Warts
Causes and treatment

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Frequently asked questions

Are warts contagious? Plus Icon

Yes, warts are contagious and can easily be spread through contact to other areas of your face or body, as well as to others. After you have been infected, it can take weeks or months for a wart to actually appear on your skin.

How do you catch warts? Plus Icon

Warts are easily contracted through direct contact from a wart to healthy skin. It is also possible to develop a wart through contact with objects that have been touched by someone with a wart, for example towels, shoes and socks, or swimming pool floors. As warts are contagious, the best prevention is to treat them as soon as possible to avoid them spreading to other areas of your body, or to other people.

Treatments for warts

Warts will eventually go away by themselves, but for some people, this can take months, or even years. As they are contagious, it’s not always appropriate to let the problem go away by itself.

Laser removal

A specialised laser heats up the blood vessels feeding the wart, which collapse in on themselves and stop the blood supply.

This starves the wart of nutrients so it naturally falls off after a few weeks.

Excision

The wart is carefully cut out using a surgical scalpel.

This procedure can be done under local anaesthetic and will require a small stitch in the skin.

The wart is removed immediately with this treatment.

Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy involves using liquid nitrogen to freeze off the wart.

The cold temperature kills the cells within the wart, as well as constricting its blood supply.

This causes the wart to die and naturally fall off.

Natural remedies for warts

Over-the-counter treatments can be time-consuming, messy, painful and ineffective. Professional skin clinics and dermatologists have access to more effective methods and equipment to treat warts quickly and safely.

Duct tape
Cover the wart with duct tape (cut a piece about the same size as the wart) and leave it on for six days. Then remove the tape and soak the wart in water, then gently exfoliate the wart with an emery board. Leave the tape off overnight and repeat the process until the wart is gone.

Essential oils
Essential oils such as tea tree, oregano, lemon, thyme, eucalyptus, lavender and cedarwood, are sometimes used as a natural remedy for warts. Apply the oil directly onto the wart using a cotton bud, three times a day until it has gone.

Here at sk:n we have a range of treatments designed to help you get the result you want.

Our specialist doctors and nurses can recommend the best path for you to take.

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