Freeze Warts
How to Freeze Warts
A wart is an unsightly virus that thrives on the skin, and many people prefer to freeze warts as a method of removal. Almost nothing can be quite as embarrassing or as frustrating as a wart, and getting rid of warts is almost as bad as having them in the first place.
A disease known as the human papillomavirus causes the common wart; it is a virus that is difficult to treat, and often treatment isn’t very successful. One of the most common methods of treating warts is to freeze warts with liquid nitrogen. The reason that this is the preferred method is that it is more successful than other treatments, plus it doesn’t carry the same risk for infection as surgically removing the wart. You can freeze warts at home, as well as at your doctor’s office.
To freeze warts the first step you will have to take is to ensure that the skin condition is actually a wart and not something else. A wart will be a raised, white colored bump with the texture of a cauliflower. In some cases there could be little black areas in the wart as well. If you are not absolutely sure that the growth on your skin is a wart, you should not try and treat it at home, as this can be dangerous.
Before deciding how to treat your warts, you will have to evaluate what exactly the best treatment will be. Visiting your dermatologist or doctor to freeze warts can be costly, and there is no doubt that buying a wart removal kit from your pharmacy will be far more affordable. The problem is that it also will not be as effective as having your doctor freeze warts in his office.
When choosing to freeze warts at home, it is important to understand that it could take several treatments and end up costing more money than visiting your doctor, though this isn’t always the case. Depending on the severity of the warts, it may require more than one treatment, even if you are having your doctor freeze warts in his office.
If you do decide to have your treatment done in a doctor’s office you may find that the treatment will be more successful if you begin treating the warts yourself at home, about a week before your visit. You can start treatment by applying salicylic acid gel to the warts every night; by the time of your doctor visit the top layers of the wart will be dead already, leaving the freezing treatment to attack deeper into the wart.
When you visit your doctor, he or she may apply a couple of treatments of liquid nitrogen to the wart while you are in their office. It will cause some burning sensation, but this quickly disappears. After a few days the wart will resemble dead, white tissue, but it may also darken. Eventually a blister will develop over the wart area.
Do not disturb the blister, as you may cause infection and even spread the virus before it has a chance to die completely. Once the blister heals the virus will be dead and there will be healthy skin where the blister was located.
If after a few weeks the wart is not gone, you will want to contact your doctor and schedule another visit. It may take two to three visits before you successfully kill the virus, but it can be successful if you continue the treatment.
Due to the fact that warts are so contagious, if you pick at the wart you can spread it to other people, as well as to other areas of your body. It is always best to treat warts as soon as possible to help avoid spreading the virus.