How to Treat Warts

A wart is a type of benign skin growth caused by a viral infection in the epidermis (the top layer of the skin). Because warts feed off the underlying blood vessels, if you can damage or kill the vessels, the wart will die and eventually fall off, usually without even leaving a scar. There are three different kinds of warts. Plantar (foot) warts, common warts and flat warts. Common warts grow on the fingers and hands, planter warts grow on the feet, usually on the soles. Sometimes they can grow in small clusters, in this case they are known as mosaic warts. Plantar warts can be painful and often give the sensation of walking with a small stone in the shoe. Flat warts are tiny and tend to grow in clusters of one to two hundred at one time. They can occur anywhere, but they are most common on the face of children, on the legs of women, and in the beards of men.

Instructions

How to Treat Warts

• 1

  Cure your warts the most effective way by freezing (cryosurgery). This is a painless way of removing a wart without causing any damage to the skin around it. The process is quick, has only two steps and can be done by a doctor or at home with a product such as Freeze Away or Freeze Off.

• 2

  Don't be nervous. There is usually little discomfort during the freezing process. It feels rather like having an ice cube stuck to your skin for a few moments. A few hours after you have it frozen, the wart will start to look raised and red. You may also have a faint tingling or burning sensation in the surrounding area. Be careful not to break or burst the blister; this may re-infect the area and the wart will reform. The wart should fall off within a few days.

• 3

  Consider other over the counter options. Compounds of salicylic acid can be used to remove warts; most common over-the-counter remedies include salicylic acid. It is effective because it kills the fungal infection. You will need to apply the mixture daily for two to three months for complete eradication. The cure rate for this treatment is between 75 and 85 percent.

• 4

  Use duct tape. Believe it or not, a study reported in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, stated that patients wore duct tape over their warts for six days. After they removed the tape, they soaked the area in water and used an emery board or pumice stone to scrape the spot. The tape was reapplied the next morning. The treatment continued for a maximum of two months or until the wart went away.