Repeat this about once a week while you are treating your warts. Each time you treat your wart, soak it in water for about 5 minutes first to soften it, then follow the instructions that come with the medication. You may need to apply the treatment every day for 12 weeks or longer. You should stop the treatment if your skin becomes sore, and seek advice from your pharmacist. Don't use treatments that contain salicylic acid to treat warts on your face.
Ask your pharmacist for advice about the best type of treatment. Consult your pharmacist before using over-the-counter treatments that contain salicylic acid if you have poor circulation — for example, if you have a condition like diabetes or peripheral arterial disease PAD. This is because there is an increased risk of damage to your skin, nerves and tendons. In cryotherapy, liquid nitrogen is applied to your wart for a few seconds to freeze and destroy the affected skin cells. After treatment, a sore blister will form, followed by a scab, which will fall off days later.
A session of cryotherapy usually takes minutes and can be painful. Large warts usually need to be frozen a few times before they clear up. You will probably need to wait a few weeks between each treatment.
There are 2 different cryotherapy methods. Liquid nitrogen may be sprayed directly onto the wart, or it may be applied using a stick with cotton wool on the tip. This second method is often preferred for treatment around the eyes or for small children. Cryotherapy may be recommended if you have a wart on your face. This is because the risk of irritation is lower than when using salicylic acid or duct tape.
Cryotherapy is not usually recommended to treat young children because they may find the treatment too painful. It may also be difficult for them to stay in the same position while having the treatment. If cryotherapy hasn't been successful within 3 months, further treatments aren't likely to be effective. Cryotherapy is sometimes carried out at GP surgeries or at hospital skincare clinics.
However, it may not be available on the NHS in all areas of the country. A very cold spray dimethyl ether propane is also available from pharmacies, which you can apply yourself. You should avoid using this spray on your face. Evidence suggests these sprays are not as effective as cryotherapy using liquid nitrogen. Warts can also be treated using chemical treatments available on prescription.
The treatments contain chemicals such as:. These chemicals are applied to the warts to kill affected skin cells. Potential side effects include the skin being stained brown with glutaraldehyde and burns to the surrounding skin with silver nitrate. If you are pregnant and have warts, your pharmacist may recommend using salicylic acid, cryotherapy or duct tape.
Salicylic acid can be used to treat warts during pregnancy, as long as it is used on a small area for a limited period of time. Most people will be infected by the human papilloma virus HPV at some point in their life and develop warts. However, there are steps you can take to lower your chances of getting warts and prevent spreading them to others, if you have them.
If you have a wart or verruca, you should cover it up when taking part in communal activities. For example, you should:. Home Illnesses and conditions Skin, hair and nails Warts and verrucas. Warts and verrucas See all parts of this guide Hide guide parts 1. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
Updated visitor guidelines. You are here Home » Warts and Plantar Warts. Top of the page. Condition Overview Is this topic for you? What are warts, and what causes them? How are warts spread? What are the symptoms? How are warts diagnosed? How are they treated? But if you have warts that are painful or spreading, or if you are bothered by the way they look, your treatment choices include: Using a home treatment such as salicylic acid or duct tape.
You can get these without a prescription. Putting a stronger medicine on the wart, or getting a shot of medicine in it. Freezing the wart cryotherapy. Removing the wart with surgery electrosurgery, curettage, laser surgery. Health Tools Health Tools help you make wise health decisions or take action to improve your health. Decision Points focus on key medical care decisions that are important to many health problems.
Warts: Should I Treat Warts? Cause A wart develops when a human papillomavirus HPV infects the outer layer of skin and causes the skin cells to grow rapidly. Can common warts on hands or fingers be spread to the genitals and cause genital warts? But common warts don't cause the type of genital warts that lead to high-risk cancers. Symptoms Warts occur in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Common warts usually appear singly or in groups on the hands, although they may grow on any part of the body. They usually are rough, gray-brown, dome-shaped growths. Plantar warts can develop on any part of the foot.
As the callus and wart get larger, walking can become painful, much like walking with a pebble in your shoe. When pressure from standing or walking pushes a plantar wart beneath the skin's surface, a layer of thick, tough skin similar to a callus develops over it. Sometimes dark specks are visible beneath the surface of the wart. Flat warts are usually found on the face, arms, or legs. They are small usually smaller than the eraser on the end of a pencil.
