What you need to know about laser wart removal

Removing warts with laser treatment

You've heard of laser hair removal, right? But what about laser wart removal?  Laser hair removal is rapidly increasing in popularity. Amazingly, laser treatment can prevent or greatly reduce the growth of body hair. If you think that is amazing, wait until you hear what else laser treatment can do. If you suffer from warts, you may be able to have your warts treated with laser treatments.

Laser wart removal is done at a professional office. There are a number of dermatologists who can offer this type of treatment, but it is most commonly found in laser treatment centers. Laser treatment centers are centers that tend to focus solely on conditions that can be treated by lasers. These conditions may include, but are not limited, unwanted body hair, poor vision, as well as warts.

Laser removal for warts is used when other methods have been unsuccessful or when warts are large or wide spread. It is also recommended during pregnancy. An anesthetic is used and the wound will be painful for a few days after laser surgery. There is usually no scarring.

Laser surgery uses an intense beam of light, or laser, to burn and destroy the wart tissue. It is usually done in a doctor's office or clinic. Local or general anesthetic may be used, depending on the number of warts to be removed or the size of the area to be treated. The laser used is a pulsed dye laser.

As previously mentioned, your best chance for undergoing laser wart removal is to contact a local laser treatment center. If you have a primary care physician, they may be able to point you in the direction of a well-known and trusted laser treatment center.  If you do not have a primary care physician who can provide you with recommendations, ask for recommendations or check online and check any reviews.

When it comes to undergoing a laser wart removal, you will probably need to make a consultation appointment. This appointment, if it is needed, will be used to fully examine your body, as well as the warts that you would like removed. If you are being referred by a dermatologist or even your family physician, it's possible. Check this with your doctor and the laser clinic.

Consultation appointments are not only used to examine your warts, but they are also used to prepare you for the procedure. If you are not planning on having a consultation appointment, it is important that you understand exactly how the procedure will go. You should can research this online or you may be able to consult on the phone with the staff at the clinic.

When it comes to laser wart removal, one of the most common questions asked is about pain. Laser removal requires a local anesthetic or some clinics may use topical numbing gel. You can take over-the-counter pain medication if you require it afterwards, as the removal site may be tender for a few days. It is a day procedure only.

Laser wart removal is suitable for individuals of all ages, though it is not often used on children. 

Wart removal in the doctor's office

Finding a wart removal doctor

A lot of people make an appointment with their doctor to have one or more of their warts removed. If you are interested in having a wart professionally removed, you will have to find a healthcare professional that can assist you. The trick is, finding the right person to do the job.

Find a doctor....
It is not always easy for you to find a doctor who can remove your warts for you. This most commonly occurs when you do not have a primary care physician. A primary care physician is classified as a doctor that you see on a regular basis.  If you do not have one, you may want to take the time to find one locally. Get a recommendation if you can, or or check on the internet. Once you have found a doctor you're happy with, schedule an appointment.

When it comes to visiting your doctor, whether or not you are a new patient, you need to let your doctor what you're there for. Almost all physicians, including primary care physicians, are able to diagnosis and remove warts, but not all choose to. If your chosen physician does not offer wart removal, it is likely that they will point you in the direction of someone who does. This may be a dermatologist, or skin specialist.

Or dermatologist
Dermatologists are healthcare professionals that specialize in skin conditions. These skin conditions include warts, moles, and other abnormal skin growths. What is nice about most dermatologists is they tend not to just focus on one wart removal method, like most primary care physicians do. Many dermatologists have the skills and the equipment needed to perform a number of different removal procedures. These procedures may include freezing off the wart, burning it, or removing it with laser technology. This means that you may be provided with more options, when using the service of a dermatologist.

A dermatologist will also take into consideration, once you let them know, of any feelings of anxiety about your appointment and skin condition, and will work to allay your fears.

Now, if you are only looking to have one or more of your warts removed, you may not even need to contact a local physician, you may also be able to go directly to a dermatologist. If you take this option, it is important to remember that dermatologists have busy schedules and a large number of patients. With first time patients, it is not uncommon to have to wait two to three months for an available appointment. And if you're not there on referral from a doctor, the dermatologist may charge more or you're insurance may decide not to fund the visit, so look into that first.

So if home removal is not working for you, or for some reason you don't want to go down that route, look into finding a doctor or dermatologist to do the job for you. They will be able to advise you on the best course of treatment for your warts.

Over the counter wart removal products

Removing your warts with a commercial product

Each year, a lot of people undergo wart removal procedures. Often the procedure is done right at home, either with a home remedy or an over-the-counter product. At home wart removal procedures have always been popular and if you have a wart there is a good chance that you may be thinking about removing your warts at home. If this is the case, you may be ready to try a commercial, over-the-counter wart remover.

