How and with what can you remove warts at home?

The appearance on the surface of the skin of foci of overgrowth of epithelial keratinocytes in the form of warts - a very common dermatological problem. And many are interested in how to quickly remove a wart, and what available means and methods can be done. [1]

How to remove a wart at home?

It should be remembered that a wart is the result of an infection of skin cells by the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes their more intense proliferation and due to this multiplies by replicating its DNA into the epithelial cells. Even in ICD-10, warts are not classified in dermatologic diseases, but in the class of viral infections affecting the skin and mucous membranes.

Read more - Warts: causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment

If the dermatologist, having conducted an examination, has accurately determined that you have a wart, he will recommend using at home such external remedies as Imiquimod (Aldara), Tretinoin (Retinon-A), Panavir, Ditranol, Kolhamin ointment, etc., and others. All details - Ointments for warts. [2]

About how to remove warts on the hands, finger, feet, soles, is detailed in publications:

• Warts on the hands
• Warts on the feet
• Wart on the heel: what to do?

How to get rid of a wart on the face - on the nose, on the cheek or on the lip, read in the article - How to get rid of warts

And detailed information about the means to help remove a wart on the eyelid, in the material - Warts on the eyelids

How to remove a wart on the anal area? Anogenital warts are viral papillomas, also called acute condylomas. They are removed with the wart cauterizer Condylin, a solution of podophyllotoxin, which should be applied to the wart for three days (twice a day) and left until it dries completely. To protect the surrounding skin from accidental exposure to the drug, it should be lubricated with Vaseline-based cream.

More complete information about means for removal of such warts in the material - Treatment of acute condylomas

How to remove hanging viral warts (papillomas) with the help of external remedies, in detail in the article - Ointments from papillomas.

How to remove the root of a plantar wart)? Due to constant mechanical pressure, the plantar or plantar wart is flat on top, and its lower part, which is called the root, deepens into the underlying skin layer. To remove these keratinized tissues they must be softened, for which use the most popular keratolytic - 15-30% salicylic acid, applying it to the wart and closing the place with a leukoplasty - for three to four days. It is also allowed to use 15% hydroxyacetic (glycolic) acid, 20% trichloroacetic, pyruvic and formic acids, as well as glutaraldehyde and 15% formaldehyde. After the patch is removed, the softened wart that has adhered to it should be removed along with the "root". Sometimes, thin manicure scissors or a scalpel may be needed to remove the remnants of the virus-affected tacne.

Parents want to know how to remove a wart from a child that is bothering them or spoiling their appearance. In children, warts can disappear without any treatment after a year or two, for more information see. - Warts in children

And when it is necessary, the same salicylic acid (which is smeared on the wart every day, sometimes such treatment lasts more than two months), the same ointments and solutions, the same cauterization of warts with iodine. And if the warts have taken a fancy to visible areas of the body, resort to their freezing - cryotherapy (but about this later).

How to remove warts with folk remedies?

Not all popular remedies help to get rid of this dermatological problem, and many of these "traditional" ways can be classified as superstition. For example, how can you get rid of a wart with meat, rubbing it on the wart and burying this piece in the wasteland? There is such a variant: warts are rubbed with crumbs of bread (necessarily stolen!) and then feed it to wild birds. Or what is the meaning of wetting the warts with saliva in the morning, that is, immediately after waking up (after eating). It is also advised to wiggle around each wart with a straw (each wart needs a separate straw), gather them in a bundle, tie them in a knot and burn them.

About how to remove warts with thread and how to do it correctly, you can learn from the publication - Removing warts with thread

How to remove warts with an apple

It is recommended to cut an apple in half, rub the wart alternately with both halves, join them together and bury them in the ground....

Probably you can do without the injection: the Journal of Biological Sciences in 2014 reported on the results of traditional medicine research conducted by specialists from the University of Medical Sciences in Tehran (Iran), which found a certain benefit for the treatment of skin warts sour apple juice, which contains a lot of magnesium. [3]

How to remove a wart with potatoes

All actions are similar to the procedure with an apple, but without burying. Simply rub the wart twice a day (morning and evening) for 15-20 days, letting the raw potato juice soak into the skin. There is no evidence that the acids in potato juice cause HPV to die. In addition, this "recipe" does not specify what kind of potatoes should be. The potato should be green on the outside, because only then it has enough glycoalkaloids - solanine and α-chaconine - which are toxic insecticides and fungicides produced by the plant.

