This is a 61 year old female patient who came to our office to have her “skin tags” on her neck and chest removed. She stated she has had the spots for quite some time, but was hoping she could do a treatment to get rid of them. She stated that they also run in her family.

This is a common concern we see in ethnic skin. The lesions are called Dermatosis papulosa nigra or DPN for short. DPNs is a unique skin condition seen in darker skin types. They appear as small dark bumps that occur on the face, neck and chest. The cause of DPNs is unknown, but maybe genetic and can be seen in several members of the same family.

We treated this patient with electrocautery to treat the lesions. The area was numbed topically for 5-10 minutes and then each DPN was cauterized. The after pictures were taken at her six week appointment.