What about over the counter treatments for warts?

People often ask me, why do I need to come into the office for warts? Why can't I treat these warts at home?
Well, there are several reasons why you should come in to the office. First, it is important to get evaluated and examined to even determine if the growth is a wart or not. Although it may have the characteristics of a wart, it may be a callus, a blister, and I have even had a patient come in for an evaluation and we found out is was a foreign body... it turned out to be a piece of pencil lead! The typical appearance of a lump on the foot can be deceiving. Secondly, sometimes the over the counter treatments work, but more often than not, you will need weekly debridement, or scraping with a sterile technique of the dead layer of skin so that the medication can get to the affected area. Plus, it is always good to have a trained eye of the podiatrist to monitor is progress: is it getting bigger? Smaller? Why not? Plus, I can also give you to tips on how to prevent them from coming back if and when they do finally go away!
So yes, go ahead and come in the office before trying to treat those warts at home!