Mr. Onur Gilleard
Qualifications & Experience
Mr Onur Gilleard is a distinguished consultant plastic surgeon on the GMC specialist register. He previously held an NHS consultant post at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, specialising in skin cancer and microsurgical reconstruction. In 2021, Mr Gilleard transitioned from the NHS to dedicate himself fully to private practice, allowing him to focus exclusively on providing personalised, high-quality care to his patients. He is recognised as an expert in laser treatments, having conducted research and developed advanced treatment protocols using cutting-edge laser technology to optimise both clinical outcomes and cosmetic results.
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Safety in skin tag removal is not a property of a clinic’s marketing, and it is not conferred by the equipment in the room. It comes from a sequence: the lesion is examined and identified before anything is applied to it, the method is then chosen to fit that lesion, and the person performing it is trained to recognise when the answer is not removal at all. That sequence is checkable, and this article sets out how to check it — along with where laser genuinely fits among the methods, which for most skin tags is not first.
Six Questions Worth Asking Before You Book
These are answerable over the phone, and the answers separate providers more reliably than any list of “top-rated” clinics does.
- Who will examine the lesion — and are they on the GMC register? Removal is often delegated to a therapist or nurse. That is not automatically wrong for a straightforward tag, but the person deciding whether it is a straightforward tag should be qualified to make that judgement and accountable for it.
- Is the lesion diagnosed before treatment, or is treatment the appointment? Clinics that book you directly for a named procedure have decided the diagnosis before seeing you. That works until the lesion is not what you both assumed.
- What happens if it turns out not to be a skin tag? The useful answer describes an alternative pathway — excision with histology, or referral. An answer that does not contemplate the possibility is itself informative.
- How many methods are available? A provider with one device will recommend that device. Where snip excision, hyfrecation, surgical excision, cryotherapy and laser are all available, the method can follow the lesion rather than the equipment.
- Can the lesion be sent to a laboratory if needed? This is the question most people never think to ask, and it has a hard answer — see the next section.
- Is the price complete? Consultation, first lesion, additional lesions and histology should all be quotable before you attend.
The One-Way Door
Laser, hyfrecation and cryotherapy all work by destroying tissue where it sits. Excision cuts the lesion out intact. The distinction sounds technical and is not: a destroyed lesion cannot be examined afterwards. Once tissue has been vaporised or frozen, there is nothing left to send to a pathologist.
For a textbook soft, narrow-stalked tag this is of no consequence, and histology is not routinely required. It matters for the small proportion of lesions that are not what they appear to be. In the largest published series of lesions removed as presumed skin tags, five of 1,335 proved malignant on histology (Eads et al., Archives of Dermatology, 1996).
“The real danger with skin tags is complacency. Occasionally something that looks like a tag is actually a basal cell carcinoma, a melanoma, or a neurofibroma, which is why I examine every lesion before removing it and send anything atypical for histology.”— Mr Onur Gilleard, Consultant Plastic Surgeon
One presentation makes the point concretely. A woman in her fifties attended to have a “skin tag” removed from her jawline that had been present about a year. It was not soft; it was firm and slightly pearly. It was excised and sent for histology, which returned a basal cell carcinoma — cured by that excision. Had it been vaporised, it would have recurred, and the reason would not have been apparent for some time.
This is why the order matters. Assessment first, method second. Any provider whose process runs the other way has removed an option you may need.
Where Laser Actually Fits
Laser is available here for lesion removal, and it is a precise tool. For skin tags specifically, it is not usually the first choice — not because of any deficiency, but because simpler techniques do the same job in less time.
| Method | Typical use for skin tags | Anaesthetic | Histology possible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snip excision | Small, narrow-stalked tags — seconds each | Local | No |
| Hyfrecation (electrosurgery) | Small tags; usual first choice on the face | Local | No |
| Surgical excision | Large or broad-based tags; anything needing a diagnosis | Local | Yes |
| Cryotherapy | Where a patient prefers to avoid an injection | None needed | No |
| Laser | Selected lesions and wider areas; Harley Street only | Local | No |
Two practical notes. Laser treatments are not offered at the St Albans clinic, so where laser is the chosen method the appointment is at Harley Street. And because pricing does not vary by method, choosing laser neither costs more nor saves money — which means the choice can be made on clinical grounds alone. Comparisons in detail: surgical excision vs laser, electrosurgery and cryotherapy. The full range of lesions treated by laser is on the laser lesion removal page.
