There are millions of people that are on medications that can cause a variety of different side effects. One of the many medications that people take today is that of azathioprine. This is a medication that is given to a wide variety of patients. Your doctor may prescribe this for you, and while you should trust their opinion on why they want you to take this, you should know a few things about it, including whether or not it may cause skin tags.
What Are Skin Tags?
Before getting into the medication, you should know what skin tags are. These are non-cancerous cell growths on the skin. They occur due to friction that happens with the dermis, often rubbing together pieces of the body. Wherever your body may rub against itself, you may have a small growth, which is known as a tag. This is not harmful, it’s not going to bleed, it’s not going to discharge, or cause major incident in many incidents. These occur due to a lot of medical issues, but one of the contributing factors may be a lowered immune system, and introduction of certain types of medication. That’s where you may find an answer to whether or not azathioprine causes skin tags.
What Is Azathioprine?
This is a medication that is given to people that are going to get an organ transplant. This helps the body not reject the new organ, and is essential to helping people try to move forward with their life saving surgery. But there’s also another reason why this is given to individuals. It’s given to people that have rheumatoid arthritis. This is a problem with the joints, as they can cause major discomfort in the feet, hands, and all joints across the body. It can also be given to people that have psoriasis, crohn’s disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, vasculitis, uveitis, hepatitis, and other medical problems.
Skin Tags and Azathioprine
The first thing to understand about this medication is that it’s given to millions of people. Out of those individuals, only a small section will get side effects associated with skin tags. That’s a small fraction, but it can happen. The main reason why it happens, however, is not why you may think. The reason this occurs is because the skin stretches, or diminishes, and the individual has cellular friction. When your skin cells rub against one another, they form these small plateaus, or tags.
The medication can lower the immune system, disrupt hormonal elements, and cause a shift in how the body reacts to skin irritation. That is the main reason why this is a problem for some individuals. So, while the medication can cause problems with the immune system, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the root cause of your skin tags. It may cause growths on the skin, but it’s due to the reaction of hormonal shift, and imbalance of cellular makeup that occurs after the fact. It’s that simple. Now, a doctor can help you figure out if your tags are associated with the medication or something more complex, but they can help you remove these, and get help treating all underlining conditions, as well.