Treating warts and verrucas

What are warts and verrucas?

Warts and verrucas are a virus infection of the skin.

Warts are raised growths, especially common on the hands. Verrucas are appear on the soles of the feet.

How long do they last?

Most warts and verrucas disappear on their own.

In children, 50 percent of warts and verrucas disappear within 6 months and 90 percent are gone within 5 years. In adults, 65 to 78 percent have gone within 2 years.

Should we treat all warts and verrucas?

As most warts disappear eventually and treatment can have side effects you can decide not to have treatment for your wart or verruca.

When do we try and treat warts?

It is best to try and treat warts and verruccas:

• cause pain when walking
• cause persistent bullying
• interfere with normal activities

What are the aims of the treatment?

Treatment will help to get rid of the wart or verruca, hopefully without leaving a scar. It will stimulate your body’s immune system to attack the wart virus itself. Treatment will also help to thin verrucas which are painful to walk on.

What treatments are available and what risks may they have?

Wart paint

Wart paint is useful for hand warts or verruca. They can cause irritation to surrounding skin and are not suitable for facial or genital warts. They cause pain and irritation if there is broken skin and the surrounding skin needs to be protected with a barrier cream such as Vaseline. Examples of wart paint are Occlusol and Salactol.

How do I use wart paint?

Treat the area every day for at least 12 weeks.

1. Soak the warts in warm water for a few minutes to soften them, or have a bath or shower.
2. Thin each wart by filing with a new piece of disposable emery board or sandpaper.
3. Paint each wart. Try to a little brush. You can apply it more accurately with a brush than squeezing gel from a tube.

Try not to get any wart paint on normal skin. Normal skin will be damaged, go white and may peel off, which can cause pain and soreness. If the wart or surrounding skin becomes sore, stop treatment for a few days until it settles

Some wart paints dry into a film. Peel these off before soaking the next day.

Do not use wart paints on your face without talking to your doctor, as they may irritate and may cause scarring.

3 percent formalin solution

3 percent formalin solution is useful where there are too many warts to be treated easily with wart paint. Formalin soaks can also cause skin irritation and if this becomes bad the treatment has to be stopped. The solution may stain the skin a light brown colour but this is temporary and fades once treatment is completed.

How do I use 3 percent formalin solution foot soaks?

Treat the area every day for at least 12 weeks.

1. Pour the formalin solution into an old basin or shallow dish.
2. Apply Vaseline to normal skin if it is irritated by the formalin solution.
3. Soak the verruca for 10 minutes.
4. File down each verruca with a new piece of disposable emery board or sandpaper.
5. Pour the solution back into the bottle. You may need to use a funnel. The solution can be re-used until it becomes too discoloured.

Sometimes the normal skin around the area can turn a little darker. This will fade over time.

Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy is also called ‘freezing’. It can be painful, can scar the skin and it may not work. It is usually only used when other treatments have not worked. Local anaesthetic cream (such as EMLA) can be put on warts in older children before to freezing to reduce the pain. Freezing is rarely tolerated in children younger than about 7 years old.

Duct tape

Duct tape can be purchased from DIY stores and can be applied to the wart or verruca for a few days.

To reapply the duct tape, soak the area for a few minutes in the bath or shower, then gently file with a new emery board or sandpaper. This cycle can be repeated until the next appointment.

Why are warts thinned down during treatment?

All the treatments used for warts have difficulty penetrating any dead skin which lies over the infected skin cells. Treatments can penetrate more easily into warts, which have been thinned by filing or rubbing down. Removing the dead skin can often reduce pain from thick warts.

What can I do to stop warts spreading?

Do not scratch or chew the warts.