Warts
“Have you ever woken up to find a grainy, unsightly skin growth on your finger? This is a wart, and while it’s usually harmless, it isn’t pretty to look at. At Petrin Dermatology in Redmond, Washington, James Petrin, MD, and his team offer several types of wart removal services to clear up your skin and help you avoid new warts. Book your appointment for wart treatment or removal at Petrin Dermatology by phone or online today.”
What are warts?
Warts are viral skin growths that typically appear on your hands or the bottom of your feet. They’re usually harmless to your health, but you might not like the way they look on your skin. Thankfully, they’re easy to remove with a dermatologist’s help.
Warts can be grainy, flesh-colored, rough, or covered with little black dots. The dots might look unsightly, but they’re simply clogged blood vessels that you can see on the wart’s surface. If a wart hurts, changes color, is bothersome, or doesn’t go away for a long time, you should book an appointment for treatment at Petrin Dermatology.
What causes warts?
Warts are one of many potential results of coming into contact with some forms of human papillomavirus (HPV), a virus with over 150 types. You might be familiar with the type of HPV that spreads through sexual contact. The type that causes warts spreads through skin-to-skin touch and even contact with shared objects like towels and doorknobs. You can even develop a new wart after touching an existing wart on your own skin.
Even though certain strains of HPV cause warts, not everyone who comes into contact with them will develop warts. It all depends on how your immune system reacts to the HPV virus. Children, older adults, and people with weak immune systems are more prone to developing warts than healthy younger adults.
How can I get rid of a wart?
Warts usually go away eventually without treatment, but it can take a year or longer. If you don’t like the way a wart looks or if it bothers you, the team at Petrin Dermatology can remove the wart or stimulate your immune system to make the wart go away faster. Some common treatment methods for warts include:
Salicylic acid
Salicylic acid is an ingredient in many topical medications for warts. The acid burns away layers of your wart each time you apply it. Your dermatologist may recommend treatment with salicylic acid in combination with cryotherapy.
Cryotherapy
Your dermatologist can kill your wart using freezing liquid nitrogen in a procedure known as cryotherapy. About a week after the minor in-office procedure, the dead tissue of your wart falls off. You might need several sessions to get rid of the entire wart.
Surgery
Your dermatologist may recommend the physical removal of your wart with minor surgery. They cut away the wart tissue, leaving only a small scar in its place.
If you have an unattractive wart that won’t go away, call Petrin Dermatology or book an appointment online for wart treatment today.