What is the Best Wart Treatment?... Identifying it in the first place!

Now that sandal season is upon us, many patients ask, "What is the best treatment for warts?"

Many patients have already tried the over the counter remedies, which include topical salicylic acid, or other topical therapies such as cryotherapy, or liquid nitrogen. The problem with this is that it can be quite painful, and often the question is how effective is it? How do I know when the wart is gone, or more importantly, how do I know it is even a wart in the first place?

This is why it is so important to have any lesion/sore/callus/corn checked out by your podiatrist. You may find that something that you may think is a wart is in fact not, and vice versa. Once it is diagnosed by your podiatrist as truly a wart, then our office has several treatment options that involve proper debridement and inspection with weekly visits until the wart is gone. If there is no improvement after several weeks of treatment, then a biopsy, or sample, may be taken and sent to pathology to identify what is the cause, which may change our treatment plan. For very recalcitrant warts, we even have a laser surgery option.

So, the best treatment for a wart is... identifying it is a wart in the first place. Your podiatrist can help you with that, and can help get rid of it as well.