Warts are caused by a virus and only live so many years and then go away doing nothing.
Certainly in the 1800’s and earlier people did not treat them. They just had warts.
Now we treat them for cosmetic reasons and because they are in the way. Or if they are
annoying like on the tip of a finger or where they get rubbed frequently and are painful.
But they do not HAVE to be treated since they are not harmful to people. They can go away
and frequently fall off after prolong soaking like at the lake or water park.
Any irritant will cause them to decrease. There are products on the market like
Compound W and others that will eventually get rid of them and you have to put it on the
wart every day and cut off dead tissue every day. People have used Methiolate, Steptic
Sticks, and other acids. There are Salicylic Acid patches that you stick on them.
Then the doctor can treat them by putting blistering agents on them, freezing them, and
cutting them out and burning them. Half of them will come back if you freeze them and they
can come back in higher numbers. Plus it is sore for awhile afterwards.
There are two methods that will get rid of the warts almost half the time and when
combined will get rid of them most of the time. Do both of these and you might not have to
see the doctor.
1. Dr. Hansen reported good results with the acid sticky patches that you buy in the
drug stores. But he recommended putting plastic tape over them. Remember when you wore a
Band-Aid for a long time and your finger skin became white and soft. That allows the wart
to release. First soak the area for 20 minutes in plain tap water. The he recommended
using the acid patches and covering them with Duct Tape!!! Yes duct tape. Any color. The
tape is left on 24hrs a day and if it tries to peal off, then retape over it with more
tape. The tape and patch is removed once a week and the area cleaned up and dead tissue
cut away. Another patch is applied and more tape for another week until the wart falls
off.
2. Doctors noticed patients treated with
antacid Tagamet for ulcers had their warts go away 40% or more of the time.
Tagamet is safe and we used to treat 1 month old babies for 6 months until
Nexium came along. There are very rare side effects like Advil. It does
not make them drowsy and they will not have heart burn. Many doctors
treated them with a high but safe dose of 20 mg for each pound of body
weight every day for 3 months (or less if they are gone). The amount was
divided into three times a day. So a 40 lb child would get 800 mg a day.
That would be the maximum and not more than 800 a day. That is higher than
the adult dose on the bottle but OK to give school age children. You can
swallow or crush up the over the counter pills into food or have the doctor
call out the liquid form of it. I have had many patients helped by this for
typical warts as well as Molluscum.
If doing these two things do not rid the wart in 5-6 weeks, then put up with it or see
your doctor for the standard treatment.
Molluscum
Any decent dermatologist can treat Molluscum. I have had a few successes
with ZymaDerm and no harm trying it. There is another way to treat
them.
Doctors noticed patients treated with
antacid Tagamet for ulcers had their warts go away 40% or more of the time.
Tagamet is safe and we used to treat 1 month old babies for 6 months until
Nexium came along. There are very rare side effects like Advil. It does
not make them drowsy and they will not have heart burn. Many doctors
treated them with a high but safe dose of 20 mg for each pound of body
weight every day for 3 months (or less if they are gone). The amount was
divided into three times a day. So a 40 lb child would get 800 mg a day.
That would be the maximum and not more than 800 a day. That is higher than
the adult dose on the bottle but OK to give school age children. You can
swallow or crush up the over the counter pills into food or have the doctor
call out the liquid form of it. I have had many patients helped by this for
typical warts as well as Molluscum.