How to remove warts with garlic

This remedy is recognized as working, because daily application of a paste of crushed fresh garlic on warts (for one or two weeks) helps to destroy the virus that causes their appearance. The powerful antimicrobial and antiviral properties of garlic are a credit to the sulfur-containing compound allicin. [4], [5]

In addition, such means are used to cauterize warts, as well as their treatment to stimulate the lysis of pathological tissues:

• juice of the ground parts of the acrid buttercup (Ranunculus acris);
• Dandelion milk (juice secreted from the flower stalks of the plant when they are plucked);
• juice from the leaves and stems of silver wormwood (Artemisia argi);
• alcoholic extract from seeds and leaves of dyer's brome (Genista tinctoria);
• sap of the resinous milk thistle (Euphorbia resinifera);
• alcoholic tincture of leaves of tannery scumpia (Cotinus coggygria);
• alcoholic extract of Podophyllum hexandrum rhizomes (Podophyllum hexandrum);
• juice of the unripe fruit of the fig tree (fig).

Finally, celandine (Chelidonium majus), or rather its fresh juice, is traditionally used to cauterize warts. It contains the alkaloid chelidonin, which stops cell division in the mitotic phase. But apply the juice as often as possible - up to 15-20 times during the day, and the process itself can take two to three weeks. Also read - Removing warts with celandine

The question arises, how to remove warts with Super Cistotle? There is no celandine juice in the remedy with this name: it is a solution of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), sodium chloride (table salt) and a strong alkali - sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which corrodes the skin. Therefore, this remedy is applied to the wart only one drop per day, and its application period is limited to three days.

How to take out a wart with acetic acid and vinegar

No one uses acetic acid with a concentration of about 100% (so-called glacial acid); the use of acetic essence (70% aqueous solution of acetic acid) should also be abandoned, as the coagulation necrosis of the tissue may be too deep. Warts are tried with a 30% solution of acetic acid, wetting them twice a day and letting them dry.

The wart can be removed with vinegar (6-9%) by applying a soaked cotton swab (for three to four hours), fixing it with a band-aid. It is recommended to use natural apple cider vinegar, which can be mixed with fresh lemon juice (1:1).

Withdraw the wart with vinegar and flour is also not difficult: mixing flour with vinegar, make a small flatbread, put it on the wart, and then everything as in the previous case.

The method of removing the wart with onion and vinegar is that, having cut off the top of the bulb and removing part of the pulp from it, salt is poured into the resulting hole. When under its action will appear juice, it is mixed with the same amount of 9% vinegar, wet a tampon in this liquid and put on the wart for several hours (fixing with a leukoplastyka). This is done every day until the wart falls off. [6], [7]

How to remove a wart with a lapis pencil

Lapis pencil cauterizes the tissue, as it consists of silver nitrate. Dry warts are smeared twice a day with the pencil, the tip of which must first be moistened (with ordinary water). The duration of application is individual (up to one to one and a half months), but not very old warts fall off in half of the cases after three weeks. This method can be used by children and pregnant women.

How to remove a wart with hydrogen peroxide

The reactive form of oxygen in the hydrogen peroxide (peroxide) when acting on the skin leads to oxidative stress in skin cells (in this case - in the wart tissue), causing a chemical burn and the resulting necrosis.

To remove the wart, a drop of 3-5% peroxide solution is applied to its surface, help it to absorb (you can use cotton swabs) and let it dry. Dermatologists say that if this manipulation is carried out every day every 4-5 hours, then in 12-14 days from the wart will not remain a trace.

