Warts

Table of Contents

1. What are Warts?
2. HPV Types and Wart Categories
3. How HPV Transforms Keratinocytes
4. Symptoms and Clinical Appearance
5. Diagnosis
6. Treatment Options
7. Natural and Experimental Approaches
8. Immune Clearance and Spontaneous Resolution
9. Complications
10. Prevention and Contagion Control
11. Key Research Papers
12. PubMed Searches
13. Connections
14. Featured Videos

What are Warts?

Warts are benign epithelial skin growths caused by infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), a small double-stranded DNA virus in the family Papillomaviridae. There are many HPV types; different types infect different anatomical sites and cause distinct clinical presentations ranging from innocuous common hand warts to genital warts and, in a minority of high-risk HPV types, precancerous and cancerous changes of the cervix, anus, oropharynx, and other mucosa.

Warts are very common in children: a 2009 Dutch cross-sectional study that examined the hands and feet of 1,465 primary schoolchildren aged 4–12 found warts in 33% (9% hand warts only, 20% plantar warts only, 4% both) (PubMed PMID: 19438464). Low-risk HPV infections can persist for months or years but are eventually resolved by the immune system (PubMed PMID: 23199966). An evidence-based review describes the aims of treatment as relieving physical and psychological discomfort and preventing spread to other body areas or other people (PubMed PMID: 15554732).

HPV Types and Wart Categories

In swabs from 744 warts of 246 Dutch primary-care patients, HPV 2, 27 and 57, HPV 4 and HPV 1 were the most frequently detected types; HPV 3, 7, 10 and 28 were found less often. Warts containing HPV 1 were associated with children under 12, plantar location, and warts present under 6 months (PubMed PMID: 22884670).

Common Warts (Verruca Vulgaris)

• Sites: Dorsal hands, fingers, periungual area (around and under nails), knees, elbows.
• Appearance: Rough, dome-shaped papule with a hyperkeratotic surface. 1 mm to over 1 cm. Black dots (thrombosed capillaries, often called "wart seeds") within the surface are characteristic and help distinguish warts from calluses and corns.
• Mosaic warts: Clusters of multiple small warts coalescing on the palm or sole.

Plantar Warts (Verruca Plantaris)

• Sites: Soles of the feet, pressure-bearing points (ball of the foot, heel).
• Appearance: Unlike hand warts, plantar warts grow inward (endophytically) due to weight-bearing pressure, forming a deep, painful callus-like lesion. Loss of dermatoglyphic (skin line) pattern through the lesion — skin lines are interrupted in warts but pass over calluses.
• Pain: Can be painful with weight-bearing.

Flat Warts (Verruca Plana)

• Sites: Face (forehead, cheeks), dorsal hands, shins, neck. Commonly spread by shaving.
• Appearance: Flat-topped, smooth, flesh-colored or lightly pigmented papules, typically 1–4 mm; often numerous (dozens to hundreds) and in linear distribution (Koebner phenomenon — warts follow scratch marks from autoinoculation).
• Often mistaken for acne on the face; distinguished by flat top, smooth surface, and grouped distribution.

Genital and Anogenital Warts (Condyloma Acuminata)

• HPV types: The CDC's STI treatment guidelines state that 90% of anogenital warts are caused by the nononcogenic HPV types 6 or 11 (CDC: Anogenital Warts). High-risk HPV types cause almost all cervical cancers, a large proportion of other anogenital cancers and a growing number of head and neck tumours (PubMed PMID: 23199966).
• Sites: Vulva, vagina, cervix, penis (shaft and glans), scrotum, perianal skin, anal canal; occasionally urethra and oral cavity.
• Appearance: Soft, flesh-colored, exophytic papules or plaques; may be single or coalescing into cauliflower-like masses. Often asymptomatic but may cause itch, burning, or bleeding.
• Transmission: Sexually transmitted in adults; neonatal transmission during delivery can cause recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (laryngeal warts in children).

Filiform Warts

• Slender, finger-like projections; occur on the face, eyelids, lips, and neck.
• Often spread by facial grooming (shaving, tweezing).

Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis (EV)

• A rare inherited susceptibility to cutaneous HPV. A review of HPV biology notes that low-risk HPVs are difficult to manage in people with genetic predispositions and can, in rare instances, give rise to cancer (PubMed PMID: 23199966); the beta-genus cutaneous HPV types and their possible role in skin cancer are reviewed in PubMed PMID: 18986829.

How HPV Transforms Keratinocytes

• Entry: Papillomaviruses replicate only in the basal cells of stratified epithelium. In a mouse model the virus first binds the basement membrane exposed after epithelial trauma, then infects keratinocytes that migrate over it to close the wound; initiation of viral transcription takes 12–24 hours (PubMed PMID: 20494219).
• Viral replication linked to keratinocyte differentiation: As infected basal cells divide and differentiate toward the surface, HPV capitalizes on the differentiation-dependent expression of viral genes. Early proteins (E6, E7) are expressed first to drive the cell cycle; late proteins (L1, L2 — capsid proteins) are expressed only in suprabasal, terminally differentiating keratinocytes.
• E6 and E7 oncoproteins (high-risk HPV types): In high-risk HPV types (16, 18), E6 targets p53 for proteasomal degradation (abrogating apoptosis) and E7 binds and inactivates retinoblastoma protein (pRb), releasing E2F transcription factors that drive S-phase entry. These activities allow viral DNA amplification but also enable neoplastic transformation if HPV integrates into the host genome (a step toward cervical cancer).
• Low-risk types and benign warts: High- and low-risk HPV types differ in their ability to drive cell-cycle entry in the basal layers, linked in part to differences in how their E6 proteins act on p53 and PDZ-domain proteins and how their E7 proteins target the retinoblastoma protein family. Low-risk types are only very rarely associated with cancer in the general population (PubMed PMID: 23199966).
• Persistence: Low-risk HPV infections can persist for months or years before the host immune system resolves them (PubMed PMID: 23199966).
• Hyperproliferation: E6/E7 drive excess keratinocyte proliferation, leading to the characteristic thickened, verrucous surface. Acanthosis (thickening of the stratum spinosum) and papillomatosis (upward proliferation of rete ridges) are the histological signatures.

Symptoms and Clinical Appearance

• Pain and tenderness: Common warts on hands are rarely painful unless periungual (under nails, exquisitely painful). Plantar warts on pressure points cause pain with walking; pain disappears with unweighting the foot. Flat warts are usually asymptomatic.
• Itch: Flat warts on the face and body can itch, especially when multiple. Genital warts may itch and be associated with moisture-related irritation.
• Bleeding: Periungual warts and plantar warts may bleed when traumatized. Genital warts can bleed with intercourse or bowel movements.
• Koebner phenomenon (isomorphic response): Warts spread along lines of trauma — a diagnostic clue in flat warts showing a linear array along a scratch mark or shaving line.
• Autoinoculation: Picking, biting, or shaving over warts disperses virus and creates satellite lesions in adjacent skin (nail-biting spreads periungual warts to lips; shaving spreads flat warts across the beard area).

Diagnosis

Warts are primarily diagnosed clinically by their characteristic appearance. Dermoscopy and histopathology are used in uncertain cases.

Clinical Clues

• Interrupted dermatoglyphics: Skin lines (fingerprints, palm ridges, sole patterns) are disrupted by a wart but pass over a callus.
• Thrombosed capillaries ("black dots"): Pinpoint black or red-brown dots within the wart surface represent thrombosed dermal capillary loops that have been pushed up into the stratum corneum.
• Punctate bleeding on paring: When a plantar wart is pared with a scalpel, capillary bleeding occurs (bleeding sign); a callus does not bleed on paring.

Dermoscopy

• Reveals a mosaic of red or brownish dots (capillary loops) surrounded by white halo pattern in common and plantar warts. Flat warts show a homogeneous, speckled reddish-brown pattern.