Over-the-counter wart removers, like any other store bought products, are available for sale at most retail stores. These include grocery stores, department stores, health and beauty stores, as well as drug stores and pharmacies. You can buy them without ever having to visit your doctor.

A low cost option
In addition to being easy to get, over-the-counter wart removers are popular because they are relatively easy to afford. The cost of a commercial wart remover will all depend on which type of product you purchase. If this is your first time buying one, you will soon find out that you have a number of different options. There are numerous product manufacturers to choose from, and different wart remover types to choose from. These types typically include medicated bandages or freeze-off formulas.

Freeze-off wart removers
Perhaps the most popular type of wart remover currently available for sale at a store, is the freeze-off wart removers.  As mentioned above, freeze-off wart removers are made by a number of different product manufacturers. Since they all largely do the same thing, the only difference is the price. Salicylic acid is the main ingredient in commercially available wart freezing off products.

Medicated removal bandages
In addition to freeze-off wart removers, you can also find wart removal products that use medicated bandages. The cost of medicated wart removal bandages or pads will all depend on how big of a package you wish to purchase. These products can be bought online as well as in-store.These affordable wart removal pads or bandages will of course take time to work effectively. Unlike many freeze-off wart removers, the medicated pads or bandages do not work right away. In fact, some of these products have been known to take around two weeks or even a month to work.

Whether you make the decision to purchase a freeze-off wart remover, or a medicated wart removing pad,  you are sure to find something that works for you.

Unusual home remedies for warts

More home remedies for warts

There are other home remedies for wart removal and it seems as if home remedies have been used since the beginning of time. While many people feel that home remedies are a waste of time, others will swear by them. If properly done, there are a number of different health conditions that can be treated or prevented with home remedies. One of those conditions is warts.

Warts are often thought of as unpleasant and are usually not wanted. This has been the case for hundred's of years and as such, there are quite a few home remedies that have been used to treat them.

One of the most popular remedies is the duct tape method, which we covered here. There has even been some scientific evidence that this method is effective, though the reasons why are not so clear.

The aloe gel method
It has also been said that aloe is effective at eliminating warts. Aloe gel comes from the aloe vera plant, which you can actually grow as a plot plant. You are advised to soak a small cotton ball in aloe, preferably the gel, and then tape the cotton ball over your wart. Change the cotton ball daily, and apparently your wart should fall off anywhere from a few days to three weeks.

The caster oil method
Apparently, caster oil is also considered an effective wart removal remedy. When using caster oil, apply the oil directly onto your wart twice a day. It is then suggested that you rub or massage the area with your fingers. After doing this day and night for about three weeks, your wart should disappear. You may want to keep your wart covered, as caster oil may leave a greasy residue on clothing. 

The banana skin method
Another odd remedy involves banana skin. Cut a piece of banana skin and tape it over your wart. Leave it there for week. It supposedly dries out the wart, which can then be sanded off with an emery board.

The aspirin wart removal method
Another technique is to band-aid a piece of an aspirin directly on top of the wart and leave covered overnight. When you uncover the wart, the aspirin will have dissolved into the wart and the surrounding skin. The surrounding skin and wart will look white like the skin is dead. Within a few hours, the circulation will return to the skin, while the wart does not recover. Don't leave the aspirin on the healthy skin longer than overnight, since it can acid burn the skin. The wart will supposedly dry up and drop off.

The garlic method.
There have been studies suggesting that rubbing a clove of garlic on the wart every night and then covering it with a bandage can help it go away fairly fast..

The 'buy-them' method
An unusual method is to sell your warts to someone, or have them buy them from you for a penny. Your warts should disappear and not return.

The above mentioned home remedies are just a few of the many that you can find online or in a home remedy book. Others remedies include using chalk, dandelion, baking soda, papaya, lemon juice, and milkweed. When choosing a home remedy, it is important to keep the ingredients in mind because while all these remedies use largely natural ingredients, you want to refrain from using any items that you may be allergic to.

It is also important to remember, when using home remedies for wart removal, that the results are not guaranteed. If one method does not work, or just doesn't suit you, try another.  However, with such a wide variety of different home remedies to choose from, you are sure to find at least one that can help you.

Home remedy-curing warts with raw potato

 Curing warts with WHAT?

One popular home remedy uses a vegetable many of us have regularly in our kitchens, the humble white potato. There are many instances of people recording the method as successful, yet no one is really able to say why.

What to do

1.  Cut a raw white potato in half and rub the 'potato juice' all over the warts that you want to remove.

2.  Do this morning and night every day for at least 2 weeks.

That's it, hopefully your warts should disappear.

