If you want to get rid of a few warts but you don't want to visit a doctor, you have several options. Home remedies and over-the-counter treatments can be both effective and inexpensive. The only downside is, typically, they're not fast. If it's speed you want, there's really only one choice among at-home wart therapies: You have to freeze them.
Basics
The process of freezing warts using extremely cold temperatures is called cryotherapy. Traditionally, it was done in a doctor's office and liquid nitrogen was the chemical of choice. But around 2003, home cryotherapy kits began hitting the market. They don't use liquid nitrogen, but dimethyl ether. They aren't as powerful as the cryotherapy your doctor can offer, but they still offer the possibility of wart elimination in just a treatment or two. Now, home cryotherapy kits are marketed by several companies, including Wartner, Compund W and Dr. Scholl's.
Older home treatments available over the counter tend to be based on salicylic acid. They work, but treatment can take weeks or months. Duct tape has been promoted as the ultimate in inexpensive home wart remedies, but it, too, can take weeks to work, if it indeed works -- the research has been a mixed bag.
Background
Of course, it's not safe to use a home cryotherapy kit unless you're sure the lesion in question is a wart. Common warts are skin colored and appear on the hands and feet. They may have a rough, cauliflower-like appearance. Plantar warts grow on the soles of the feet and can be painful. If you're in doubt, see a doctor.
Certain strains of warts are transmitted sexually. Such warts, called genital warts, are not recommended for treatment with home cryotherapy products.
Procedure
Home cryotherapy kits consist of a can of a freezing chemical and a number of applicators -- foam-tipped sticks that resemble cotton swabs. The foam applicator is attached to the can and then pressed against the wart for about 20 seconds, so that the chemical is sprayed onto the wart. The skin will turn white, and you'll feel a bit of stinging or aching. Some warts, such as plantar warts on thick skin, may require as long as 40 seconds.
Once the applicator is removed, the skin will thaw, color will return and the stinging will subside. Within a few days a blister may form under the wart. The wart should fall off in 10 to 14 days. Each applicator can be used only once.
Two weeks after treatment, common warts should be gone. Warts that haven't disappeared can be treated with home cryotherapy again, but Compound W recommends not using its product more than three times in total for any one wart.
Tags: cryotherapy kits, home cryotherapy, home cryotherapy, home cryotherapy kits, liquid nitrogen, skin will