Histopathology (when diagnosis uncertain)

• Hyperkeratosis, parakeratosis, acanthosis, papillomatosis, and pathognomonic koilocytes (vacuolated keratinocytes with pyknotic, eccentric nuclei, and perinuclear clearing) in the upper stratum spinosum and granulosum.

Differential Diagnosis

• Callus/corn: Smooth surface, skin lines intact, no black dots, no punctate bleeding on paring.
• Molluscum contagiosum: Smooth, dome-shaped papules with central umbilication (dell); caused by poxvirus, not HPV.
• Seborrheic keratosis: Waxy, stuck-on appearance; usually in older adults; no black dots; milia-like cysts on dermoscopy.
• Squamous cell carcinoma: Part of the differential for non-healing, rapidly growing, or recurrent lesions, especially in immunocompromised patients or in unusual sites (sole, perianal, nail).
• Amelanotic melanoma: Can rarely mimic a plantar wart.

Treatment Options

An evidence-based review notes that none of the available treatments for cutaneous warts is uniformly effective or virucidal, and that most have not been tested in randomized controlled trials (PubMed PMID: 15554732). Placebo cure rates are considerable: in 21 placebo-controlled trials the average placebo cure rate was 27% (range 0–73%) after about 15 weeks (PubMed PMID: 16855978).

Salicylic Acid

• Salicylic acid is applied by patients themselves; in the Dutch primary-care trial it was self-applied daily (PubMed PMID: 20837684).
• The 2012 Cochrane review (Kwok et al.; 85 trials, 8,815 participants, many at high risk of bias) found that salicylic acid increased the chance of clearance compared with placebo (risk ratio 1.56, 95% CI 1.20–2.03), with a larger effect on hands (RR 2.67) than feet (RR 1.29). The authors concluded the evidence is more consistent for salicylic acid than for other treatments but shows only a modest effect (PubMed PMID: 22972052).
• The earlier 2006 version of the review pooled five placebo-controlled trials: 73% (117/160) cured with salicylic acid vs 48% (78/162) with placebo (PubMed PMID: 16855978).
• Two trials (328 participants) found salicylic acid combined with cryotherapy more effective than salicylic acid alone (RR 1.24) (PubMed PMID: 22972052).

Cryotherapy (Liquid Nitrogen)

• What the Cochrane review found: Cryotherapy versus placebo showed no significant difference (RR 1.45, 95% CI 0.65–3.23), nor did cryotherapy versus salicylic acid (RR 1.23, 95% CI 0.88–1.71). Cure rates did not differ between 2-, 3- and 4-weekly treatment intervals. Aggressive cryotherapy appeared more effective than gentle cryotherapy (RR 1.90) but with more adverse effects (PubMed PMID: 22972052).
• The Dutch primary-care trial (Bruggink 2010): 250 patients aged 4–79 with new warts were randomized to liquid-nitrogen cryotherapy every two weeks, daily self-applied salicylic acid, or wait-and-see. At 13 weeks cure rates were 39%, 24% and 16%. For common (hand) warts the figures were 49%, 15% and 8%; for plantar warts there was no significant difference between the three groups (PubMed PMID: 20837684).
• Side effects: The Cochrane authors note that pain, blistering and scarring were not consistently reported but are probably more common with cryotherapy (PubMed PMID: 22972052).

Cantharidin

• A blistering agent (vesicant) used by dermatologists for molluscum contagiosum and warts since the 1950s. A 2025 review describes varying application methods and treatment regimens, with no consensus standard of care (PubMed PMID: 40765102).
• The 2012 Cochrane review identified no randomized controlled trials of cantharidin for cutaneous warts (PubMed PMID: 22972052).

Candida Antigen Immunotherapy

• Candida antigen is injected into a wart as a form of intralesional immunotherapy.
• A 2024 meta-analysis of 24 randomized trials found intralesional Candida injection gave significantly more complete clearance than saline (risk ratio 5.39, 95% CI 3.49–8.33), but no significant difference compared with other intralesional immunotherapies (measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, purified protein derivative, vitamin D3, bivalent HPV vaccine) or zinc sulphate. Adverse effects were generally mild; the authors cite limited sample sizes and call for larger studies (PubMed PMID: 39420872).

