Introduction
Warts are a widespread problem and usually very persistent. To make matters worse, they do not look pretty and are usually embarrassing for the person affected. In addition, in some cases they can also cause pain and thus be quite unpleasant. In many cases, the warts can recede on their own, but there are also ways to treat warts – both at the doctor’s office and at home. These options range from freezing warts at home to surgical removal by a doctor.
Definition
The most common type of wart that occurs in humans is caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). These viruses cause on the one hand the so-called prickle warts (common wart) or thorn warts, which are mainly located on the soles of the feet. These viruses are mainly transmitted by contact or smear infection.
From the time of infection to the growth of a wart can take weeks to months. Warts freeze over is called cryotherapy in the technical language, because “cryo-” comes from the Greek and means “cold”. In this form of treatment, the affected area of skin is treated with great cold to cause the wart to die and kill the viruses.
In the medical practice, temperatures around -196 °C are usually chosen. The advantage of this therapy is that the surrounding tissue is affected little or not at all. To reach the low temperature, liquid nitrogen is usually used, but dry ice or liquid nitrous oxide can also be used.
The most common method of application is a spray or a probe, usually made of metal that has been cooled down with nitrogen. Treatment with the probe has the advantage that it allows for even more targeted freezing of the wart than the spray and thus even less damage is done to healthy tissue. To prevent damage, the temperature of the spray is usually slightly lower than that of the probe. The advantage of freezing warts in comparison to surgical removal of the warts is that there is usually no scarring at the site of the wart when it freezes.
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