I have had a mole on my hip for years.  Decades, to be more precise.
    It was an innocuous little spot, that has,in the last 6 months, decided to switch careers.
    No longer content to be a little inconspicuous disc no one would be inclined to notice if I were in a position for someone to be inspecting my hip (it changes too slowly for the wife to notice), the little bugger has become about the size of one of those candy button dots you can still find in the supermarket aisles if you look hard enough.  If you've never seen them, they're pastel yellow, blue, and pink and there's hundreds of them stuck to a roll of paper.  You find them with the generic gum drops and butterscotch hard candy that no one but old ladies buys.
    It is, in my estimation, and acrochordon; better known as a skin tag.
    Now my dad sports dozens of these bad boys and they're on visible parts of him, primarily his neck.  Half the population gets them by age 65 but obesity and genetics can increase the likelihood.  Dad has a few pounds on him so he may be ahead of the game for that reason.  Both of us are borderline diabetic and diabetes seems to have a link to them. 
   It annoys me and I'd often wondered why dad hasn't done anything about his.  I now have reason to see what CAN be done.  The first thing I've considered is killing it by tying a string or thread around it.  I hadn't proceeded with this for fear it might do something other than kill the flesh and have it fall off, dead.  As it turns out, it is one of the common methods of acrochordon removal.  I suspect it may not be widely practiced because it may be a bit embarrassing having little strings hanging off a man.  More commonly, they are cut, burned, or frozen off, scars being less disturbing than the bits of string.  One web site called for "black ointment" or "drawout ointment" as a cure while another person claimed success using clear nail polish.  (Why clear?  Who knows.)  Perhaps this deserves investigation to see if these are safe treatments, assuming the skin tag bothers me enough to actually motivate me to get rid of it.  I'm currently leaning towards the idea of applying the tiny tourniquet.  It's called "ligature"; it is best known from the commonplace tubal ligation in women.  It is sometimes used to cut off the blood supply to tumors and as it turns out, skin tags are classified as benign tumors. 
      Apologies for the long break.  Life's been more than a little crazy.  I do mean to make this a weekly ritual.  I appreciate the support.

Ciao.

* DM

Next:  Just the flax, ma'am.

Fitness Goals:
60 beats per minute resting pulse.
10 miles cycling.
100 lbs. - 5,5,5,10 repetitions - two cycles.


Current Fitness Record: (since last entry)
Pulse: 60 beats per minute (unconfirmed)
0 min cycling (odometer broken)
Weights: 2 days 5-5-5-10 - 1 cycle - 65 pounds

Blood Pressure:  125/67  11-2007

RECENT SYMPTOMS :  Infrequent pain in upper molar.
ONGOING SYMPTOMS:  Occasional ache in gonads.  Tightness / pain behind right knee,  Infrequent pain in right knee when kneeling and shifting knee to the right. Inflexible pinkie and middle finger of right hand. (99% flexibility). Strained thumb. Excessive sweating.
DIAGNOSIS: Strain of knee?  Unknown injury to right knee, possible impact from small stumble onto landing of concrete stairs. Recovering from confirmed stress fracture of secondary phalange (finger bone) of right hand and strained right pinkie.  Unknown injury of thumb. 

ONGOING TREATMENT:  None.

DRUG REGIMEN:  Aspartame.  (3 diet sodas daily)  Caffeine (three cups of coffee daily.  One cola.)
PROGNOSIS FOR FOLLOWING WEEK:     Good health.
POTENTIAL TREATMENTS:  Fish Oil supplements.  Leafy greens.  Exercise (See Fitness Goals and Record)  Axillary curettage, skin tag ligature

BLOG STATS
7 Subscribers (Welcome, Crybabylu!)
20 Blog entries with 100 or more views
5 Blog entries with 200 or more 200 views
2 Blog entry with 300 or more views