No matter what treatment is used, warts tend to recur. The original wart can shed virus into the surrounding skin, causing new warts to form near the old ones. Treating warts as soon as they are noticed will minimize the spread of virus and the growth of new warts. No one really knows what causes them. Skin tags tend to appear in midlife, and may be an inherited condition.
Some women develop skin tags during pregnancy.
Although they are sometimes caused papillomas, skin tags aren't caused by a papillomavirus, as warts are. The term papilloma describes the appearance of the growths, not the cause. Skin tags are usually very small, skin-colored growths commonly found on the neck, arms, and trunk. They may appear elsewhere on the body, as well. Sometimes a small stalk connects the main part of the growth to the skin.