Warts are a common skin development that many people experience. They can come in different shapes and sizes and may appear anywhere on the body. Though warts often disappear on their own, they can reside on your skin for years. If you have a facial wart, this can also be embarrassing, prompting you to seek removal.
Cause
Warts are a product of the human papilloma virus, or HPV. This virus is communicable and can be transferred from one person to another. Additionally, warts can spread from one location on your body to others. It's likely that warts will recur over time even if a wart is removed, because the HPV virus still resides within your body.
Identification
Warts often appear raised or flat on the skin and have a different color than the skin surrounding it. They are oval or circular. Warts are rarely painful unless they undergo a lot of friction, which is unlikely on the face. Most doctors are able to identify a wart by simply looking at it, and most people are immediately aware of a new wart development, particularly if it's on the face.
Topical Creams
Some topical cream treatments can help eliminate your warts. Your doctor may choose to apply salicylic acid, which can soak into the wart and slowly slough off the wart's cells. However, this treatment is most often used for the hands, feet and knees, according to FamilyDoctor.org, rather than the face. Cantharidin is another topical treatment, and the chemical is applied to the skin and covered with a bandage for the first 24 hours. The doctor then removes the dead wart skin produced by the treatment. Multiple treatments may be needed to fully remove the wart.
Other Treatments
Liquid nitrogen is often applied to warts to freeze them off, although this can leave a sore on the skin that should be covered by a bandage. It's also possible to burn out the wart, cut it off or kill it through laser treatments, although these methods have a potential to cause scarring. For this reason, these methods of treatment are usually reserved as more extreme measures.
Warning
Although it may be tempting, don't attempt to remove a wart on your own by picking, cutting or tampering with it. This can damage your skin and be very painful. You can also end up causing scarring on the skin or infection through the open wound created by the wart. The only permissible at-home treatment is the use of cushioning pads designed to be placed on the skin in the treatment of plantar warts.
