Worry Wart : Getting rid of warts

Emma’s dad and I both peered at the filamentous growth dangling from his nine year old’s right nostril. “Yes,” I said, “it’s definitely a wart.”

Emma’s dad replied, “When I was a kid, I heard the way to get rid of a wart was to cut a potato in half, rub it on the wart, and bury it in the backyard.Legend had it, by the time the potato disintegrates, the wart will begone.”

“I wish it were so easy,” I replied.

Warts are caused by skin-dwelling viruses. On the feet, warts can sometimes be mistaken for calluses. One distinguishing feature is that warts sit in the skin like this:

Fine “feeder” blood vessels extend from the wart into the skin. Therefore, if you scrape off the top layer of a wart, a dotted pattern usually appears from above. The dots will not appear in a callus. View from above:

There are simply no glamorous ways to get rid of warts. Most treatment modalities destroy warts by pulverizing the home they live in, a.k.a. your skin. Your doctor maybe armed with various agents such as liquid nitrogen, or dimethyl ether propane,which produces a chemical “freeze” and dries up the wart. Another agent called cantharidin (otherwise known as “beetle juice”) is a caustic liquid derived from the blister beetle (pictured here.)

Application of beetle juice causes the warts to blister. Some doctors will even manually take a scalpel and cut out the warts. Like I said, there are no glamorous treatments. However, more gentle creams which stimulate the immune system, such as Imiquimod (Aldara) are showing promise.

Over the counter remedies exist in a milder form. Commonly used wart removers such as Compound W, Dr Scholl’s Clear Away Wart and Duofilm all contain salicylic acid. The acid slowly dries up the warts. When applying salicylic acid, after a few applications make sure you peel the dead crusty top layer off the wart. Without peeling, future medicine will not reach the wart. These methods can take weeks to months to work, but they do work.

And don’t forget the duct tape. Duct tape, the great all-purpose household item, has also been shown to speed up the resolution of warts.Scientists hypothesize the constant presence of the adhesive somehow stimulates a natural immune response. If you try duct tape, have your child wear the duct tape over the wart for several days in a row and then give a day off. Effects should be seen within a couple of months if not sooner.

The prevention of warts is tricky. Some people just seem genetically predisposed. However, your best bet for keeping warts away is to keep your child’s skin as healthy as possible. Warts tend to gravitate towards areas of skin broken down by friction such as feet or fingers. Liberally apply moisturizing creams daily to prone areas. After a summer of wearing flip-flops and walking on the rough cement by the side of a swimming pool in bare feet, many children end up with warts on the bottom of their feet. I know a teen whose warts on the tips of her fingers stemmed from months of guitar strumming.

Turns out that even without treatment, 60% percent or more of all warts will disappear spontaneously within two years.

Coincidentally, I think that’s also the time it takes for a potato half to disintegrate.

Naline Lai , MD

Addendum, January 14, 2010

Here is a wart I saw recently in the office. The mom of this sweet girl had been applying salicylic acid (Compound W). Now it is nice and crusty – close to falling off.