When I was a child I had small warts all over the back of one hand and on my wrist, they were just small ones, but embarrassing none-the-less. Eventually, my mum heard about the potato method and we tried it, though I don't remember religiously applying it every morning and night. But my warts did disappear. 

Now, did they go on their own or was it the potato? Who really knows?

Photocredit morgeFile

One aromatherapist I have spoken to states that warts are caused by a virus, which we know, that's HPV,  and that they are an external sign of an internal potassium deficiency. One possible thought is that the potassium found in potatoes somehow has an external effect on warts. 

This is one of the easiest home remedies to try, when wanting to remove your warts at home.

Leave a note in the comments section if you've tried this and it worked.

Removing warts with tape

Does this really work?

So we know warts are skin growths that appear on the skin. Or in fact,just about anywhere on the body. Although most warts are harmless, almost all are non-cancerous;we just really don't want them there, do we?

So if you've already started researching wart removal options online, you may have come across the duct tape removal method.

Duct tape? Really?

The duct tape method is an age old a home remedy. It has all the classic aspects of a home remedy: it uses objects found at home and the treatment can be carried out at home. Since you may well already have duct tape in your possession and use it at home, you don't even need to spend any cash, making this a perfect home remedy.

If it works.

What to do
The method involves covering the wart up completely with duct tape for one week. After a week, remove the tape and soak the area with the wart, then scrub the wart with a pumice stone or a nail file. Then re-apply the duct tape for another week and repeat this process of tape, soak, file until the wart disappears.

Although the process seems easy, it does have a few minor downsides.

• Some folks won't want to go round all week with duct tape wrapped round their finger or the wrist, or plastered across their knee.
• You need to be consistent and not give up after a week. 
• Other areas of skin that get covered by the tape may become irritated.

Is it effective?
There are some folks who swear it is effective and even some Dr's will recommend this method to their patients. Some studies have been done over the years on the effectiveness of the duct tape method, with curious results. It does actually seem to work and, it does not leave any scars behind.

Why does it work?
It is thought that using the duct tape over the wart can irritate the area just enough to kick the immune system up a notch, therefore helping to get rid of the wart. And of course, by soaking and filing it you are removing some of the actual tissue.

Another theory is it deprives the wart of oxygen causing the wart cells to die out.
It has been noted that warts will often disappear on their own, over time. This happens when the body’s immune system begins to find and fight them. It has been surmised that duct tape seems to help or speed up this process.

Of course, it is important to remember that different individuals react differently to different things, including certain wart removal methods. With this in mind, it's worth giving this method a go. It's cheap and your body is unlikely to react in a negative way.

Despite the proof that duct tape works as a way to remove unwanted warts, there will be people who it does not work for and the wart you have may be in an area that's too awkward to duct tape up.

No need to worry. There are a number of other natural wart removal methods that you can try; some of them are just as low-cost as duct tape and may be more effective for you.

Things to think about before trying home wart removal

What to think about

What we know about warts so far

We know warts are small benign growths that develop on the skin.
We know warts are so common that there is a good chance that you have at least one wart on your body. We also know most people would prefer NOT to have a wart and may wish to have it removed.
So you visit your GP or buy an over-the-counter wart remover or use a home remedy.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when considering home wart removal.

You need to decide what method you will use. With home wart removal, you have a number of different options. If you are interested in using a home remedy to remove a wart, you can easily find a number of home remedy recipes online. If over-the-counter wart removal products are more your style, you should be able to purchase these products online or from a local pharmacy or drugstore.

What are the risks?
One of the most important things to keep in mind are the risks associated with removing your own warts. These risks may heighten, depending on wart removal method you choose. That is why it is extremely important to choose a self wart removal method that is not only effective, but safe. You will want to refrain from trying to cut off your wart, for example. Look into some simple home remedies or purchase one of the many over-the-counter wart medications that are currently available.

Is your wart suited to home removal?
In addition to the method you would like to use, you are also advised to keep your wart's location in mind. With wart removal, whether it be at the doctor’s office or at home, the size and the location of the wart or warts are important. Large warts may be difficult to remove or treat at home, and their location may make it difficult or unsafe for you to apply any medication, whether that be a home remedy or an over-the-counter  product.

No guarantees on effectiveness.
It is also important to remember that removing your own warts is not a guarantee that they will not return or that it will be effective in the first place. In addition to possibly being unsuccessful, it is also important to remember that there is a chance that your wart could grow back. This commonly happens, even to people who had their warts professionally removed.

 Before making a final decision on wart removal, it is a good idea to examine all of your available options, including professional wart removal.