Dr. Gellner: You look at your child's hand and see a bump and you know it is a wart. Do you rush to the doctor or can you treat it at home?
Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You are now entering The Healthy Kids Zone with Dr. Cindy Gellner on The Scope.
What Are Warts?
Dr. Gellner: So warts are raised, round, rough surface growths on the skin. They occur most often on the hands and they're not painful unless they're on the bottom of the foot and that's called a plantar wart. They can also hurt if you child keeps picking at them and they get infected. Unlike a callus, a wart has brown dots in it and has a clear boundary with normal skin around it.
Warts are caused by papillomavirus and are harmless actually. Most warts disappear without treatment in two or three years and with treatment they're gone in two to three months. So how can you take care of these unsightly warts?
How to Treat Warts with Duct Tape
First it sounds strange but cover the wart with duct tape. I know, doesn't it just seem like duct tape fixes everything? You should:
- Cover the wart with a small piece of duct tape just like you would use a band-aid. Warts deprived of air and sun exposure sometimes die without the need for topical treatments.
- Remove the tape once a week, wash the skin, and rub off any dead wart tissue. After it has dried thoroughly overnight, re-apply the duct tape.
The tape treatment may be needed for eight weeks. So find some cool duct tape that your child will like wearing.
Use Duct Tape & Wart Medication for Faster Results
To get faster results with duct tape, use an over-the-counter wart medicine. The best ones contain 17% salicylic acid.
- Put the medicine on the wart once a day enough to cover the entire wart. Be aware, do this in a well ventilated area, because the acid stinks.
- Cover the wart with duct tape after you put the medicine on the wart and the medicine has dried.
- Make sure you don't get any of this medicine near the eyes or the mouth. The medicine will turn the top of the wart into dead skin and it will all turn white.
- Once or twice a week, remove the dead wart material by rubbing the dead skin off with a pumice stone or washcloth. The dead wart will be softer and easier to remove if you soak the area first in warm water for 10 minutes.
Are Warts Contagious? How to Keep Them from Spreading
Warts are contagious but mainly to the child that has the warts. They aren't very contagious to other people.
If your child chews or sucks on the wart, cover the area with duct tape and change it as often as necessary. Encourage your child to give up this habit, because chewing on the warts can cause warts on the lips and or the face. If that happens, your child needs a trip to a dermatologist.
Warts can look ugly but we pretty much all have them at some point in our lives. By knowing how to treat them fast and right away, you can make these ugly bumps go away quickly.
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updated: September 14, 2018
originally published: May 13, 2016
FAQs
The study included 51 participants ages 3–22. They received either up to six sessions of cryotherapy, which took place every 2–3 weeks, or 2 months of duct tape application. Warts resolved entirely in 85% of the participants in the duct tape group and in 60% of those in the cryotherapy group.
How effective is duct tape on warts? ›
The study included 51 participants ages 3–22. They received either up to six sessions of cryotherapy, which took place every 2–3 weeks, or 2 months of duct tape application. Warts resolved entirely in 85% of the participants in the duct tape group and in 60% of those in the cryotherapy group.
What is the strongest wart remover? ›
Cryotherapy. Cryotherapy uses liquid nitrogen to freeze and destroy a wart. Research has shown cryotherapy effectively removes warts in 50–70% of cases after 3–4 treatments. Cryotherapy may remove warts more quickly than salicylic acid.
How do you remove viral warts with duct tape? ›
Cut a piece of tape the same size as the wart and stick it on. Leave it for 6 days, and then remove it in the evening. After removing the tape, soak the wart in warm water and then gently rub the wart with an emery board. Leave the tape off overnight and then apply a new piece for another 6 days.
Is a wart dead when it turns white? ›
Wart-Removing Acid:
If there are many warts, treat the 3 largest ones. Since it's an acid, avoid getting any near the eyes or mouth. Also try to keep it off the normal skin. The acid will turn the wart into dead skin (it will turn white).
Can you cut a wart out? ›
Warts are more than skin deep
Some warts penetrate so deeply into your dermis that you can't cut or burn them off, no matter how far you dig or burn. The only way to remove them is through professional methods, such as lasers, that penetrate the skin and target warts at their source.
Will super glue get rid of warts? ›
Using super glue on warts turns out to be a patented method that works much the same as duct tape, except that when the glue is removed every 6 days, some of the wart is removed with it.
How do you get rid of warts super fast? ›
Some of the most effective and popular medical treatments for wart removal include:
- Cantharidin. ...
- Cryotherapy. ...
- Electrosurgery/Curettage. ...
- Excision. ...
- Laser treatment. ...
- Chemical peels. ...
- Bleomycin. ...
- Immunotherapy.
Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is a popular home remedy for a number of conditions, including warts. Some people claim that the acid in the vinegar works in a similar way to salicylic acid. However, there is no firm evidence to suggest that ACV works for this purpose.
What is the most successful wart treatment? ›
Warts are often treated with a salicylic acid solution or cryotherapy. These are also the best-studied treatments.
Once every 3 to 5 days, remove the duct tape and rub the wart with an emery board or pumice stone. You may also consider soaking the wart in warm water while it's exposed. Replace the duct tape with a new piece after 10 to 12 hours of air exposure.
Does Vicks get rid of warts? ›
Can Vicks remove warts? Vicks vaporub is a novel way to irritate the immune system as a wart treatment. While it's certainly not in our list of the top 3 wart treatments (it's honestly not even top 10) there is some evidence that it might work. It's also pretty safe and easily accessible.
What does a wart look like when it falls off? ›
Generally, when a wart is beginning to fall off, a person may experience: after cryotherapy, some soreness or blisters forming in the wart area. the skin of the wart drying and peeling off. the wart becoming lighter in color.
What are signs that a wart is dying? ›
A dead wart: what are the signs? 1, 5, 6
- Its colour gradually changes from flesh-coloured to black or dark brown;
- It turns white, if it has been treated with liquid nitrogen or a salicylic-acid solution. ...
- It is covered with blackish pinpoints, which are actually coagulated blood vessels.
With repeated application, salicylic acid causes the wart tissue to become soft so that it can be rubbed off easily. Remove dead tissue daily or once or twice a week. Carefully use a file or as instructed on the medicine package. Dead tissue contains living wart virus, so dispose of the dead skin carefully.
Does removing a wart leave a hole? ›
Below the surface of the skin, the virus will infect the skin cells, leading to the creation of a wart at the surface. This is why when one removes or pulls a wart out, it typically leaves a large hole in the skin. They can be rather deep depending on how severe the skin infection is.
How do I know when a plantar wart is completely killed? ›
One needs to keep going down until just below the level of the surrounding skin to eradicate a wart completely. Stop when the base of the wart looks exactly like normal skin (i.e. no black dots or 'graininess). If they become sore or bleed a little just leave off the treatment and carry on the following night.
What are the black dots on a wart? ›
Common warts are small, grainy skin growths that occur most often on the fingers or hands. They're rough to the touch and often have tiny black dots. These dots are clotted blood vessels. Common warts are caused by a virus and are transmitted by touch.
How fast does apple cider vinegar remove warts? ›
Replace the cotton ball with a fresh one dipped in apple cider vinegar each night. The wart may swell or throb. The skin on the wart may turn black in the first 1 to 2 days, which might signal that the skin cells in the wart are dying. The wart might fall off within 1 to 2 weeks.
