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Posted 9/19/2007 2:07 PM (GMT -6)
I've been having a heck of time with warts!  The very first one I got on my knee and had it burned off but it came back 2 years later. I also had one on my left ankle, just recently burned off.  So then I'm sitting outside today and I notice some raised white bumps (I actually noticed them before but they were small) all over my right thigh - the same leg that had the original wart.  I looked it up and what I have is flat warts which are smooth, round, almost flat and in my case pale or white.  I also read that warts are caused by HPV and warts can be relentless in the immune suppressed.  So my question is, do any of you know what and how to treat these?  I counted 10 of them on my right thigh and 4 on my left.  Obviously I don't want them all burned off because then I will have scars.  I am not a vain person but this is just not acceptable - I look lumpy, scarred and welllll it's gross! lol  So should I walk around with duct tape all over my thighs or do you think there is a cream that can be applied in a large area to take care of these?  Even if I get rid of them, won't the HPV bring them back eventually anyway?  Can one get rid of HPV?
Posted 9/19/2007 2:13 PM (GMT -6)
I think they are called plantar warts and I have two on my face near my hair line. I also get skin tags on my neck and had them removed at the derm, had one on my abdomen and thighs which I removed myself (I know it's bad). The skin tags are hereditary and so I will forever be going to the derm to get them removed.

I don't know what to do about the plantar warts on my face also have one on my chest now. My husband doesn't notice them but I do....that's on my to do list.

I am curious to see the responses.
Posted 9/19/2007 2:21 PM (GMT -6)
I hate warts! They're just SO gross! I get shivers even thinking about them - gag!

Sorry to tell you, but the duct tape thing doesn't work. Another urban myth :(

I had one cut off of my arm - it was just under where a watch would be. No scar that I can see! Are they raised enough where they could be sliced off?

Ugh - I hope someone has some better options for you!
Posted 9/19/2007 2:39 PM (GMT -6)
These aren't plantar warts. There are various forms of warts and flat warts is one of them. I looked at the pictures and I have exactly what the pictures look like just smaller/flatter. I don't want them to get any bigger but they are getting bigger, especially one of them - I would say it's about the 1/2 the size of a pencil eraser now. They don't hurt or anything, they're just unsightly.

You mean duct tape doesn't work???? Have you tried it Dawn?
Posted 9/19/2007 2:59 PM (GMT -6)
Duct tape is not an urban myth. If you keep the tape on long enough your body creates antibodies to attempt to destroy it (similar to when you leave a splinter in and your body eventually "pushes" it out). A dermatologist can prescribe certain creams to apply throughout the day which actually performs a function similar to the adhesive in the duct tape. The goal is to trick your system into attacking the warts and getting rid of them. This method is best as little to no scarring occurs. They use it on children frequently.
Posted 9/19/2007 4:13 PM (GMT -6)
ohhhh Sweet! Thanks Burli! Do you happen to know if this cream can be applied to large areas?
Posted 9/19/2007 4:54 PM (GMT -6)
My daughter had 15 raised bumps on her elbow--kids teased her. The dermatologist prescribed Aldera cream but it didn't work so I took her back. Now the dermatologist says they're ??? (I forget the name she used). She prescribed Keralyte Gel. This second product is getting rid of them but it's taking time. She has to apply it several times per day and it makes them sore before they go away.
Posted 9/19/2007 5:59 PM (GMT -6)
I looked up the duct tape stuff online - there are conflicting accounts. Some links below...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-03-19-duct-tape_N.htm (The most recent one I found.)

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030201/tips/8.html


http://www.healthcaresouth.com/pages/ducttape.htm


http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20061108/removing-warts-with-duct-tape-may-not-be-effective


Some articles say it could take at least TWO months for the duct tape to work!

Burli, I hope the cream works for your daughter!

Red, I hope you find something to work for you too!

Posted 9/19/2007 6:03 PM (GMT -6)
OMG...I was seriously about to post about this. I just had 10 warts frozen off my face today. 6 were below my eyebrow. My eye is almost swollen shut. My dermatologist competely blamed it on the Imuran. He said he has one patient, on Imuran, that is in his office every 6 weeks to have warts frozen off. I look like I got into a fist fight!
Posted 9/19/2007 7:54 PM (GMT -6)
Oh Wow Tabitha! You poor doll! Hey, we can have our own wart support group :)
Posted 9/20/2007 5:23 AM (GMT -6)
Inject the wart with skin test antigen and it will trick the body into attacking the wart tissue and you won't get warts anymore. Inject only one single wart and all warts all over body will get attacked using this type of therapy. Read about it. It's called intralesional immunotherapy injection.  It would be interesting to see if someone using imuran/6mp/remicade has a rapid reduction of these warts using wart injection therapy.   Why don't you be the first IBD person to try this and report back.

