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What are the causes of skin tags?
Skin tags form when clusters of collagen and blood arteries become caught inside thicker portions of the skin, but the specific cause is still unknown. They may be caused by rubbing skin to skin because they are more common in creases or folds.
Some people appear to be predisposed to developing skin tags.
These affect both men and women, although they’re more common in pregnant women, obese people, and diabetics. They are associated with hyperinsulinemia (a condition in which the blood contains too much insulin), insulin resistance, and high levels of an inflammatory marker called high-sensitive C-reactive protein.
Obese and non–insulin-dependent diabetics frequently have many skin tags; insulin resistance is a common characteristic in both cases. The activation of insulin-like growth factors (IGF1) causes fibroblast proliferation in skin tags. In healthy adults, the average Homeostasis Model Assessment Index (HOMA-IR) is 1.7, and insulin resistance is defined when this ratio surpasses 2.7. Skin tags could be an outward sign of insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease.
According to several studies, patients with human papillomavirus (HPV) are more likely to develop this type of lesion. The type of HPV that causes skin tags is a lower-risk variant than the one that causes cancer. They are also rarely associated with the following conditions:
- Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome
- Polycystic ovary syndrome
