Treatment and Prevention
The benign lesions caused by HPV, the warts, go away on their own. But this can take a few months. Some people do opt for treatment choices in the market for eradicating the warts that bother the cosmetic appearance. The treatment options for treating HPV warts are not 100% curative. The virus has a high recurrence rate and can resurface later in life. It’s best to let it wait and let it go on its own. However, in patients who want their skin to jump back to normal, or in cases where the warts are stubborn and do not go away, the doctor can provide a number of treatment options which are as under:
Pharmaceutical options for treating warts
A lenient way to deal with warts is using medicines that are derived from agents that can help deal with the warts. Medicines are available in the form of creams that are to be applied locally to shed the warts off. These topical creams are more or less, a home remedy to treat warts.
Topical agents
- Salicylic acid: A 17% solution of salicylic acid can be used in the form of pads, liquid, patch or an ointment as a go-to therapy. The use is limited to cutaneous warts, which are non-genital in location. The strategy is to soak the wart in the water for a few minutes before applying salicylic agent. It is a peeling agent which causes the wart to shed off. The procedure may take a few weeks, even when applied daily to produce the desired results. The efficacy is variable, depending upon the type of wart, its thickness and location etc.
Other topical agents that are less frequently used are:
- Imiquimode
- podofilox
- 5-fluorouracil
- Intralesional Bleomycin
- Intralesional interferon