Warts are usually harmless, but they can certainly be an eyesore. Over time, warts usually go away by themselves. However, if you do choose to seek treatment, we’ve got you covered.
Depending on the type and severity of the wart, treatment will vary, says Dr. Brittney Schultz, MD, a dermatologist with M Health Fairview and the University of Minnesota Medical School. Treatment can be adjusted according to “what the wart looks like, where it’s located, and then the person’s own immune response,” she says.
Warts are caused by an exposure to the human papillomavirus (HPV). There are “over 100 types of the HPV virus,” Schultz says. Wart-causing strains of HPV can spread from skin-to-skin contact (including sexual contact) and touching shared surfaces. It’s also possible to spread warts from one part of your body to another, she adds.
What is the main cause of warts?
HPV is a highly contagious virus. Depending on the strain, HPV may cause warts on different parts of the body, she says. For example, some strains will cause warts that will manifest on the hands and feet, while infection to others may trigger the formation of warts on the genitals. There are also strains of HPV that do not cause warts at all. According to Cleveland Clinic and Healthline, types of warts include:
- Common warts
- Plantar warts
- Genital warts
- Mosaic warts
- Flat warts
- Butcher’s warts
- Filiform warts
- Focal epithelial hyperplasia (Heck’s disease)
- Periungual warts
Can I remove my own warts?
“If you do nothing to a wart, it should eventually go away,” Schultz says. However, this could take years.
Warts can be difficult to treat, Schultz says, because the HPV virus is good at “living under the surface of the skin and kind of avoiding detection from your immune system.” Because of this, the treatments that are used to get rid of warts are “geared toward irritating your skin” and “activating your immune system,” she explains.
Over the counter anti-wart products that contain salicylic acid work to dissolve the wart layer by layer. They can be applied in the form of a patch, liquid or gel, according to Cleveland Clinic. These products can be an effective solution to treat warts, Schultz says. However, if this is the sole treatment for your wart, you’ll likely be using it for months, or even “potentially years, to help the wart go away.”
How to get rid of warts
If you are experiencing symptoms of pain, your wart is spreading, or your wart is not responding to over the counter methods, consider seeking treatment from a doctor.
There isn’t a “one size fits all approach” to treating warts, Schultz says. “Some people will respond beautifully to some of these treatments,” but “some warts will be much more difficult” to treat.
The most common in-office treatment for warts is cryotherapy, Schultz explains. During this procedure, the wart is sprayed with liquid nitrogen, causing a local destruction of the skin tissue around the wart. To accelerate the healing of the wart, Schultz recommends a combination of cryotherapy treatment and using salicylic acid products.
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Injections of candida antigen and bleomycin have also shown positive results when treating warts, studies suggest. There is also some evidence that points to lasers as an effective wart removal treatment.
As for prescription topical creams, Aldara (imiquimod) is commonly used to treat genital warts, Schultz says.