But black cumin or kalonji oil - black cumin oil does not help with warts, despite its antioxidant and antihistamine properties. When applied externally, oil from the seeds of the fruit of the plant Nigella sativa, according to the Journal of Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery, reduces the frequency of psoriatic plaques, reduces acne rashes, facilitates healing of inflammatory skin lesions. But the removal of warts and papillomas with its help is not mentioned by experts. [8]

Cauterizing warts

Warts have the appearance of flat, hemispherical, or pointed outgrowths of the epidermis. They are usually covered with a rather dense coating of flat cells, under which is soft, easily bleeding tissue formed by keratinocytes. If the wart has not disappeared on its own (which happens when the body's immune system is strengthened), ablative methods may be used if it is significantly elevated above the surface of the skin.

These are currently practiced cauterization with electric current (diathermocoagulation) and cauterization of warts with laser (pulsed, photoselective, carbon dioxide, neodymium). These procedures are quite invasive, and after them remain scars. Details in the publication - Removal of warts. [9]

But today the most popular method is considered to be freezing or cauterization with liquid nitrogen. It is used quickly, but, as practice and randomized trials show, cryopreservation of warts is not effective in all cases, for example, it is no longer used for plantar warts. Read more - Removal of warts with nitrogen [10]

How many cauterization sessions will it take to remove a wart? This depends on the size of the formation, its localization, as well as how long ago it occurred. According to experts, after three or four procedures, the wart after cauterization darkened, yellowed and fell off in less than a quarter of patients. When warts were localized on the hands, they were removed in 63% of cases.

According to the standard of treatment, liquid nitrogen cauterization sessions are repeated every 2-3 weeks until a positive result is achieved; the maximum number of sessions allowed is no more than six. The use of laser can give results after two treatments. [11]

Possible consequences after cauterization of warts include damage to healthy tissues with inflammation and necrosis; violation of the integrity of the walls of blood vessels or nerve endings with partial locally limited hypesthesia; damage to pigment cells of the skin with the development of focal hyper or hypopigmentation; formation of scar tissue.

What does a wart look like after cauterization with liquid nitrogen? The skin around the wart after the first procedure loses its natural color and turns white (from frostbite), and after some time there is a reddish tinge, quickly turning into persistent hyperemia.

It is quite natural that after cauterization of the wart appeared swelling around the place treated with liquid nitrogen. And if the wart hurts after cauterization, this is also normal, because during the impact on the skin is irritated its nociceptive receptors.

Also from a medical point of view, it is also normal that on the surface of the skin formed filled with serous exudate bubble, blister after cauterizing the wart - as an inevitable consequence of exposure to extremely low temperature of liquid nitrogen (-195.8 ° C) and the release into the intercellular space fluid destroyed cells of the epidermis and the underlying layers of the skin.

By the way, the absence of a bubble after cauterizing the wart indicates insufficient exposure time of the refrigerant on the skin, so it did not freeze as it should, and the wart - if its size is significant - is unlikely to disappear quickly without doing the procedure again. [12]

It is also normal when a few days after cauterizing the wart with nitrogen burst the bubble (otherwise the doctor would have to open it sooner or later). But you can't pierce the bubble on purpose, but you can put a soft bandage on it - so that it doesn't get caught or torn by carelessness.

What should I do after cauterizing a wart?

The guarantee of the fastest possible restoration of the normal state of the skin area and the absence of large scars - proper care of the wart after cauterization.

For example, when the bubble bursts, its shell should never be cut or torn off: under it is the formation of healthy epithelial cells and the process of regeneration of the epidermis.

Can I wet a wart after cauterization? Until a scab has formed at the cryo-burn site, exposure to moisture is undesirable.

How to treat the skin after cauterizing warts?

To avoid the development of infection you can treat the skin with Chlorhexidine or Miramistin, and creams and ointments with dexpanthenol, with zinc oxide, Levomekol and other antiseptic agents are recommended to smear warts after cauterization.

And in conclusion. Those who have decided to get rid of the wart ablative method, of course, is interested in how often warts can appear after cauterization. Clinical statistics rarely record the frequency of recurrences, and clinical practice considers the reappearance of warts as a sign of immunosuppression, since, recall, on all parts of the body warts appear when the human papillomavirus is activated.