Duct-Tape Occlusion — Conflicting Trials

• Focht 2002 (children and young people): 61 patients aged 3–22 were randomized to duct tape for up to 2 months or cryotherapy (10 seconds every 2–3 weeks, up to 6 treatments); of 51 who completed, 85% in the duct-tape arm vs 60% in the cryotherapy arm had complete resolution (P = 0.05) (PubMed PMID: 12361440).
• de Haen 2006 (primary schoolchildren): 103 children aged 4–12 were randomized to duct tape or a placebo corn pad for 6 weeks. The wart disappeared in 16% vs 6% (P = 0.12), a modest but nonsignificant effect; 15% of the duct-tape group reported erythema, eczema or wounds (PubMed PMID: 17088514).
• Wenner 2007 (adults): 90 adults were randomized to moleskin with transparent duct tape or moleskin alone for 2 months; resolution was 21% (8/39) vs 22% (9/41), with no significant difference (PubMed PMID: 17372095).
• Pooled evidence: The 2012 Cochrane review found that two trials of clear duct tape (193 participants) showed no advantage over placebo (RR 1.43, 95% CI 0.51–4.05) (PubMed PMID: 22972052).

Genital Wart Treatments

The CDC's STI treatment guidelines list the following regimens for external anogenital warts (CDC: Anogenital Warts):

• Imiquimod cream (patient-applied): 3.75% nightly for up to 8 weeks, or 5% three times a week for up to 16 weeks, applied at bedtime. A systematic review of five trials in HIV-negative patients found complete clearance at the end of treatment in 51% with imiquimod vs 6% with placebo; imiquimod was not effective in one trial in HIV-positive patients (PubMed PMID: 11401728).
• Podofilox (podophyllotoxin) 0.5% solution or gel (patient-applied): twice a day for 3 days, followed by 4 days of no therapy.
• Sinecatechins 15% ointment (patient-applied): a green-tea leaf extract, applied three times a day until clearance and for no more than 16 weeks. A meta-analysis of three placebo-controlled trials (1,247 participants) found significantly higher complete clearance with 15% and 10% ointments than with control, with low recurrence rates; erythema and itching were the commonest local effects (PubMed PMID: 21294779).
• Provider-administered: cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen or cryoprobe, surgical removal, or trichloroacetic or bichloroacetic acid 80–90% solution.
• Pregnancy: The CDC guideline states that podofilox, podophyllin and sinecatechins should not be used during pregnancy, and that imiquimod appears to pose low risk but should be avoided until more data are available.
• Response and recurrence: The guideline notes that anogenital warts typically respond within 3 months of therapy and often recur, especially during the first 3 months.

Natural and Experimental Approaches

• Garlic: A 2005 letter in the International Journal of Dermatology (Dehghani et al.) reported on garlic extract applied to warts and corns; PubMed carries no abstract, and its methods and results could not be checked (PubMed PMID: 15985039). In a 2014 trial, 50 patients with recalcitrant multiple common warts were randomized to a lipid garlic extract or saline for up to 4 weeks; complete response was reported in 96% of the garlic-extract group and the difference from saline was significant (PubMed PMID: 24910383). Pediatric cases of chemical burns from garlic used to treat warts have been reported (PubMed PMID: 30570580).
• Apple cider vinegar: A popular home remedy; a PubMed search found no clinical trials of vinegar for warts.
• Oral zinc sulphate: In a 2002 placebo-controlled trial in Baghdad, 80 patients with recalcitrant warts (each with more than 15) received zinc sulphate 10 mg/kg daily (up to 600 mg/day) or a glucose placebo. Of those who completed (23 and 20), 86.9% of the zinc group cleared completely after 2 months and no placebo patient responded; all patients had low serum zinc at baseline, and response tracked the rise in serum zinc (PubMed PMID: 11952542). A 2012 systematic review of systemic treatments judged the evidence for zinc limited, with emerging evidence that it may work in selected populations with zinc deficiency (PubMed PMID: 21054194).
• Tea tree oil: PubMed holds a 2008 case report of hand warts in a child that cleared with topical tea tree oil (PubMed PMID: 18940708) and a 2022 case report of severe, spreading allergic contact dermatitis in a man applying a tea tree oil lotion to a plantar wart (PubMed PMID: 35629978). No controlled trial was found.
• Cimetidine (H2 blocker): In a 1996 double-blind trial in 70 patients with multiple warts (25–40 mg/kg daily for 3 months), cure rates were 32% with cimetidine vs 30.7% with placebo (PubMed PMID: 8647965). A 1999 placebo-controlled trial in adults with recalcitrant warts likewise found no statistically significant benefit, with a trend toward efficacy in younger subjects (PubMed PMID: 10411426). A 2012 systematic review found no consistent evidence for cimetidine (PubMed PMID: 21054194).

