Kidney Problems
The medical cause of skin tags, according to the National Institutes of Health, is genetic. Still, several lifestyle factors may contribute to the development of skin tags. Kidney problems, for example, can lead to hormonal changes in the body that may affect the skin and cause a person to develop skin tags.
A patient with kidney problems will usually experience swelling and develop a condition known as edema in his lower extremities (the feet and ankles). Skin tags are a type of benign tumor caused by excessive pressure on the skin from fluid retention. However, if someone has edema due to kidney issues, he might develop many skin tags in a distinctive pattern. This is because the hormone-induced swelling will be most prominent where there are folds in the skin—under each foot’s heel or around the ankles.
