Wart Removal with Wart-Off Freeze

What are Warts, and How do They Spread?

Warts are generally harmless lumps of skin caused by strains of a common virus known as the human papillomavirus (HPV). 

Warts are usually small raised, flesh coloured lumps that tend to be rough to touch. Viral warts may affect people of all ages but tend to be most common in school-aged children. 

Warts are spread via contact with the virus and tend to show up on parts of the body that are often subjected to bumps, impacts, and cuts such as the hands, feet, knees, and elbows.

Wart Types & Appearance

Warts can appear differently on various parts of the body and can affect people differently. Examples include:

Common warts: small, raised fleshy lumps with a rough surface, known medically as Verruca vulgaris. Often appear on the skin of the hands and fingers, knees, and elbows.

Plantar warts: generally occur on the soles of the feet or beneath the toes. They are also known as Verruca plantaris. Due to the body’s weight pushing downwards, plantar warts are not raised and instead are pushed inwards into the skin of the foot. Often appear flat and white or yellow in colour and can cause pain while walking or bearing weight on the feet.

What Causes Warts?

There are well over one hundred strains of HPV which are responsible for causing the different types of warts. Warts are spread via direct skin contact with another person with the HPV virus or indirectly via contact with contaminated surfaces such as public pools, the floors of public gyms or showers. 

After contact with the virus, cells in the outer layer of the skin can become infected, begin to grow and form into a wart. It can take several months for a wart to appear or become noticeable after initial contact with the virus.

Anyone can develop warts, but they are more likely to occur in areas where the skin is broken. Warts are more likely to affect people who frequently bite their nails, come into direct contact with other people’s warts, or whose hands or feet sweat heavily. 

Risk Factors

Risk factors for developing warts include:

• Skin infection of broken or injured skin

• Swimming in public pools and using public gyms and amenities

• Direct contact with other people's warts

• Scratching or shaving existing warts which may spread the infection to other parts of the body

Preventing Warts

Warts can be prevented from spreading by washing hands immediately after touching them, such as when applying treatments and avoiding picking, scratching, or unnecessarily touching warts.

If you have a wart, it is important to avoid sharing towels with other people. If you have a plantar wart, socks should be changed regularly and foot ware should not be shared with any other people.

If you have a plantar wart and go swimming at public pools or use public gyms or other facilities, be sure to cover the wart and avoid walking barefoot in communal areas.

Treating Warts at Home

There are several treatment options that can be followed at home in order to treat warts effectively. 

Covering warts with a waterproof tape or cover can help them to clear up and stop them from spreading to other parts of the body. 

It is possible that untreated warts can go away on their own, though this may take many months and up to two years. 

Wart-Off Freeze

Wart-Off Freeze is mess-free and easy to use, with no assembly required and is based on technology used by healthcare professionals. Suitable for adults and children over four years old. 

The unique freeze spray design and easy to use application method make this device particularly suitable for home use.

Wart-Off Freeze is a cryotherapy freeze spray treatment for removal of common warts on the hands and plantar warts on the feet. 

There are other warts that are not caused by the HPV virus, such as water warts (Molluscum contagiosum). These warts are caused by a pox virus and do not have to be treated. To protect an inflamed wart, a plaster will suffice. However, you may choose to use Wart-Off Freeze to treat this wart.

Always read the label and follow the directions for use.

Using Wart-Off Freeze

The round opening of the Wart-Off Freeze applicator cap should be placed directly over the wart to be treated so that it encircles the wart. The edges of the applicator should be close contact with the surrounding skin.

For common warts: 

Press the bottom of the dispenser firmly with the thumb three to five times, depending on the wart size, and hold the applicator in place for 10 seconds.

Small 3mm and smaller – press the aerosol dispenser three times in a row

Medium 3-5mm – press the aerosol dispenser four times in a row

Large 6mm and larger – press the aerosol dispenser five times in a row

For water warts: 

Hold the applicator in place and press the dispenser firmly with the thumb three times and hold for five seconds each time before removing it from the skin.

A 2mm white halo could appear. A small scar will appear when the site is dry which will heal in the coming days and weeks.

Always read the label and follow the directions for use.