It is not essential to treat the warts, particularly if they are not causing any problems.
Warts are generally harmless skin growths. They can grow anywhere on the skin, most commonly on the hands, fingers, feet and face.
There are many different types of wart virus. Your child may become resistant (immune) to one type but this resistance may not be life-long. Your child may develop warts due to another type.
Warts are caused by a family of viruses called HPV (human papilloma virus). Once infected with the virus, it may take up to a year or more before you can see the wart. They then grow very slowly over a period of months to years.
The Gardasil vaccine protects against some forms of wart virus and there are a few reports of warts clearing after receiving the vaccine. Gardasil is the name of the vaccine used in the New Zealand Immunisation Programme to protect against HPV infection (see human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation [1]).
Warts are very common, particularly in childhood. It's hard to know exactly but warts may affect up to 1 in 5 children.
Warts can have many different appearances, from flat, shiny, long stalks, or large rough lumps.
Even without treatment, warts will disappear within 2 years in 2 out of 3 children.
It is not essential to treat your child's warts, particularly if they are not causing any problems. Treatment can be more uncomfortable than the warts themselves. No one treatment is guaranteed to work, and many require a few attempts.
However, warts often look ugly and can cause embarrassment. They can also be painful, particularly when they are on the feet or under nails.
A good approach at first is to keep the warts covered 24 hours a day. Duct tape is simple and cheap, and may help to prevent the warts spreading.
If you do want to treat your child's warts, the following treatments applied to the skin (topical treatments) are available.
There are special ointments or wart paints that contain salicylic acid or lactic acid which are effective in 7 out of 10 children. These ointments/wart paints peel away the layers of infected skin. They can take up to 3 months to work.
You can buy some wart paints at pharmacies.
Steps:
Liquid nitrogen freezing is a common treatment that can be effective, but is painful. It usually needs to be repeated about every 4 weeks for several months.
See your family doctor if the warts, or their treatment, cause excessive pain or you are worried about your child's warts.
The Royal Children's Hospital (Melbourne, Australia). Kids Health Info for parents: Warts. Reviewed May 2020.
http://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Warts/ [2] [Accessed 12/10/2020]
DermNet NZ. Viral warts. Updated December 2016.
https://dermnetnz.org/topics/viral-wart/ [3] [Accessed 12/10/2020]
The photo of warts on fingers is reproduced from the DermNet NZ page on viral warts [3]. The photo is reproduced in accordance with the licensing requirements of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 (New Zealand) [4].
This page last reviewed 19 October 2020.
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Links
[1] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/human-papillomavirus-hpv-immunisation
[2] http://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Warts/
[3] https://dermnetnz.org/topics/viral-wart/
[4] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/nz/
[5] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/node/1656
[6] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/contact?from=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kidshealth.org.nz%2Fprint%2F195