Unfortunately, there are no quick and easy ways to treat warts.
In fact, because there are no quick and easy ways to treat warts, many pediatricians suggest that parents simply wait it out, and let the warts go away on their own.
Common Wart Treatments
If you don’t have the patience to wait for a wart to go away on its own, which can take months to years, you can try:
- OTC topical liquid or gel wart remover treatments with salicylic acid
- OTC wart remover treatments with salicylic acid on a pad
- OTC wart remover treatments that freeze warts
- duct tape
Your pediatrician might also try:
- cryotherapy – “prescription strength” wart freezing, which may have to be repeated multiple times
- cantharidin – not FDA approved in the US, but this blistering agent is often applied to warts to induce them to go away
And of course, your pediatrician might also simply recommend that you wait it out for a few more months or years, as the warts should eventually just go away.
But why not treat the warts if treatments are available? Many experts say that at best, standard wart treatments only work half of the time. And they can be painful or leave scars.
Treating Hard to Control Warts
Again, treating warts is often hard, even in the best of circumstances. Warts can be even harder to treat if they are around your child’s nails (periungal warts) or on the bottom of their feet (plantar warts).
Still, if you are not getting anywhere, you should ask yourself these questions and share the answers with your pediatrician:
- Does your child really have warts?
- Did you follow the directions on the label carefully?
- Are you gently rubbing away hard skin from the surface of the wart with a pumice stone or emery board each week?
- Are you softening the skin on and around the wart by soaking the area in warm water for at least 5 minutes before your wart treatments?
- Did your child’s wart mostly go away and then come right back in the same spot?
- Did your child’s wart completely go away, but new warts came up in different places?
- Did your child get a much bigger wart around the site of a previously treated wart (a ring wart)?
A dermatologist can treat your child’s truly resistant warts with cryotherapy, cantharidin, higher strength salicylic acid paste than is available OTC, yeast injections, electrosurgery, or pulsed dye laser therapy, etc.
What To Know About Treating Hard to Control Warts
Although multiple wart treatments are available, warts are not easy to treat and so it is not unreasonable to just leave them alone if they aren’t bothering your child.
More Information About Treating Hard to Control Warts
- Warts
- Tips for Diagnosing and Treating Warts
- Dermatologists share tips to treat common warts
- Wishing Away Warts
- Warts – Scams vs Science
- What to do about warts
- An Armamentarium of Wart Treatments
- Cochrane – Topical treatments for skin warts
Last Updated on December 3, 2016 by Vincent Iannelli, MD