Immune Clearance and Spontaneous Resolution

• Many warts clear without treatment: In a Dutch prospective cohort of 366 primary schoolchildren with warts followed for a mean of 15 months, the complete resolution rate was 52 per 100 person-years; the authors conclude that half of schoolchildren with warts will be free of them within a year. Younger age and non-Caucasian skin type increased the likelihood of resolution (PubMed PMID: 24019275).
• Wait-and-see in a trial: In the Dutch primary-care trial, 16% of the wait-and-see group were cured at 13 weeks, and for plantar warts the wait-and-see group did not differ significantly from cryotherapy or salicylic acid (PubMed PMID: 20837684).
• Immune clearance: Low-risk HPV infections persist for months or years but are eventually resolved by the host immune system (PubMed PMID: 23199966).
• Immunosuppression: Low-risk HPVs are difficult to manage in immunosuppressed people and can give rise to papillomatosis and, rarely, cancer (PubMed PMID: 23199966).
• Treatment decisions: In the school cohort, 38% of children with warts used some treatment during follow-up; treatment was more likely when warts measured at least 1 cm or when parents reported inconvenience. The authors present these figures as an aid to shared decision-making with parents and children (PubMed PMID: 24019275).

Complications

• Nail damage (subungual and periungual warts): HPV infection under or around the nail can cause nail dystrophy, onycholysis (nail lifting from nail bed), and permanent nail deformity if deeply invasive. Treatment is particularly challenging given proximity to the nail matrix.
• Recalcitrant warts in immunocompromised patients: Warts in HIV/AIDS, transplant recipients, and patients on immunosuppressants are notoriously treatment-resistant, multiply extensively, and carry a risk of malignant transformation.
• Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC): Malignant transformation is rare for low-risk HPV types but can occur in immunocompromised patients (especially with cutaneous EV-associated HPV types on sun-exposed skin) and in anogenital warts associated with high-risk HPV types that become co-infected with HPV-16/18.
• Plantar wart pain: Painful plantar warts can limit walking.
• Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP): HPV-6 and HPV-11 can cause papillomas on the larynx, trachea, and bronchi — the result of perinatal HPV transmission. A rare but serious condition in children requiring repeated surgical procedures (laser or microdebrider ablation) to maintain an open airway. Highly aggressive HPV-11–associated RRP may progress to life-threatening disease.
• Psychological burden: Visible warts on hands and face cause embarrassment, teasing (in children), and avoidance of social activities. Genital warts cause relationship and sexual anxiety, stigma, and depression.

