February 27, 2017

| perri dermatology
Medically reviewed by Anthony J. Perri, M.D.
Hand with two large red warts | perri dermatology

Warts can be painful, itchy and embarrassing skin growths that occur when tiny cuts in the skin are infected with one of over 100 strains of the Human Papillomavirus. Many warts will disappear on their own, and this is especially true of warts on children. But because of the discomfort that warts often cause patients, there are a variety of wart treatment options available to remove warts.

Home Therapy

Before you see a dermatologist to treat a wart, you may want to try to treat it on your own at home. Compound W, whose main ingredient is salicylic acid, is an over-the-counter solution that you can purchase at many pharmacies. It may take several weeks for Compound W to work, though, so some patients opt to see a dermatologist for faster wart treatment. Children and teenagers with the flu, fever, or chickenpox, as well as pregnant or nursing women also cannot use Compound W.

Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy, or cryosurgery as it is also called, is a common wart treatment. Cryotherapy involves freezing the wart with a liquid nitrogen spray, Cryotherapy will typically need to be repeated every 4 weeks to until the wart is gone. It is a painless procedure that requires no anesthesia.

Advanced Wart Treatments for Hard-to-Treat Warts

Some warts are stubborn and don’t respond to the typical wart treatments mentioned above. If you have a wart that is not responding to typical treatment, your dermatologist may need to employ an advanced wart treatment option to remove the wart.

Call us with Any Questions

If you need wart treatment, call us to schedule an appointment today.