Warts on child's fingers

[UnderripeBanana]

What do I do about this? They've been there a long time and getting more rather than disappearing

Our gp said they go away on their own. They don't. 5yrs later she still had them. We saw a private dermatologist who froze them off with liquid Nitrogen delivered through a tiny needle.

My daughter had a wart on her hand. I told the wart very sternly that it could go away now and that I was ready for it to be gone. I was very stern. I told my daughter to do the same. Every day. It went away! I was astonished. It sounds silly, but it worked.

Thank you I think this might be what we have to do. He's had at least one of them for years. It's really gross tbh. DH is nhs so won't be impressed with private. Do I just Google for dermatologists?

Sounds weird but put on strong bazuka gel and cover with a small amount of duct tape, leave for as long as possible. They need starved of oxygen. My son had really painful long term verucas and this was only thing that worked and was suggested by GP.

The frozen stuff via GP hadn't worked I should add.

We used Scholl Medicated Verruca Plasters.
You can get 15 plasters for £6 and you change them out daily. They use salicylic acid to gradually and painlessly remove the verrucas.

Mia Derma Wart Away is the only thing that worked for my daughter. I got it from Holland and Barrett.

It depends on the individual - for some they go away in time (although it can take years!). For others they don't. I started out with one or two as a teen - GP wouldn't treat them so I kept trying OTC stuff. I ended up with around 30 on my hands by the end, no chance of getting rid of them, and eventually got a kind GP who took pity on me and froze them there and then and they went away, so I'd definitely advise getting them frozen privately.

Do you think those tiny plasters will stick to his fingers ok? They're still washing hands a lot at school (which is fair enough!!) it's going to slide off quite quickly?

I understand the thing about warts is that the virus is so low level that the immune system doesn't really notice they are there so doesn't do anything about them. So all the ideas for curing them are based around alerting the immune system to their presence - so freezing, duct tape, bazuka, literally sticking a needle in it - I think they work on the same premise that you somehow shock the immune system into noticing them with "an injury" .

Anyway, duct tape disruption did work for my sons!

No, he will need to wash his hands while keeping those fingers dry/out of the water. Perhaps you can speak to his teacher and have him use hand sanitiser or an antibacterial wipe to clean his hands if you send supplies in with him instead of washing with soap and water.

Duct tape will stay in place better!

Well not all the ideas. Warts are live deformed skin cells as they infected by the virus. They grow and multiply on the surface, but can also grow inwards.

Freezing them kills the wart cells from the outside in using liquid nitrogen. But if the freezing were done on normal skin, you’d get frostbite. It kills the cells. That’s why repeat treatments are often needed because it’s hard to freeze the entire wart especially if it has grown a bit inwards (like you often see on feet).

Bazuka gel and the medicated discs with plasters are salicylic acid. So it’s using acid to gradually kill and eat away the cells. If you use this treatment the wart will gradually go white and layers will peel off as the acid eats it’s way through the wart. If you used it on normal skin, you’d be giving yourself an acid burn and it would start to hurt.

Duct tape works not by suffocating the cells they don’t need oxygen. But by the adhesive gradually pulling away wart cells each time you remove and replace the duct tape. A 2014 study found it little better than a placebo as it commonly takes months for it to work, if it works.

You have to freeze them off. I have the same problem atm and am using ActiFreeze. Picked it up from amazon for about £11.

Please note that a 2014 meta-analysis found that Duct tape to be no better than a placebo and has risks of causing skin irritation. The best treatment was deemed to be those using topical salicylic acid (SA) which is what bazuka gel suggested is as well as the Scholl medicated plasters I posted.

“Cutaneous warts are common in the general population. Salicylic acid (SA), cryotherapy and duct tape are commonly used to treat warts. Current, high-quality evidence suggests that topical SA is effective compared with placebo, and is the preferred first-line treatment in children due to ease of application and minimal side effects. The evidence does not suggest that cryotherapy is more effective than SA, and it is associated with more side effects. Duct tape has not been shown to be superior to placebo and side effects, including redness, itching, eczema and bleeding, are possible. Treatment of warts for a child should be aimed at reducing symptoms or improving appearance while minimizing side effects. Risks and benefits should be discussed with care providers. Because warts often resolve spontaneously within a period of months to years, it is acceptable to recommend no intervention.”
academic.oup.com/pch/article/19/3/126/2647185

https://www.endwarts.co.uk/

This worked a treat on DS, we tried freezing them and it didn't work and he hated it, a few weeks of this and they were all gone and haven't come back. That was over 3 years ago.

I was told they eventually go. Apparently nobody told my warts this. My original one appeared twenty years ago and freezing never worked. Its still living its best life

Salactol (sp) . Get it from the chemist, it's good stuff

Dreadul to say it's ok to tell a patient no treatment is necessary!!

My dd was incredibly self conscious covering up hers, wearing a plaster all the time the hassle etc!
We used cyro and amazingly it has gone.
Even if it returns at least she's had a break from it and her Pals wondering why she's got a never ending plaster on!

my friend was told put clear nailvarnish on them

@Discovereads I am speaking from experience regardless of the study. We had tried years (yes years) of salicylic and plasters etc.

Previous poster said clear nail varnish and it just reminded me that it was the clear varnish and duct tape that got rid of them. My son walked with a limp his veruccas were that bad.

My daughter’s all just almost literally vanished overnight about a month ago. I’m guessing her body just randomly launched an attack on the virus after she’d had them for about 3 years. They were suddenly all gone within a week!

Your experience is totally valid, most people who use the duct tape method successfully actually are doubling up on methods by using a topical agent and the duct tape acts as a waterproof plaster only.

I bought my daughter's (for a £1). It vanished and is now in the same place on my corresponding finger.

It is for sale if anyone is interested.

Ds has lots - we have found that nothing sticky (plasters or duct tape) will stay in place throughout a whole day of childhood activity and frequent washing. The most success we have had so far is bazuka extra strength which has so far banished one of the many.

It's really horrible for kids on their fingers where it's impossible to hide and other kids can be so cruel. 😢