SKIN PROBLEMS: WART REMOVAL

April 28th, 2009

Warts are local accumulations of skin cells which have become abnormally large and adherent to one another as the result of infection with one of nine possible wart viruses. In people whose warts have become widespread and unusually persistent (warts normally disappear in about nine months), an additional factor — decreased immunity — is also at work.

Treatment of common warts on the hands and fingers, according to the Resident and Staff Physician (26:58), need not be traumatic to be effective. Even applications of relatively mild lotions, such as salicylic acid, may disturb the walls of the wart cells sufficiently to let some wart virus escape into the patient’s bloodstream. This boosts production of antibodies against the virus which eventually attack the warts and destroy them.

So, if you have warts on your fingers, it is better to let your own body deal with them. If you rush to have them burned off, your immunity never gets stimulated and they may quickly come back again.