Several years ago I discovered a small, smooth, flesh-coloured bump on a finger. I assumed it was a callus and trimmed it with clippers. It came back. Eventually I showed it to my PCP (a nurse practitioner), who said it was a wart, and she froze it with liquid nitrogen. It didn’t go away. Now I’ve been trying Compound W (salicylic acid) for a couple of weeks. I’m not sure it’s doing anything other than turning the flesh-coloured bump into a white bump.
Has anyone used salicylic acid to remove a wart? Did it work? How long did it take? Are you supposed to re-apply after hand-washing? Or just put it on twice a day, regardless of how many time you wash your hands?
I have a routine exam with my PCP (now, a PA-C) in about three weeks and I’ll ask him. But in the meantime I’ll ask here.
I have tried various formulations to remove warts. Compound W, duct tape, a couple of others. None worked for me. But I know other people who have had success with those things. I just go for the freezing, my insurance covers the dermatologist. Before I had that insurance I got a freezing kit at the CVS that worked. Turns out to be a canister of propane or butane that you can also get for refilling lighters at a fraction of the cost and apply with a Q-tip.
Finally, you can sort of wish warts away. The bodies immune system can fight them off. Irritating the area around a wart has been shown to activate an immune response and the wart may go away. I believe this is the effect that made 2 tiny warts on one of my fingertips rapidly fade away after slamming my fingers in a door.
Nah, I randomly developed like 4 warts on my hand maybe 15 years ago, tried Compound W and some Dr. Scholl’s pads with the same solution, no permanent result, they did eventually wear away the wart and it disappeared, but it would recur (my understanding this is because the virus is deeper in the skin.) I then bought the OTC home freeze kits, and that removed 3 of the 4 warts after the first attempt, I tried the other one 2 more times and it kept recurring. Finally mentioned that one to my dermatologist, he pulled out a much heavier duty cryo gun and froze it a lot longer / more harshly than the home kit can do, hurt like a bitch, wart was still coming back like 4 weeks later and he did that again and it never came back after.
Have to mention that there are many different varieties of warts (all caused by strains of HPV I think), and different types of skin too, so no guarantee that any of the options will work on any wart. I think freezing and cutting are pretty secure, but as mentioned above it can take more than one shot at it to make them go away. People skilled with a blade can remove warts barely leaving a mark behind. I don’t know anyone I’d really trust to do that though except a dermatologist or other surgeon. Not because I expect a disaster, just the possibility of a lot of blood and a scar that might bother me as much as the wart did.
I took my daughter to a dermatologist to remove a wart. We’d go every 4 weeks, and they’d either freeze it or apply some sort of beetle poison. It was growing back at the same rate they were killing it, so we gave up after 4 or 5 months.
Then we tried a kit, probably generic from CVS. It freezes the wart every 2 weeks using propane, plus a salicylic acid treatment to apply between freezes. If I remember right, the wart was completely gone in 2 weeks. And it didn’t come back.
I bought the Compound W freeze kit too. Thought I’d try the salicylic acid first. But it sounds like I may have to have the quack do it, or go to a dermatologist. And yeah, when the NP did it I told her, ‘Yeah, that’s starting to hurt now.’ (She was almost finished at that point.)
We have three dead cats on the shelf. Will ashes work?
I’ve had warts on my hands and other body parts since I was young. I’ve tried everything, and the only thing that works is time. Eventually, they will go away on their own. It may take a few months, but I’ve learned to live with them, and I doubt anybody even notices them.
I’m not sure about ashes, seems a lot of the cat has gone up in smoke. I think you need stump water also. Maybe adding a tiny amount of ashes to the stump water will create a homeopathic remedy.
If they go way in a few months or less I think you’re doing pretty well. Have you talked to a dermatologist about these recurring warts? They may be disappearing but the virus seems to still be living in your skin. Sometimes an HPV vaccination stops the infection and makes existing warts go away.
I’ve only had one wart once in my life, and it hung on for a while. I would kinda pick at it, and eventually it turned into a mini crater, and I was able to use my fingernail to dig out the wart part. It healed quickly and never came back.
Other than the 4 on my hand that appeared around the same time 15 years ago, I’ve only had maybe one wart long ago in my teens that I remember going away on its own (or I may have cut it off with a fingernail clipper a few times and it just stopped coming back.) The four that I ended up needing a dermatologist to freeze off had been lingering for over a year, so they can linger for quite a long time before self-resolving.
Note that prescription salicylic acid wart removing products area available in much higher strength than you’d get in OTC stuff like Compound W (i.e. 40% SA concentration). So it may be worthwhile to consult a physician to get hold of the good stuff. It does have the potential to markedly irritate adjacent normal skin.
I used Compound W for some warts I got when I was a teenager, and it did work. It does take time, but eventually, the wart separated from the skin below it and I could peel it off.
I have something called “Wart-Off” (Maximum Strength). It’s made by Pfizer. It has salicylic acid.
That’s what always happens at first. I usually have to do multiple treatments and it can take a couple of weeks. I’ve never had a wart that it didn’t remove, though.
It’s pretty strong. It stings like a mofo immediately. You just bear it.
Had warts when I was younger, mostly on my hands. Discovered a fix all on my own (but based on medical science). Not for everyone but if you have a better than average pain tolerance give it a try.
Warts are caused by a virus and the virus can be killed by heat. Warts also have less sensitivity to pain than the surrounding skin.
Get a magnifying glass, go out in the sun, focus the pinpoint of heat on the wart like when you were frying ants with a magnifying glass as a kid. Do that until you absolutely can’t stand it anymore. Wait a couple days and the dead wart will fall off.