There are usually several in one area. They have flat tops and can be pink, light brown, or light yellow. Flat warts are often spread by shaving. Filiform warts , a kind of flat wart, can grow around the mouth, nose, and beard area.
The surface of this type of wart has many flesh-colored, finger-shaped growths. Periungual warts are found under and around the toenails and fingernails. They appear as rough, irregular bumps. What Happens Human papillomaviruses can live on healthy skin without causing infection. A wart can take many months to grow before it becomes visible. Warts, particularly newer ones, are easily spread. They can spread to other parts of the body or to other people.
Plantar warts can be pushed beneath the skin's surface by pressure from standing and walking. A thickening of the skin slowly forms over most of the wart and looks and feels like a callus. Periungual warts can affect nail growth. It may be hard to get rid of warts after they develop. But they generally go away on their own within months or years.
Just before warts disappear on their own, they may turn black. Your age. Warts occur most often in children and young adults. As you get older, you may find that you get fewer warts or that your warts go away. Walking barefoot on moist surfaces, as in public showers and locker rooms and around swimming pool areas.
Sharing towels, razors, and other personal items with a person who has warts. Biting your nails or cuticles. Wearing closed or tight shoes that cause sweaty feet. When To Call See your doctor if: You aren't sure if a skin growth is a wart.
If you are older than age 60 and have never had warts, consider seeing your family doctor or other health professional to check for skin cancer. Nonprescription home treatment isn't successful after 2 to 3 months.
Warts are growing or spreading rapidly despite treatment. Signs of bacterial infection develop, including: Increased pain, swelling, redness, tenderness, or heat.
Red streaks extending from the area. Discharge of pus. A plantar wart becomes too painful to walk on. You have diabetes or peripheral arterial disease and you need treatment for a wart on a leg or foot. You have warts on your genitals or around the anus. For more information, see the topic Genital Warts. Watchful waiting Watchful waiting is a period of time during which you and your doctor observe your symptoms or condition without using medical treatment. Who to see Warts can be diagnosed and treated by most health professionals, including: Nurse practitioners.
Physician assistants. Family medicine doctors. Exams and Tests Warts are usually diagnosed based only on their appearance. Treatment Overview Not all warts need to be treated. Human papillomavirus HPV is an extremely common sexually transmitted infection, and most sexually active men and women will contract the virus. HPV and herpes are both common viruses that are typically transmitted sexually. They share many traits: Both can present with genital warts, have no….
If you or your partner is diagnosed with HPV, you may have some questions. What is it? How do I talk to my partner about it? How long after exposure will STD symptoms begin to show up? We review incubation periods for common STDs, the importance of early diagnosis and…. Most sexually active men and women will have HPV at some point in their lives. The researchers focused on strain 16, which is responsible for most HPV-related cancers. They noted that an initial infection increases the one year probability of reinfection by a factor of 20, and the probability of reinfection remains 14 times higher two years later.
The researchers found that this increased risk occurs in men regardless of whether they are sexually active. The CDC also suggests condom use and limiting the number of sexual partners as ways to lower risk of contracting an HPV infection. As well, the organization recommends vaccination at a younger age to help protect against the strains that cause the majority of warts and cancer.
HPV symptoms take a while to show, so warts may not appear until weeks or months after infection. In some cases, genital warts can take years to develop. Outbreaks can happen in or around the vagina or anus, on the cervix, in the groin or thigh area, or on the penis or scrotum.
HPV can also cause warts on your throat, tongue, mouth, or lips. For some people, genital warts may clear up on their own within two years , but treatment helps speed up the process.
Genital warts can be treated by a doctor in a number of ways. Topical treatments, prescription medications, and minor procedures can help clear up an outbreak.
Genital warts require a special type of topical treatment that your doctor can. Those creams include:. Podofilox is a plant-based cream used to treat external genital warts and stop wart cells from growing.
You should apply podofilox to the wart tissue at least twice daily for three days, then let the area rest for the remainder of the week. Podofilox is one of the more effective topical creams in clearing warts. According to one study , outbreaks in nearly half of the people using the cream improved by 50 percent or more. Twenty-nine percent of participants saw their warts clear completely.
You should apply the ointment directly to the warts at least three days a week for about four months. Although imiquimod may not be effective for everyone, one study did show that warts cleared in 37 to 50 percent of people using the cream. The medicine can also boost your immune system to fight HPV. You should apply the ointment three times per day for up to four months. Sinecatechins may be the most effective topical for getting rid of warts.
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