Curing warts is a tricky endeavor, which has not yet been perfected. There are, however, treatments to remove warts from the body, though they may reappear. These include destructive therapies, such as laser removal, surgery, and freezing warts, as well as immunotherapies, retinoids, and bleomycin treatments. Most warts do not require removal, but many people find them bothersome and elect to have them taken off.
There are over a hundred strains of the virus that causes warts, the human papillomavirus (HPV). Different strains cause different warts, the four main classifications of which are common warts, plantar warts, genital warts, and flat warts. Common warts usually appear as lumpy, painless bumps on the hands or limbs; plantar warts show up on the bottom of feet; genital warts grow on the genitals; and flat warts typically present on the legs. The virus, and the warts, can spread from person to person or from one part of the body to another.
Like most things, the best way of curing warts is preventing it. This can be done by avoiding contact with infected people or getting the HPV vaccine for genital HPV. Still, someone may be carrying the virus without showing it, making prevention difficult.
One of the most common methods for curing warts is freezing them off using cryotherapy, or liquid nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen causes irritation and death of the tissue around and under the wart, cutting off the wart’s blood supply, and eventually leading the wart to die and slough off. The procedure may need to be repeated in order to be successful. This is usually done by a physician, but there are over the counter remedies that cause a similar blistering process.
A physician may choose surgical, laser, or electrodessication removal of warts that don’t respond to the blistering agents. During electrodessication, the wart is removed with a knife, then a small tool sends out electrical pulses to kill the underlying tissue. Finally, the destroyed tissue is scooped out with the knife. This is repeated until the physician feels he has completely removed the offending cells.
A physician may also try immunotherapy if the wart persists, employing topical creams that use the body’s immune system to combat the wart. Other drugs, such as the antiviral bleomycin, or skin cell disrupting retinoids, can also be used in curing warts. Certain drugs, like podophyllin, should only be applied by a doctor and avoided when pregnant.
Many people have also had luck with home remedies for curing warts. One of the most common of these involves leaving duct tape over the wart. The person applies duct tape to the wart for about a week, removes the duct tape, files the wart down, applies a non-prescription salicylic acid treatment, and then reapplies the duct tape. This can be repeated until the wart is gone. Other treatments include drinking infusions made with leaves from the mint family, especially lemon balm, and applying herbs such as thuja, calcarea, kali mur, and natrum mur topically. One should check with a homeopath to get the exact indications for treatment.
