We are one of only a few minor surgery clinics in the country to offer anal skin tag removal. Anal skin tags are excess skin growths around the anus, which can be quite bothersome, but are often not eligible for NHS treatment as they are deemed to be a cosmetic issue.
Procedure costs vary from patient to patient and will be confirmed at your consultation, but small anal skin tags can be treated for £400.
If you would like an initial discussion with Dr Mike Fabricius, you can book a free of charge online consultation to learn more.
Anal skin tags in themselves are harmless and may not need treating unless they are causing problems. However, it is important to be examined by a doctor experienced in this type of work, to confirm the diagnosis and ensure that a more worrying problem is not being mistaken for a skin tag. Unfortunately, treatment is usually not available on the NHS.
It is also important to balance the symptoms or distress caused by the skin tags, with the potential recovery period when considering whether to have your skin tags removed.
People choose to have their anal skin tags treated for a variety of reasons:
Before having treatment for their skin tags, we ask all patients to have a consultation with our doctor. This will include an examination (with one of our female nursing team also present) to ensure that your skin tags are suitable for treatment in our clinic, and that there is not a more serious diagnosis which requires treatment or referral.
Treatment is carried out under local anaesthetic, this involves an injection to the area with a very fine needle. If you are worried about the injection, we are able to send out a prescription in advance for some numbing cream (topical local anaesthetic) which you can apply before coming to your appointment.
The procedure is carried out in our operating theatre. You will be asked to change into a patient gown, and to lie on the bed with your legs up in stirrups. Once the local anaesthetic has taken effect, the doctor will remove the skin tags using a scalpel. This will be entirely painless. Any bleeding will be controlled with cauterisation from our Hyfrecator (diathermy) machine. On some occasions, it may be necessary to use some dissolving stitches. The procedure takes around 30 minutes.
You will leave with a dressing pad on the wound, and some packing in your underwear. We recommend using over the counter pain killers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen, as the local anaesthetic will wear off after 4-6 hours.
It is important to keep your bowels loose over the next week to avoid any straining, we can provide a prescription for laxatives. We recommend avoiding strenuous activity for a few days.
Most patients do not require time off work, however this is a potentially difficult area to have a surgical wound, and recovery can be protracted for some people. While some patients will recover in a week or two, others may experience discomfort and peri-anal swelling for up to 6 weeks after the procedure.
We remain available for any advice or follow-up which is required: all patients leave with our emergency contact details, including an out of hours emergency phone line.
The cost of a consultation is £100. Unlike some clinics, we do not bundle this in with the cost of the procedure, as we believe it is important to offer our patients a no-pressure, personalised consultation with our experienced doctor. Face-to-face appointments allow us the make the best assessment of your skin lesion. As the cost of the consultation has been paid in full, there is never any pressure or expectation for patients to have a procedure, when sometimes, reassurance or advice is all that is needed.
Procedure costs vary from patient to patient and will be confirmed at your consultation, but small anal skin tags can be treated for £400. Larger tags requiring stitches are charged at up to £600. We discount the removal of a second or subsequent skin tag during the same procedure by £100.
We want to support you in making the right decision for your care, and prefer not to rush things. We offer a free of charge online or telephone consultation to discuss the procedure if you wish.
The next stage is to have a face to face consultation so that we can examine you to see whether your tags are suitable for excision, and to confirm the price.
Surgery can be carried out on the same day, but only if you have previously had a remote consultation, otherwise we need to schedule your procedure for a later date.
To make a booking for your anal skin tag surgery, please contact us. We usually have appointments available within a week. If you would like a free online appointment, this can be booked using the button higher up this page.
On rare occasions, we may not be able to treat your anal skin tags, or may advise that referral to a specialist colorectal surgeon is advisable. Reasons for this include:
