While often harmless, warts can feel uncomfortable or diminish your self-confidence. At Integrated Dermatology of Brookline in Brookline and Andover, Massachusetts, board-certified dermatologists Miaoyuan Wang, MD, Alan Rockoff, MD, and their team can diagnose warts and remove them to give you the clear, healthy-looking skin you desire. Call the office to schedule an appointment or book online today.
Warts are small skin growths that often appear on your hands, fingers, or toes. A virus causes warts, which get transmitted from person to person by touch. Warts usually are harmless and can disappear on their own over time. However, removing them can make you feel more comfortable or less embarrassed.
Warts are grainy skin growths that feel rough when you touch them. They might contain a pattern of tiny black dots, which are clotted blood vessels. Warts are often flesh-colored, pink, tan, or white. Some are very small but can increase in size over time.
Anyone can get warts, regardless of age, but children and young adults are more likely to develop them. Your risk increases if you have a weak immune system because of HIV/AIDS, an organ transplant, medical problems, or taking certain medications. To reduce your risk of getting warts, avoid touching and picking at them.
To diagnose warts and determine the best removal option, your dermatologist reviews your medical history and examines them. They might scrape off the top layer of warts to check for signs of clotted blood vessels that appear as tiny dark dots.
Warts often go away on their own in time, though it might take a year or two. New warts can also develop, which is why removing the warts is beneficial. Various methods for getting rid of warts include:
Your provider can prescribe wart-removing medications containing salicylic acid to remove warts layer by layer.
Freezing off warts or cryotherapy uses liquid nitrogen to cause a blister around and under warts to make them slough off over time. Repeat treatments can enhance the effectiveness of cryotherapy.
In-office treatment using acids stronger than salicylic acids, such as trichloroacetic acid, is another effective wart-removal strategy.
Using laser energy can cauterize tiny blood vessels, causing infected tissue to die and warts to fall off over time.
During a minor surgical procedure, your specialist can cut out wart tissue. Scarring may occur that eventually fades away.
Don’t live with warts that can spread to other parts of your body and make you feel self-conscious. Schedule an appointment for wart removal with Integrated Dermatology of Brookline by phone or book online today.