Post Edited (Horus) : 9/20/2007 5:27:28 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/20/2007 5:58 AM (GMT -6)
Hmm something to ask the doc about. I need to go see her soon for my flu shot so I will talk to her about that. Do you know how long this immunotherapy injection works? Is it just a one time deal for it to work on all the warts or do you have to go in repeatedly?
Posted 9/20/2007 6:03 AM (GMT -6)
There are about a zillion options to deal w/ warts. My doctor listed so many I'm fairly certain I started to nod off.

Sherry....we should totally start a wart support group. I mean we go poop all the time why do we have to be plagued w/ warts too??!!
Posted 9/20/2007 6:44 AM (GMT -6)

Red_34 said...
Hmm something to ask the doc about. I need to go see her soon for my flu shot so I will talk to her about that. Do you know how long this immunotherapy injection works? Is it just a one time deal for it to work on all the warts or do you have to go in repeatedly?

The good news it mostly works with just one injection.  However it can be given every 3 weeks if warts still persist.

http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2005/06_30/2_clinical07_12.html

 

Posted 9/20/2007 6:48 AM (GMT -6)
Sherry...make sure your derm. knows you are on 6mp. There were a couple of options not available b/c of the ole compromised immune system. I wish I could remember which ones but I can't.
Posted 9/20/2007 7:51 AM (GMT -6)
Thank you Horus for the link. I have limited options with some treatments because I have an HMO unless I want to pay out of pocket for it. If my insurance doesn't cover this sort of treatment and the price isn't too high then I might go ahead with it if my primary will do it.

Tabitha, I can't see a dermatologist without a referral from my primary. Usually she is pretty good with all aspects of this disease. She is very aware of my 6mp usage and in fact if I bring something up to try, she shoots it down because of contradictions. Which I would rather have then find out the hard way.
Posted 9/20/2007 8:32 AM (GMT -6)
I used to use banana peels Sherry. When I had them on my foot. I had them on the bottom of my foot, so I would soak my feet for 5 minutes at night, then cut up some banana peel and put it on with bandaids.
Worked for me!
James
Posted 9/20/2007 10:00 AM (GMT -6)
My husband has been trying to get rid of one very stubborn plantar wart on his foot for the past 3 years. He's had others that he's had to freeze off (on his hands), but the one on his foot just won't go away!. He's seen a dermatologist, and after repeated attempts with cryo, and topical acids to remove the wart, it still persists. We're now considering laser removal - there are two types of lasers that can be used for wart removal - CO2 lasers and pulsed dye lasers. The CO2 lasers are associated with pain and lengthy recovery time, and also scarring (which we really want to avoid). However, we've read that the pulsed dye lasers can remove just the wart and not affect the surrounding tissue, and that the chance of scarring is very very minimal and also that it's a fairly pain free procedure. Also, apparently the pulse dye laser is very effective at permanently removing warts.

However, pulsed dye laser wart removal can be expensive (and insurance may not cover it), and also it's hard to find a dermatologist who has this laser to use. Here a link that gives more information about pulsed dye lasers for warts:
http://www.bunionbusters.com/services/pulsedye.asp

Warts appear to be a problem for a lot of people with UC - something about the immune system of a person with UC results in the immune system never recognizing the wart virus as a foreign body, and therefore, your body never fights off the virus. Usually, the cryo and the salycilic acid treatments cause irritation in and around the area of the wart, and trigger the immune system to fight off the wart - however, that doesn't seem to happen in people with UC. My poor hubby has been treating this wart constantly for over 3 years, and it is still there, it just keeps coming back like a villain in a bad horror movie!

Please do post about which treatment your dermatologist recommends, and if it works for you. I hope you manage to get rid of the warts permanently.
Posted 9/20/2007 11:11 AM (GMT -6)
I have a small cluster of warts on my hand. My son has had them, so I just figured I got them from helping him get rid of his.
From personal experience, the duct tape does work! My son had a huge one on the bottom of his foot. My husband wanted to have it frozen/burned off, but I convinced him to give me a week or two to try the duct tape. Cut out just enough to cover the wart. We had this super-adhesive clear bandaid ( I wish I knew where we got it, I could use some more) and I put that over it. We left it on for a week, then uncovered and after a shower scraped off the dead skin with a pumice stone. After two weeks, it was totally gone!
Wish I could do it for my hand, but the bandaids keep falling off.
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