Patient Education
Dermatology Center
Treating Warts
at Home
What you can do
This handout gives There are many home treatments for warts. You need to do most of them
detailed instructions for daily or almost daily for many months before you see improvement.
Clinic treatments such as freezing warts or treating them with chemicals
many ways to treat warts
are good options, but treating them at home often works nearly as well.
at home. And, it is something you can and should do even if you are having clinic
treatments.
Salicylic Acid and Lactic Acid (DuoFilm)
In the periods between freezing warts in clinic, it is important to keep
“irritating” the wart. You can do this with a tape called DuoFilm or a
similar generic product that contains 17% salicylic acid in flexible
collodion. Or, you can use plasters, solutions, or pads containing 17% to
40% salicylic acid.
Choose the product that is easiest for you to use and that you are most
likely to keep using. You can buy all of these over the counter (without
a prescription) in the foot care section of most drugstores. Also buy a
pumice stone (a rough stone available in the same section of the store),
and a small roll of duct tape.
As soon as you feel comfortable after the freezing in clinic, do one of
these home treatments every day:
DuoFilm
• Apply a coat of DuoFilm on each wart and let it air dry until the
material turns white and feels dry.
• Apply the medicine only to the wart and a thin border of normal,
unaffected skin around the wart. Putting the DuoFilm on too much
normal skin may irritate it.
Page 2
Dermatology Center
Treating Warts at Home
Salicylic Acid Tape, Plaster, or Liquid
Questions? • Apply the salicylic acid tape, plaster, or liquid over the wart and a
thin border of normal, unaffected skin.
Your questions are • Cover the wart and the treatment product with duct tape. Leave it
important. Call your covered for about 24 hours, unless it becomes uncomfortable.
doctor or health care
provider if you have • Remove the duct tape just before bathing.
questions or concerns. • After bathing, gently rub the dead, white skin off with the pumice
UWMC clinic staff are stone.
also available to help.
• When the area is dry, apply a fresh treatment.
Dermatology Center: The day before you are scheduled to return to the Dermatology
206-598-5065 Center, leave the area open to the air with no product or tape on it.
The wart should be frozen at least every 3 to 4 weeks. This combination
___________________ of home and clinic treatments usually gets rid of the wart.
___________________ Hyperthermia Wart Therapy
___________________ Warts are caused by a virus that cannot survive in very hot temperatures,
above about 110°F (43.3°C). Your skin usually burns above about 115°F
___________________ (46.1°C). Exposing a wart to heat (hyperthermia) above 110°F but
below 115°F will kill the virus without hurting your skin. The heat keeps
the virus from reinfecting your skin, and the wart will “grow out”
normally after several months.
• Find a comfortable place where you can sit quietly for 30 minutes. It
should be a place where you will not be hurt and furniture or rugs
will not be damaged if the hot water spills.
• Use a container or pan that will hold water and the portion of the skin
that is affected by the wart(s). A styrofoam container works well.
• Heat the water to 113°F (45°C). Use a candy or brewing
thermometer to make sure the water is the correct temperature.
• Keep the water at this temperature for the full 30-minute treatment
by keeping a pot or tea kettle of hot water nearby. Add a small
amount of hot water when needed to raise the temperature back to
113°F. Be very careful not to pour the hot water directly on your
skin. Placing a towel over the soaking container will help keep the
water hot.
Another option is to use a home foot bath with an adjustable temperature
control. Be sure to use a thermometer to check the water temperature
before using it. You can buy these baths at most drugstores. They will
reach the correct temperature, but they are costly.
Do this hyperthermia treatment 3 times a week. The warts will usually
Dermatology Center begin to die off in 2 to 6 weeks.
Box 354697
4225 Roosevelt Way N.E. 4th Floor
© University of Washington Medical Center
Seattle, WA 98105 05/2010 Rev. 11/2010
206-598-4067 Reprints on Health Online: http://healthonline.washington.edu
