The humanpapilloma virus comes in more than 60 strains and is one of the most common viruses on Earth. Depending on the strain and the strength of the individual's immune system, HPV may sit dormant with no symptoms or effects, or it can lead to cervical and throat cancers, or it can manifest itself in the form of warts, including genital warts. Nasty? You bet. Fortunately, treatments are available to remove warts.
Warts
Although different strains may be involved, all warts are caused by HPV. It doesn't matter if they're on your finger, your foot (plantar warts) or genital warts-- the principle is the same.
HPV transmits from physical contract with another person who has HPV. This can be as simple as being touched by someone with a wart on his hand, to something as personal as sexual intercourse. The person spreading HPV does not have to show symptoms for the virus to spread-- so just because someone doesn't have genital warts doesn't mean he can't pass them along.
The strength of a person's immune system makes a difference as to whether he develops a wart. However, once a wart develops, it can be a challenge to get rid of it--and it may require treatment or surgical intervention.
Chemical Approaches
With warts like plantar warts (feet and heels), flat warts and common warts, you can start with over-the-counter products like Compound W. These products use salicyclic acid and other similar chemicals to essentially burn warts down. Doctors may use cantharidin--an extract from the blister beetle--to do the same thing.
With genital warts, physicians often use podophyllin, podofilox, which use the same principle.
The virus lives inside the wart. Once the wart has been essentially flattened down, there is still some virus living at the skin at the base of the wart. So, although the wart may simple regenerate, the hope is that the immune system will be able to kill off the small amount of virus remaining.
Another approach to removing warts is to boost the immune system to kill off warts. Prescription treatments of squaric acid dibutylester for common warts and imiquimod for both common and genital warts--have been shown to boost the body's immune response to defeat the HPV viruses in warts.
On occasion in very stubborn warts--common and genital-- a doctor may inject an antiviral like bleomycin directly into the wart.
Surgical Methods
One common and relatively safe surgical intervention to remove warts is cryotherapy. A doctor drips liquid nitrogen onto wart tissue, instantly freezing and killing the wart. Going to the opposite end of the temperature spectrum, a physician may elect to perform electrocautery, which uses an electrically charged needle to burn away wart tissue. With genital warts, a doctor may prefer trichloroacetic acid as another way to burn off tissue.
The methods of last resort are surgical excision and laser surgery. Both have risks of increased pain and scarring. Laser surgery can also be very costly compared to other methods.
Tags: genital warts, immune system, common warts, plantar warts, remove warts, surgical intervention, wart tissue
