Treatment of Skin Lumps
Many skin lumps won’t resolve without treatment. Often, however, the lump is not dangerous and will not need treatment, if it does not cause functional problems.
Skin Tag
Skin tags are benign and do not need to be removed, but a dermatologist can remove them using one of three methods:
- Snip excision
- Cautery
- Cryosurgery, or the use of a cold liquid, like liquid nitrogen, to freeze the skin tag
It’s best not to remove a skin tag yourself, as they can bleed when taken off.
Cyst
Removal is necessary to get rid of a cyst, says Hartman. She advises against taking matters into your own hands. “I tell people not to pop them. Squeezing it may press out keratin, but that does not eliminate the problem and may make it worse by causing more inflammation,” she says.
Your doctor can cut out the cyst to remove its wall, or lining, as this prevents it from coming back. They may delay surgery if the cyst shows signs of inflammation. Doctors can also drain cysts as a temporary solution and give a cyst a steroid injection to help calm the inflammation.
Wart
It may take quite a while (potentially years), but some warts will eventually resolve without treatment. Others, however, may spread if you don’t treat them. At home, you can use an over-the-counter wart removal kit that includes salicylic acid. At the doctor’s office, they can freeze off warts with liquid nitrogen.
Dermatofibroma
These are benign, but surgical removal is an option. If dermatofibrosarcoma develops, surgery can remove it, although a doctor may also request radiation or targeted therapy drugs to destroy any cancer cells that remain after surgery.
Lipoma
If a patient has many lipomas, doctors don’t usually recommend removing them, says Hartman. But if the lipoma is large, growing, or bothersome, a doctor can do surgery to remove it. The minor procedure requires an injection to numb the area and takes just 30 minutes, she says.
Enlarged Lymph Node
You don’t need to treat an enlarged lymph node itself, but treatment may be necessary for the underlying cause. If lymph nodes have swollen because you have a viral infection like a cold, they should return to their standard size once you recover, says Hartman.
That said, if you find an enlarged lymph node that’s 1 centimeter or less in diameter, is soft, and you can move it around, that’s less concerning, says Seminario-Vidal. Doctors may take a wait-and-see approach and follow up to make sure it’s gone down.
If you receive a lymphoma diagnosis, you will receive the appropriate cancer treatment, which may include chemotherapy, radiation, targeted drugs, and a bone marrow transplant.
Integrative and Complementary Approaches
For many lumps, there is little you can do at home. But a warm compress on a red and angry cyst can relieve inflammation and ease soreness, says Hartman.
When it comes to warts, many alternative treatments have circulated — some are mainstream (duct tape), while others are more radical (distance healers that channel energy into the wart). None of the homeopathic remedies are effective, and warts should resolve without treatment once the body develops an immune response.
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