What Applies Here, Stated Factually
- Who performs the assessment and the procedure
- Consultant plastic surgeons on the GMC Specialist Register. The same clinician examines the lesion and removes it.
- Methods available
- Snip excision, hyfrecation, surgical excision, cryotherapy and laser — laser at Harley Street only. The method follows the lesion.
- If the lesion is atypical
- It is excised whole and sent for histological examination (£180) rather than destroyed in place. Features that trigger this: firm, pigmented, growing quickly, bleeding without being caught, or simply unlike its neighbours.
- Scarring
- Significant scarring occurs in fewer than 2% of tag removals here. Snip excision of a narrow-stalked tag frequently leaves no visible mark at all.
- Capacity in one session
- Between 20 and 30 small tags, limited by anaesthetic dose and patient comfort rather than technique.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Consultation | £100 |
| Skin tag removal (first) | £200 |
| Each additional tag | £125 |
| Histology, where a lesion has suspicious features | £180 |
Assessment and removal usually take place at the same visit: skin tag removal or contact the clinic.
What Goes Wrong, and Where
Two patterns account for most disappointing results, and neither is caused by the choice between laser and any other clinical method.
- Treatment taken too deep. Excess energy or over-enthusiastic cautery trades a raised lesion for a pitted, sunken scar. This is an operator variable rather than a device one.
- Home removal. Ligation bands leave half-strangled tags that are black, painful and still attached; freeze kits leave pale scarred patches where the tag used to be; scissors bleed considerably, because tags contain a feeding vessel and a bathroom is not a sterile field. The full catalogue is in removal gone wrong and DIY removal tools.
The third pattern is quieter and more serious: a lesion destroyed without ever being identified. It produces no complication at the time, which is precisely why it does not appear in complication statistics.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What actually makes skin tag removal safe?
- The sequence rather than the equipment: the lesion is examined and identified first, the method is then matched to it, and the person performing it is qualified to recognise when removal is not the right answer. A clinic offering several methods can follow the lesion; one offering a single device will recommend that device.
- Is laser the best method for skin tags?
- Not usually, though it is available and effective. Most skin tags are dealt with faster and just as cleanly by snip excision or hyfrecation, and broad-based tags are better excised at the base. Laser suits selected lesions and wider areas. Since pricing does not vary by method, the choice can be made on clinical grounds.
- Is laser skin tag removal painful?
- Local anaesthetic is used, so the procedure itself is not painful; the only sharp sensation is the injection. Cryotherapy is the one method requiring no anaesthetic at all, producing a cold sting lasting seconds.
- How long does recovery take?
- A small scab forms and separates over one to two weeks, leaving a pink area that fades. Keep the site moist rather than letting it dry into a hard crust, leave it alone rather than picking, and protect it from sun for the first few months, since new skin pigments readily.
- Can skin tags grow back after laser removal?
- A tag removed completely at its base does not regrow, whichever method is used. A lesion reappearing in the same spot generally means part of the base was left. New tags forming elsewhere are a different matter — explained in can skin tags grow back.
- Can the tag be tested after laser removal?
- No. Laser, hyfrecation and cryotherapy all destroy the tissue in place, leaving nothing intact to examine. Where a lesion has features that warrant a diagnosis it is excised whole and sent for histology instead, which is decided at the assessment rather than afterwards.
- Is laser skin tag removal covered by insurance?
- Generally not. Insurance broadly follows the NHS distinction between medical and cosmetic: removal of a harmless tag is classed as cosmetic and excluded, while a symptomatic or diagnostically uncertain lesion has a stronger case. Policies vary, so check yours — the criteria are set out in skin lump removal on the NHS.
- Is it safe to have a skin tag removed by a beauty therapist?
- For a straightforward tag in trained hands the technique itself is reasonable. The limitation is diagnostic rather than technical: a lesion that later turns out to need examination cannot be examined once it has been destroyed, and a non-medical practitioner is not the right person to be making that call.
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