Prevention and Contagion Control

• HPV vaccination: The 9-valent HPV vaccine covers HPV 6 and 11 (the main genital-wart types) plus 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58. In a trial in 14,215 women aged 16–26 it prevented infection and disease related to HPV 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58 (efficacy 96.7% against related high-grade cervical, vulvar or vaginal disease in the susceptible population) and did not prevent disease from types outside the nine it covers (PubMed PMID: 25693011). The CDC states that it can prevent the majority of genital-wart cases in people not yet exposed to wart-causing types (CDC: Anogenital Warts). CDC lists routine vaccination at age 11–12 (it can start at 9), catch-up at 13–26, and shared clinical decision-making for some adults aged 27–45 (CDC: HPV Vaccination Considerations).
• Spread within families and classes: In the 2009 study of 1,465 Dutch schoolchildren, warts were more common in children with a family member who had warts (odds ratio 1.9) and in classes with a high wart prevalence (OR 1.6 per 10% increase) (PubMed PMID: 19438464).
• Communal showers and pools: The same study found that barefoot activities, public showers and swimming-pool visits were not related to having warts, and the authors state that it did not support the commonly given advice to wear protective footwear in communal showers and changing areas (PubMed PMID: 19438464).
• Autoinoculation: Picking, biting and shaving over warts can carry the virus to nearby skin (see Symptoms above).
• Condoms and genital warts: The CDC states that condoms might lower the chances of transmitting genital warts if used consistently and correctly, but HPV can infect areas a condom does not cover (CDC: Anogenital Warts).

Key Research Papers

1. Kwok CS, Gibbs S, Bennett C, Holland R, Abbott R. Topical treatments for cutaneous warts. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012;(9):CD001781. — PubMed PMID: 22972052
2. Wenner R, Askari SK, Cham PM, Kedrowski DA, Liu A, Warshaw EM. Duct tape for the treatment of common warts in adults: a double-blind randomized controlled trial. Arch Dermatol. 2007;143(3):309-313. — PubMed PMID: 17372095
3. Focht DR, Spicer C, Fairchok MP. The efficacy of duct tape vs cryotherapy in the treatment of verruca vulgaris (the common wart). Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156(10):971-974. — PubMed PMID: 12361440
4. Schiller JT, Day PM, Kines RC. Current understanding of the mechanism of HPV infection. Gynecol Oncol. 2010;118(1 Suppl):S12-S17. — PubMed PMID: 20494219
5. Doorbar J, Quint W, Banks L, et al. The biology and life-cycle of human papillomaviruses. Vaccine. 2012;30 Suppl 5:F55-70. — PubMed PMID: 23199966
6. Al-Gurairi FT, Al-Waiz M, Sharquie KE. Oral zinc sulphate in the treatment of recalcitrant viral warts: randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial. Br J Dermatol. 2002;146(3):423-431. — PubMed PMID: 11952542
7. Dehghani F, Merat A, Panjehshahin MR, Handjani F. Healing effect of garlic extract on warts and corns. Int J Dermatol. 2005;44(7):612-615. — PubMed PMID: 15985039
8. Micali G, Dall'Oglio F, Nasca MR, Tedeschi A. Management of cutaneous warts: an evidence-based approach. Am J Clin Dermatol. 2004;5(5):311-317. — PubMed PMID: 15554732
9. Bosch FX, de Sanjosé S. Chapter 1: Human papillomavirus and cervical cancer — burden and assessment of causality. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 2003;(31):3-13. — PubMed PMID: 12807939
10. Gibbs S, Harvey I. Topical treatments for cutaneous warts. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;(3):CD001781. — PubMed PMID: 16855978 (earlier version; updated by Kwok et al. 2012, above)
11. Passeron T, Lacour JP, Fontas E, Ortonne JP. Treatment of oral florid papillomatosis with intralesional injections of cidofovir: report of two cases. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. — Search PubMed (editorial note: this paper was not found in PubMed or Crossref; details unverified)
