PCOS and Skin Tags

When I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome last year, I had no idea that skin tags were part of the diagnosis package. I had all of the classic symptoms – weight gain around the midsection, hirsutism, irregular periods, insulin resistance, acanthosis nigricans, hair coming out in alarming quantities when I shampooed – but skin tags were not mentioned.

I just figured that they were part of me, unconnected with my PCOS diagnosis. Boy was I wrong, and I had never been so thrilled to be wrong in my entire life! Not only were the skin tags connected to my PCOS, but as I got my PCOS and weight under control, the skin tags disappeared. This is not to say that skin tags are always caused by PCOS – they are not. Skin tags can occur for a variety of reasons, but in my case, they were entirely PCOS related.

First off, let me tell you a little bit about what skin tags are. Skin tags are pretty much what they sound like – little tags of skin that are often found on the chest, armpits, groin, backs of the legs, and neck. Keep in mind, though, that skin tags can pop up anywhere. For me, 95% of them were on my neck.

These harmless, benign skin growths can be flesh toned or darker than your skin, can be tiny or large, and the larger ones can bleed like crazy when cut off of the skin. They can cause no pain, or they can be irritated and sore.

In my case, I must have had over 50 skin tags on my neck. They seemed to spring up overnight, although I knew that they had probably grown slowly, unnoticed, for years. True, most of them were small, but it still looked like my skin was covered in bumps.

It was embarrassing, and my once beloved ballet neck shirts began to languish at the back of the closet. I simply didn’t want anyone to see my neck, and I wore high necklines, and longer hair, to make sure that my skin tagged neck remained hidden from the world.

I finally talked to my doctor about it, mentioning my PCOS. Since it was the only condition I had, it seemed logical that it may be connected in some way to the skin tags. After all, the two began making their presence known at about the same time. I was relieved when she assured me that not only are skin tags physically harmless, but that they were indeed a part of PCOS.

So, I stuck with my daily health routine of diet, exercise, and herbs, hoping that as my PCOS improved, so too would my skin condition. I followed a fairly strict low carb way of eating, making certain to include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, and keeping my daily target range between 35-50 grams of carbs.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when, after only a few weeks, my skin tags were shrinking both in number and size. Some of them had disappeared completely, and the ones that had been larger were lighter in color and smaller.

Only two weeks later, exactly one month to the day that I began watching my carbohydrate intake and lessening my PCOS symptoms, over half of the skin tags were completely gone! I still remember looking at one particular spot on my skin that used to have a concentrated area of skin tags, and it was completely smooth and clear.

Fast forward a year: not only are all of my skin tags completely gone, but they never returned. My neck has never been smoother, and I am no longer embarrassed to have my neck exposed. Even better – I was finally able to excavate those beloved ballet neck shirts from the back of my closet.