options, but the possibilities are truly endless. It’s especially popular for women to have the fat removed under the chin, and in some cases, this is a liposuction procedure that doesn’t even involve cutting removing skin. And it is, in my opinion, one way to look a lot younger through a relatively minor procedure.

Welcome to the New Millennium

It used to be unheard of to visit a plastic surgeon before you really needed it-at which point your skin and facial muscles are almost beyond repair. “Today,” Dr. Schlessinger assured me, “we have better alternatives to keep people looking good for much longer.” The trick is to do your research and take care of your face by starting early. And while an effective Botox cream is still five years off, new treatments are developed every day. With so many good options, short of a full facelift, I am very happy to know that I will never be trapped in a prematurely aging face.


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About the Author: Kathleen Bowers wrote Scarless Surgery, What’s in store in the Future and Facelift Alternatives, A Complete Guide. You can find her articles in www.body-philosophy.net. Her work is usually in the field of medical alternatives. She enjoys an afternoon at the park and that inspires her to work.

This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Seek the guidance of a licensed physician if you need medical advice.

Face Lift Resources

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Anti Wrinkle Creams. Do They Work?

Anti-aging creams are cosmetic products marketed with the promise of making the consumer look younger and reducing visible wrinkles on the skin. Despite great demand, most such products and treatments have not been proven to give lasting or major positive effects.

There are a range of cosmetic treatments for the appearance of wrinkles on the skin such as plastic surgery and botox injections. Advertising sometimes presents anti-aging creams as an alternative to these more costly and invasive cosmetic treatments.Many wrinkle creams and lotions sold in department stores, in drugstores and on the Internet promise to reduce wrinkles and prevent or reverse damage caused by the sun.

Do they work? Some research suggests that wrinkle creams contain ingredients that may improve wrinkles. But many of these ingredients haven’t undergone scientific research to prove this benefit.

If you want to look young, don’t spend a fortune on anti-wrinkle creams. A study shows that the cheaper brands work just as well – if not better – than the more expensive ones.

Do anti-aging skin care creams containing Vitamin C work?

Both “yes and No” are the answers! On one hand, vitamin C does possess definite, scientifically validated merits for wrinkle reduction and skin rejuvenation. On the other hand, most anti-wrinkle anti aging vitamin C products does not work. And worse is that they may aggravate wrinkle formation.

Here are some of the most common ingredients that are used in anti wrinkle creams.

* Vitamin E. Vitamin E is known to be a good vitamin for skin.
* Tretinoin (or retin-A). The effects of retin-A or tretinoin will be similar to vitamin A, as it is a similar ingredient. It can be also be used to treat acne and sun damage.
* Hydroxy acids (including Alppha hydroxyl acids, beta hydroxy acids and poly hydroxy acids). Hydroxy acids are synthetic versions of the acids contained in fruit. They remove the upper layer of old dead skin and stimulate the growth of new skin.
* Vitamin A (or retinol). Retinol is a derivative of vitamin A. It is an antioxidant and is used in many anti wrinkle creams.

This was the verdict of Consumer Reports, a monthly publication of the non-profit consumer research group Consumer Union that recently tested different products to determine whether or not they could fight wrinkles.

After 12 weeks of testing, researchers found that the best performer cost only $19. However, none of the products they tested was able to significantly reduce wrinkles.

“The top-rated products smoothed out some fine lines and wrinkles but even the best performers reduced the average depth of wrinkles by less than 10 percent, a change barely visible to the naked eye,” according to Belinda Goldsmith of Reuters.

“The tests revealed that, on average, these products made little difference in the skin’s appearance and there’s no correlation between price and effectiveness,” a spokeswoman for the magazine said.

For its tests, Consumer Reports chose several popular brands priced from $19 to $355. The creams were used by 17 to 23 women aged between 30 and 70. The services of a European laboratory were used to recruit the women and evaluate the products.

“The women used a test product on one side of their face and the lab’s standard moisturizer on the other side for comparison. A high-tech optical device was used to detect changes in wrinkle depth and skin roughness,” Goldsmith said.

Results were disappointing and showed that the effects of most anti-wrinkle creams were barely noticeable.

The small study, however, was criticized by some dermatologists. Dr. Tina Alster, a dermatologic laser surgeon from Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and a member of the American Academy of Dermatologists, said it was difficult to conclude from such a limited study that these products did not work.

“People would love to believe that cheap products are the same as the more expensive ones, and I may pooh-pooh someone paying $500 for a cream, but I do see the value of some of the luxury brands which are science-based. But it is a cautionary tale that people should be looking at the ingredients rather than just at the packaging,” she said.

Still, some women said they would continue to use anti-wrinkle creams if only because it gave them the illusion of being beautiful.

“I’ve never really believed these creams would stop wrinkles, but they make me feel and smell good,” said Amira Thoron, a 36-year-old New York teacher.

To maximize your beauty without losing money, redefine your skin with Dermaxin cream. This potent needle-free formula will reduce the signs of aging without the discomfort and side effects of painful and costly doctor administered injectables.


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About the Author: Read out Blackheads. Also check out for home remedies and herbs for acne

This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Seek the guidance of a licensed physician if you need medical advice.

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