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Are Skin Tags Due To Weight Gain & Hormonal Changes?

Skin tags, known as acrochordons, are a loose flap of skin connected by a narrow stalk. Some people just get one or two, but they have been known to grow in a small cluster. Understandably, they can cause alarm when they’re first noticed.

Skin tags are usually the same color as your skin, but they can be a darker brown. If you find that a skin tag has changed color, then you should consult your dermatologist just to be safe. They can turn black, and this usually means that they’re about to fall off.

Both men (testosterone) and women (estrogen) have hormones, and they’re constantly changing. If you suddenly gain a lot of weight, your hormonal levels will also change. That can be due to obesity or pregnancy. Let’s take a closer look at how they’re all linked.

Correlation between Skin Tags and Weight Gain

Let us explore why you may have skin tags due to weight gain. Obesity leads to the excessive build-up of adipose tissues, leading to fat. The fatty deposits don’t just increase your waistline, weight and make you look bulkier, but the stored fat causes hormonal changes in the body.

One of the first impacts of obesity is on the metabolism. Every bodily function is regulated by hormones. From blood pressure to your heartbeat, and metabolism to your blood sugar levels, everything depends on at least one hormone. Weight gain will reduce your metabolic rate.

Even though you may have an increased appetite, your metabolism will take a back seat. It will take longer to digest food and absorb the energy. It will also take longer to use that energy since obesity often leads to sedentary or inactive lifestyles.

As your metabolism suffers, the amount of blood sugar will also increase. Over a period of time, the cells in your body will be fed more sugar than they need. They will eventually resist the sugar. This will put an onus on the insulin secreted by the pancreas.

To accommodate more sugar into the blood and to facilitate more sugar absorption by the cells, the pancreas will secrete more insulin than it used to. With more insulin and sugar in the blood, you will be vulnerable to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is usually the first phase of type 2 diabetes.

With more insulin and sugar in your blood, the other hormonal functions will also go haywire. As a result, you would have more fat in your blood. Fat is believed to be a cause of skin tags.

Where & Why Skin Tags Appear on the Body

If you were to examine an obese person, then you would find most of their skin tags around the neck, armpits, buttocks, beltline, and groin folds. These are the places where the secretary glands are located.

People who are carrying extra weight have more folds of skin. Many experts believe that skin rubbing against skin is more prevalent among the obese. Of course, people who are overweight sweat more and this leads to irritation.

The places that skin tags tend to appear would support this notion because there tends to be more friction in those areas, and they also tend to get hotter/sweatier.

Diagnosing Skin Tags due to Weight Gain

You may only realize that you’ve gained weight when you measure your weight or the waistline makes it difficult for you to put on your favorite jeans. Most of us have been in the same position at some point in our life.

Obesity sets in before becoming obvious through weight gain. Skin tags are one of the many ways that the body expresses that there are hormonal imbalances that need to be managed.

Skin tags as a result of weight gain, especially if they are a precursor, should be taken seriously. If you have put on a lot of weight, this should ring alarm bells as you may be inching closer to becoming a diabetic.

There can be several other health ailments, including metabolic syndromes and other hormonal problems that can occur.

Preventing & Treating Skin Tags Due to Weight Gain

Many treatments work for getting rid of skin tags. You can get a dermatologist to freeze off skin tags or cut them off, for example. Sufferers can opt for electrical cauterization, chemical cauterization, or laser surgery, also. You can use topical solutions, like creams or ointments. You can use home remedies as well.

Interestingly, the prevention and treatment of skin tags due to weight gain are the same. You should try to prevent weight gain. Don’t pave the way for obesity. Contain your meals, go on a diet, exercise, eat healthy, sleep well and do everything you have to not to put on weight.

Tackling obesity would not only help to prevent skin tags but also protect you from diabetes, which is much more problematic.

Skin Tags Due To Weight Gain

Hormonal Imbalances Due to Gaining Weight

Weight gain doesn’t just affect insulin resistance, blood sugar, and blood pressure. It also affects testosterone levels in women and estrogen levels in men. Contrary to what people tend to believe, both males and females have the male and female hormones called testosterone and estrogen.

Normally, men have more testosterone and hence the manly attributes while women have more estrogen and hence the womanly attributes. Weight gain or obesity can turn this hormonal balance on its head.

Obese men will experience a high secretion of estrogen which will facilitate the growth of breasts and large bellies. Women suffering from obesity will have more testosterone which will lead to facial hair, male pattern baldness or hair loss, polycystic ovaries and also infertility.

Both testosterone and estrogen imbalances in men and women will facilitate the formation. In other words, skin tags due to weight gain can also be indicative of testosterone or estrogen imbalances in men and women, respectively.

There are treatments available to counter the hormonal imbalances or deficiencies, but prevention is always better than cure. It is best to take charge and put a stop to weight gain, so you don’t develop skin tags, suffer from diabetes, hormonal imbalances, and all the other health ailments that follow the substantial anomalies in hormonal secretions.

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