Warts and verrucas
When to see your GP
See your GP for advice if:
- you're not sure whether a lump is a wart your GP can usually identify a wart by looking at it
- pharmacy treatments haven't worked
- you have a wart on your face don't treat these yourself
- you have lots of warts or get warts frequently
- a wart bleeds, changes in appearance, spreads or causes significant pain, distress or embarrassment
If pharmacy treatments haven't helped, your GP may try freezing the wart off with liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy). This will take a number of sessions and can be painful. It can also sometimes lead to blistering, infection and scarring.
If this doesn't work, they may be able to refer you to a skin doctor (dermatologist) for specialist treatments such as a minor operation, laser therapyor stronger creams.
Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 21 Dec 2018
Introduction
Find out what warts and verrucas are, including what they look like and how you can get rid of them.
What warts and verrucas look like
Warts and verrucas come in all shapes and sizes. They can affect any part of the body, but are more common on the hands and feet. Warts : tendto be round or oval-shaped(although some are long an
Treatments for warts and verrucas
Most warts and verrucas will eventually clear up without treatment. They can be removed with over-the-counter treatments, but these can be time consuming, painful and don't always work. Pharmacy tre
When to see your GP
See your GP for advice if: you're not sure whether a lump is a wart your GP can usually identify a wart by looking at it pharmacy treatments haven't worked you have a wart on your face don't treat
Causes of warts and verrucas
Warts are caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) . This causes an excess ofa substance called keratin to developin the toplayer of skin, resulting ina hard, rough lump. Warts don't spread easily,
Preventing warts and verrucas
It's difficult to prevent warts and verrucas completely, but the following measures can help stop them spreading: avoidtouching other people's warts wash your hands after touching your own wart avo
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