Skin tags: causes and treatments

Skin tags, also known as acrochordons, are small brown or darker-than-skin tone growths on the surface of the skin. Tags are very common and harmless growths and tend to occur on the neck, under the breasts, armpits, eyelids and folds of the groin. They generally take place after midlife. About 25% of people report having skin tags after they cross the age of 50.

What causes skin tags to occur?

Skin tags are very common among diabetics and obese individuals. Pregnant women also develop skin tags, as a consequence of changes in the body's hormonal levels. Skin tags tend to occur when your skin rubs against clothing or skin. They are normally caused by blood vessels and collagen that gets trapped inside the thicker portions of the skin. For this reason, they are typically found in folds and creases of the skin. Sometimes, they reduce on their own if blood supply to the tissue has been disrupted due to them getting twisted.

What procedures are involved in their treatment?

Skin tags are generally removed for purely cosmetic reasons but when they do become troublesome, as in, they rub against jewelry, skin or clothing, doctors recommend their removal as the area can end up becoming irritated.

The following procedures are performed to remove these annoying growths on skin:

1. Excision - in this procedure the skin tag gets removed using a scalpel.

2. Ligation - the procedure involves the cutting off of blood supply to the skin tag.

3. Cauterization - the procedure involves the burning off the skin tag using electrolysis (process that involves decomposition of a matter by electric current)

4. Cryosurgery - in this procedure, the skin tag is frozen before removing it. An instrument containing liquid nitrogen is used to do the removal.

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Related Tip: How does salt help in clearing skin?

Why are SKIN TAGs so annoying?

On an average a person consumes nearly 800 calories daily from added sugar. This does not just include natural sugar found in fruits or milk but the processed sweet sugar as well, that is added to cakes, tea, coffee, confectionery and even pasta sauce and salad dressing. However, it is possible that you can limit your sugar intake or even quit it to get some truly amazing benefits.

When you take this hard decision, you may experience withdrawal symptoms such as mild depression, anxiety or restlessness. But if you remain adamant and continue with your decision, your body will soon show some incredible results that you couldn't have imagined.

Here are a few of them:

1.&nbsp;Your heart will beat happily

Sugar raises insulin levels that activate the responses of sympathetic nervous system thereby elevating your bp and heart rate. When you cut down on sugar, your ldl cholesterol will decrease by 10% and triglycerides will reduce by 20-30%. And your risk of heart attack will reduce manifold.

2.&nbsp;Your weight fluctuations will be gone

With the exception of fruits, sugar is mostly present in processed or high-carb foods that contain loads of other unwanted constituents like fat etc.

So when you quit sugar, your body has to no longer worry about those unwelcome calories and your weight will stop moving right and left across the scale.

3.&nbsp;Digestion will become efficient

When you quit sugar, the digestive system becomes more efficient. Since your stomach and intestines have to no longer worry about those difficult to digest processed foods, their abilities and functioning improves. Even your colon begins to work better, may be you take more trips to the restroom, so things get even more on track.

4.&nbsp;No more acne troubles

Sugar triggers acne troubles. When you cut it down, you will no longer be troubled by those zits that dampen your looks. Your skin will actually clear up, cracks will disappear and you will get a healthier skin.

5.&nbsp;You will no longer have sweet craving

With sugar, there is a huge negative, as you enjoy sweets, you crave for more sweets. But if you quit sugar, slowly you will begin to avoid foods that contain sugar and as a result, whenever you will eat anything that has sugar, it will taste over sweet and you will not be able to have large portions. This means no more cravings for sugar!

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on'consult.

5 Wonderful Things That Happen to Your Body When You Quit Sugar!

Facial surgery can be opted for by people for a number of reasons, and these include being born with facial impairments like cleft lip, birthmark or other birth defects, the effects of aging, sun damage, or other facial traumas that are noticeable on the face as well as a sense of general dissatisfaction with your facial features. Depending on these factors, facial plastic surgery can be divided into two categories:  reconstructive and cosmetic.

Reconstructive plastic surgery is performed for correcting conditions that may be present from birth, including birthmarks on the face, cleft lip and palate, protruding ears, and a crooked smile. Conditions resulting from accidents, traumas, or burns are also corrected by this type of surgery.

Cosmetic facial plastic surgery is performed to enhance the visual appearance of facial structures and features which include facelifts, eye lifts, rhinoplasty, cheek and chin implants, and liposuction. 

