How To Remove Warts
There are many different types of common warts that affect us. Common warts are growths in skin which are caused by HPV ( human papillomavirus ) infection. Even though they are considered contagious it is not uncommon for just one family member to have them and are often present on just one part of the body (eg. hands or feet) without spreading to other areas over time.
Some types of the common warts are:
- Plantar warts - found of the bottom of feet.
- Flat (plane) warts - often found on face, legs and other parts of the body, usually in large numbers.
- Periungual warts - found around or under nails
- Filiform warts - often found on face, appears a single long stalk.
- Genital warts - found around genitals and anus.
There are more than 100 types of HPV and of these, over 40 types can infect the anogenital tract of men and women, and cause genital warts ( also known as condylomata acuminata, or venereal warts ). Some of the HPVs that infect the anogenital tract can lead to precancerous changes in the uterine cervix and can ultimately cause uterine, cervical cancer, and other anogenital cancers in women. They HPV types which cause cervical cancer in women are also linked with both anal and penile cancers in men.
Genital warts are primarily transmitted by sexual intimacy. HPV types HPV-6 and HPV-11 are most commonly associated with benign lesions such as genital warts, while some other HPV types infect the skin and cause common warts elsewhere on the body. HPV infection is now considered the most common sexually transmitted infection (STD) in the US. It is believed that at least 75% of the sexually active population has been infected with a sexually transmitted HPV at one point.
There is no cure or treatment that can completely get rid of an HPV infection, so the only currently possible treatment is to remove the lesions caused by the virus. However, the wart removal does not always prevent the spread of the virus, and genital warts often recur. There are several treatments that can be administered by the patient.
One of these is a 0.5% solution or gel of Podofilox (Condylox). The medication is applied to the warts twice a day for 3 days, followed by a period of 4 days with no treatment. This should be continued for up to 4 weeks or until lesions are gone. There is also a genital warts cream which is 5% of imiquimod (Aldara, a substance that strengthens immune response) and is applied 3 times a week at bed time, which is then washed off about 6 to 10 hours later. The application is continued for 16 weeks or until the warts are gone. People often consult doctors as to how to remove warts, because there are several options that only doctors can administer. These include 10-25% solutions of podophyllin resin on lesions weekly, applying an 80-90% solution of trichloroacetic acid or bichloracetic acid weekly.
There are also injections of interferon alpha, a substance that stimulates the body's immune response. Treatment involved injections into lesions every other day for up to 12 weeks.
Other methods include cryotherapy ( freezing the warts with liquid nitrogen ) every 1 to 2 weeks, surgical removal, or laser surgery. Wart removal can also be done with natural products, and there are several effective products on the market.
Learning how to remove warts in the anogenital tract is often embarrassing for the person suffering, because it involves telling somebody (doctor or pharmacist) about the problem, but it is extremely important to find out what works best, and what works fast. Some of the most effective natural wart removal treatments are Wartrol, Dermisil, and Healing Natural Oils.
