Insulin resistance and skin tags

I had lots of little skin tags round my neck, which disappeared once I’d got my blood sugars back to normal. I do have a couple of larger ones on my back which are now smaller but not gone completely.

IanBish said:

I know that there are far more serious problems related to diabetes than this, but I just wondered if anyone has a view or experience of this.

I have some skin tags around my neck, and I was just wondering if they will go if I become insulin sensitive (or less resistant).

It's not a big issue, but I was just wondering.

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Mine seem to fewer and smaller, but not disappeared yet, and its been 3 years now

I've got a skin tag below my lip at the top of my chin - from the friction from face masks, clearly. Trying to get it liquid thingied off at my local medical centre, but its proving very resistant. It's a pain cos folks out and about in the world keep telling me I have some food stuck on my lower lip, and i have to explain its a skin tag caused from friction and insulin resistance.

yeah - I find it a aggravating side effect of insulin resistance for sure. But yes, the ones I had around my neck have long diminished hugely as to be barely noticeable to the uninitiated.

I had a small patch of skin tags before I had diabetes, which have more or less disappeared since being diagnosed with T2. But I still have some discolourations and currently a few very tiny bumps, and one larger tag which likes to do rare re-appearing/disappearing acts.

I've associated them with weight as I've lost a fair bit of weight while eating low carb.

IanBish said:

I know that there are far more serious problems related to diabetes than this, but I just wondered if anyone has a view or experience of this.

I have some skin tags around my neck, and I was just wondering if they will go if I become insulin sensitive (or less resistant).

It's not a big issue, but I was just wondering.

Click to expand...

Used to get them in my armpits and my neck. The doc never thought about what they could indicate, cut a couple off and told me I could do it at home with clean scissors and betadine! (Which I did do, for a couple of years.) And when I was finally diagnosed with T2, and started low carbing.... No more tags. Poof.

So have hope.

That's really interesting! I had them, and had them burned off privately as the NHS treatment of freezing them off didn't work (and the nurse was very gung-ho and freeze-burned my skin quite badly). I've been expecting them to recur because I was told by the medics that they do, but they haven't so far, and I am cheered by the news that my diet might stop that happening. So much that irks us that doesn't get explained by the medics, if indeed they make the connection! What a marvellous site this is for information. Skin tags might not be front-line ill health, but they certainly are dispiriting to have.

Good luck AloeSvea, and anyone else whose tags are, as it were, "in transit". May you wake up one morning soon and find they've disappeared.

I had 3 quiet large skin tags in my armpit and just the other week noticed they’d completely disappeared and I’d had them for years. Dr Ken Berry on YouTube says you can get rid of skin tags on low carb and keto diets

For many years I have had skin tags and just thought it was something that ran in my family as both my Mum and my sister have a lot.
I started low carbing in November 2022 and didn't realize that my skin tags have disappeared until I saw this thread.
Both Mum and sister have been tested and neither is diabetic.

Well i look forward to getting rid of those. Used to cut them off with scissors. Wondered why i got more. Every day is a school day!

The old fashioned way was to tie a tight knot around them with cotton, after a few days they'd literally drop off. Must say mine have disappeared too.

So, do we think its the sugars causing them or the reduction in weight that makes them disappear?
I ask because I have a friend with many but she's slim, petite, healthy and non-diabetic...or could she be headed our way?

Just to add - when I read some years ago that skin tags were a sign of underlying insulin resistance (IR) - I talked about this as something to watch out for, for my adult children, re their increased risk for the dreaded T2. Especially my child who shares my tendency to gain weight primarily around the waist, but it's an alert I put out to both of them. They know of course, that the alert is so they then can lower the amount of glucose-forming food in their diet, and yes they know what that is! (Whew.) My extended family on the other hand are barely indulgent of my alerts to watch out for, but one does what one can.

BTW, my dad also has been plagued with skin tags, and the brown marks around the neck. He also has the big firm belly that shows bloating, as I did pre just lowering glucose forming food and LCHF. He did not have blood glucose issues, but I did try to talk him into avoiding wheat products (as I am clearly sensitive to so the chances are that he is too...) and ultra processed vege oils, but to no avail. (I did a great presentation of butter over margarine, but I can't override the anti saturated fat brigade, sadly.) He developed rheumatoid arthritis which has an association with too-high glucose forming food (a 2000 study) (I remember this as I wrote it, told it, and tried.... sigh). He developed this very late in life, but oh boy has it lowered his quality of life.

Yeah - tell your family members, if you have that indicator of IR, to watch out for skin tags and the discolouration around the neck, for sure. (And just to add - switch to almond flour baked goods and real butter straight away!! imho.)