If you are planning to get facial surgery done, there are certain things you need to do to prepare yourself for it. These are:

Choose a qualified surgeon: It's important to choose a board-certified plastic surgeon or facial plastic surgeon who has experience performing the specific procedure you are considering. You should also ask to see before-and-after photos of the surgeon's previous patients.

Understand the risks: As with any surgery, facial surgery carries some risks, including infection, bleeding, and scarring. Make sure you understand the potential risks and complications of the procedure before making a decision.

Have realistic expectations: While facial surgery can produce excellent results, it is not a magic cure-all. It's important to have realistic expectations about what the surgery can and cannot do.

Follow post-surgery instructions: After your surgery, it's important to follow your surgeon's instructions for care and recovery. This will help ensure that you get the best possible results and minimize the risk of complications.

Schedule a surgery when you are healthy: If you are planning for either of the surgeries, try to schedule it during a period of relatively good health. Your immune system will have the best chance of a speedy recovery. Scheduling the surgery at the year-end is ideal when you can take a few days of paid leaves. 
Get enough essential nutrients: Your diet, before and after the surgery, should be rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, zinc, copper, and selenium. They help the wound to heal quickly and build immunity, thereby reducing the chances of an infection. You can recover from more comprehensive procedures like tummy tuck, facelift or liposuction by including the requisite nutrients in your diet.
Stay hydrated: Consuming 6-8 glasses on the day prior to the surgery is very important to help cleanse and hydrate the body. Since fluid intake is reduced on the day of surgery, water intake is especially important prior to the surgery. To avoid complications during surgery, ensure that you do not drink anything after midnight on the night prior to your surgery unless advised by your surgeon.
Overall, it's important to do your research and consult with a qualified surgeon before making a decision about facial surgery. Good luck!

Related Tip: "Causes and Risks of Craniofacial Surgery"

7 Things To Keep In Mind For Facial Surgery

Genital warts are a sexually transmitted disease caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) and affects both men and women. Genital warts are treatable but can come back if the underlying infection is not treated properly.

Genital Warts appear as soft growths on the genitals and are known to cause itching, pain and discomfort. Although the disease affects both men and women, it causes more complications in women as some strains of HPV can cause cancer of the cervix and vulva.

Warts can appear on the penis, scrotum, groin, thighs, inside or around the anus for men. These can appear inside of the vagina or anus, outside of the vagina or anus or cervix for women. They can also appear on the mouth, lips, tongue, throat of the person who engages in oral sex with an infected person. Sometimes the warts may be invisible to the eye and still cause symptoms like vaginal discharge, itching, bleeding or a burning sensation.

Symptoms of Genital Warts: HPV is very common and nearly 70 pc of the people are infected around the genital area. The Center for Disease control (CDC) says that most sexually active people, are affected by the disease at some point of there life. It is important to note that although the disease is transmittable through skin-to-skin contact, it doesn't spread from the hand to the genitals or vice versa.

Diagnosis: 

Genital Warts can be diagnosed by performing a physical examination of the infected areas by a medical professional. Since some warts can be inside a woman's body, a doctor may have to conduct a pelvic exam. While conducting the test they use a mild acidic solution which makes the Genital Warts more visible.
A Pap smear test may also be conducted, in which a swab of the area is taken from inside your cervix. Apart from that doctors may also ask questions about a person's sexual history as well as health as ask if they have participated in unprotected sex, including oral sex.

Treatment: Visible Genital warts go away with time; however treatment is essential to prevent their return. The virus cannot be eliminated once it is in your bloodstream, which makes it possible that an infected person will have many break outs in their life. Managing the symptoms of Genital warts is important as they can be easily passed on to your sexual partner, even if there are no visible symptoms.

Genital Warts - How They Can be Diagnosed?

Eczema is something which can really blight the quality of the life of a person. Sometimes, even the most mundane of things can cause our skin to have a reaction, resulting in allergic eczema. However, while it is annoying and painful, there are ways to go about treating it.

It is quite important, though, to understand what exactly eczema is. Simply put, it is a condition which occurs when the skin of the person suffering from it is inflamed.

Among the various groups of people who suffer from eczema, a lot of them are actually babies. However, they thankfully are able to grow out of the issue by the time they become adults. While it is true that eczema can strike any part of a person s body, among the places it strikes most often are the face, the neck and behind the sweat spots of the body i.e. the area behind the knees and around the ankles.

What causes allergic eczema?
Eczema is a lot of the time, a condition which is genetic. That being said, there are certain things which can go a long way into making it worse, which include stress and dry climates as well as external materials which irritate the skin touching it, like soaps which are just too strong.

