Medicines and products for warts

Wart products range from genuinely useful (salicylic acid) to clinic-only procedures to outright useless. The choice depends on type, site and the person.

Pharmacy products (evidence-backed for common and plantar warts):

• Salicylic acid 17% paints and 40% plasters: the first-line home treatment - daily application with soaking and filing for 6-12 weeks. Protect surrounding skin; never on face or genitals.
• Combination salicylic-lactic acid preparations: similar role.

Clinic treatments (a dermatologist's tools):

• Cryotherapy: liquid nitrogen freezing every 2-3 weeks for several sessions - the standard office treatment, effective but stinging; can blister and occasionally scar or lighten skin (a consideration on darker skin).
• Electrocautery and radiofrequency removal, and curettage: quick removal for filiform and stubborn warts, with small scarring risk.
• Laser (CO2, pulsed dye): for resistant warts, periungual and mosaic plantar cases.
• Immunotherapy approaches (intralesional antigens, imiquimod, contact sensitizers): for multiple, recurrent or stubborn warts - these recruit the immune system rather than just destroying tissue.
• Cantharidin: a clinician-applied blistering agent, useful in children because application is painless.

Genital warts use different products entirely (imiquimod, podophyllotoxin under medical guidance, cryotherapy, surgical removal) - always through a doctor, with partner and screening advice.

Products to avoid: online 'wart removal' acids of unknown strength, fairness-cream-style steroid mixtures (they worsen warts), and any device for self-cautery.

Ayurvedic view (interpretive): kshara-based products are the classical caustic option within an interpretive framework of limited evidence - practitioner-applied only, as the Ayurvedic treatment section details.

Remember: salicylic acid patiently at home; cryotherapy and friends at the clinic for what persists; immunotherapy for the stubborn; genital warts always medically. Unknown-strength acids and self-cautery devices are how warts become scars.