12. Brodell RT, Johnson SM. Curettage, cryosurgery, and topical therapy of viral warts. Dermatol Surg. — Search PubMed (editorial note: this paper was not found in PubMed or Crossref; details unverified)
13. Bruggink SC, Gussekloo J, Berger MY, Zaaijer K, Assendelft WJ, de Waal MW, Bavinck JN, Koes BW, Eekhof JA. Cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen versus topical salicylic acid application for cutaneous warts in primary care: randomized controlled trial. CMAJ. 2010;182(15):1624-1630. — PubMed PMID: 20837684
14. de Haen M, Spigt MG, van Uden CJ, van Neer P, Feron FJ, Knottnerus A. Efficacy of duct tape vs placebo in the treatment of verruca vulgaris (warts) in primary school children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160(11):1121-1125. — PubMed PMID: 17088514
15. Bruggink SC, Eekhof JA, Egberts PF, van Blijswijk SC, Assendelft WJ, Gussekloo J. Natural course of cutaneous warts among primary schoolchildren: a prospective cohort study. Ann Fam Med. 2013;11(5):437-441. — PubMed PMID: 24019275
16. van Haalen FM, Bruggink SC, Gussekloo J, Assendelft WJ, Eekhof JA. Warts in primary schoolchildren: prevalence and relation with environmental factors. Br J Dermatol. 2009;161(1):148-152. — PubMed PMID: 19438464
17. Bruggink SC, de Koning MN, Gussekloo J, et al. Cutaneous wart-associated HPV types: prevalence and relation with patient characteristics. J Clin Virol. 2012;55(3):250-255. — PubMed PMID: 22884670
18. Chang CH, Sung ZY, Huang YC. Efficacy of intralesional Candida injection in the treatment of cutaneous warts: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Acta Derm Venereol. 2024;104:adv40819. — PubMed PMID: 39420872
19. Simonart T, de Maertelaer V. Systemic treatments for cutaneous warts: a systematic review. J Dermatolog Treat. 2012;23(1):72-77. — PubMed PMID: 21054194
20. Yilmaz E, Alpsoy E, Basaran E. Cimetidine therapy for warts: a placebo-controlled, double-blind study. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1996;34(6):1005-1007. — PubMed PMID: 8647965
21. Rogers CJ, Gibney MD, Siegfried EC, Harrison BR, Glaser DA. Cimetidine therapy for recalcitrant warts in adults: is it any better than placebo? J Am Acad Dermatol. 1999;41(1):123-127. — PubMed PMID: 10411426
22. Kenawy S, Mohammed GF, Younes S, Elakhras AI. Evaluation of TNF-α serum level in patients with recalcitrant multiple common warts, treated by lipid garlic extract. Dermatol Ther. 2014;27(5):272-277. — PubMed PMID: 24910383
23. Moore RA, Edwards JE, Hopwood J, Hicks D. Imiquimod for the treatment of genital warts: a quantitative systematic review. BMC Infect Dis. 2001;1:3. — PubMed PMID: 11401728
24. Tzellos TG, Sardeli C, Lallas A, Papazisis G, Chourdakis M, Kouvelas D. Efficacy, safety and tolerability of green tea catechins in the treatment of external anogenital warts: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2011;25(3):345-353. — PubMed PMID: 21294779
25. Joura EA, Giuliano AR, Iversen OE, et al. A 9-valent HPV vaccine against infection and intraepithelial neoplasia in women. N Engl J Med. 2015;372(8):711-723. — PubMed PMID: 25693011

Back to Table of Contents

PubMed Searches

Curated PubMed topic searches of peer-reviewed literature on warts and HPV.

1. PubMed: HPV warts cryotherapy treatment
2. PubMed: HPV keratinocyte pathogenesis
3. PubMed: Salicylic acid verruca RCT
4. PubMed: Condyloma acuminata treatment
5. PubMed: HPV immune evasion spontaneous resolution
6. PubMed: Candida antigen immunotherapy warts
7. PubMed: Plantar wart treatment outcomes
8. PubMed: HPV vaccination prevention warts
9. PubMed: Flat warts verruca plana treatment
10. PubMed: Imiquimod genital warts RCT

Back to Table of Contents

Connections

• Dermatology
• Cryotherapy: How Cold Changes Your Body & the cold response — interactive animation
• Skin Tags
• Scabies
• Fungal Infections
• Melanoma
• Herpes Simplex
• Eczema
• Psoriasis
• Acne
• HIV/AIDS
• Urticaria (Hives)
• Zinc
• Garlic
• Green Tea
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D3
• Vitiligo
• Seborrheic Dermatitis
• Cryosurgery and Cryoablation (freezing warts & lesions)

Back to Table of Contents

×

Featured Videos