What are the Treatment Options?
When it comes to things, which have the potential to make the situation a lot better, there is a group of medicines which are part of the antihistamine group which can work wonders. An interesting thing when it comes to the treatment of allergic eczema is the fact that a lot of the treatment for the issue involves a management of the inflammation that occurs along with an attempt to take better control and manage the immune system of the person who has eczema.

Depending on the severity of eczema a person has, a possible course of treatment involves making use of corticosteroids, which are strictly a prescription based way to go about treating eczema. Keeping this in mind, it is of the highest importance to make sure that whenever the steroids are being taken by mouth, there is a full adherence to what the doctor has recommended or directed.

As a last ditch resort, if the condition is really bad, there is a possibility of going for Ultra Violet Therapy in order to make it better. However, if one is looking for ways to reduce the intensity of their eczema sans higher doses of medication, stress management in something that can work well. In addition to this, a humidifier can do a lot to improve the situation.

Allergic Eczema - Ways You Can Contact It!

6 Causes of hair loss you didn t know about and how you can combat this problem

In order to have healthy volume of hair on your head, the rate of hair loss and replacement should be in tandem. With age, your hair growth cycle shows signs of slowing down and factors like age, disease, and hormonal changes among others affect the pace at which an individual hair follicle moves through the 3 phases of the hair cycle. A disruption in your hair cycle can give rise to loss of hair that s rapid and unexpected. Hair loss or alopecia can affect both men and women. 
So what can cause your hair to fall at an alarming rate?

The reasons behind hair loss could be many, but here are 6 major ones: 
1. Lack of protein in your diet
When you exclude protein from your diet, your body starts to conserve the protein that it has by altering the growth cycle of your hair. In such cases, your hair enters into the resting stage, resulting in zero hair growth. 
In India, 9 out of 10 people are said to suffer from low amounts of protein in their diet, with 91% vegetarians reporting protein deficiency.

2. Iron deficiency 
Iron plays a very important role in the transportation of oxygen to the different organs of the body. Lack of iron in your diet (which is the principle reason behind anaemia) can give rise to several health problems including hair loss. Your body attempts to direct oxygen to important organs so as to support their functioning. As a result, your scalp witnesses a low supply of oxygen, which causes hair loss. 


3. Vitamin D-3 deficiency
Deficiency of vitamin D-3 gives rise to a type of hair loss called Telogen Effluvium (TE). This is a temporary hair thinning phenomenon that takes place when the all the hair on your scalp enter the resting phase at the same time, subsequently causing you to shed a large amount of hair later on. 

4. Smoking 
Smoking can also affect the health of your hair, especially the rate at which it falls and the number of strands lost in a day. A research carried out by the Harvard School of Public Health has revealed that smoking can cause a rise in a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
An increase in DHT level prevents new hair cells from growing and causes hair follicles to reduce in size with each hair cycle. As a result, the area on your scalp that gets affected by DHT experiences a lack of hair growth.  

5. Use of testosterone supplements in gym
Intake of testosterone in the form of supplements and injections to build muscle mass can trigger hair loss in men. This takes place when the testosterone in these supplements gets changed into DHT, thereby affecting your hair loss rate and amount. 

6. Past illnesses (dengue, TB and typhoid)
Falling of hair can also be brought on by illnesses such as typhoid, TB and dengue as the hair growth cycle comes to a stop. Hormonal or metabolic stress that is experienced during the course of such diseases may cause hairfall. 

What are the treatments available to cure hair loss?

1. Hair transplant
Hair transplant is a minimally invasive surgical technique that transfers hair follicles taken from other parts of your body to the balding area. Known by the name of Follicular Unit Transplantation, this hair loss treatment can help to bring back the natural appearance of a fuller head of hair. Hair follicles are harvested using two procedures- follicular unit extraction and strip harvesting. Procedure can vary from 4-8 hours or more depending on the case. 

2. Platelet- Rich Plasma (PRP)
Platelet- Rich Plasma (PRP) is another treatment alternative that can reverse hair loss. It s a simple non-surgical procedure that lasts about 60-90 minutes. In this form of hair treatment, the patient s own blood cells, more specifically blood platelets are injected into the scalp. Usually 8 sittings are required with each sitting being 2 weeks apart for better results.

3. Low Level Laser (Light) Therapy (LLLT)
This form of hair therapy utilises light energy of a specific wavelength and threshold to stimulate cellular activity, thereby promoting hair growth. Various controlled clinical tests have revealed its effectiveness in encouraging hair growth in both the genders.  




 6 Shocking Causes of Hair Loss + How To Combat this Problem

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