Do Untreated Warts Go Away?

[Paige]

My DD (9) has a small wart on her face. It does not itch or hurt but she is very disturbed by it. She doesn't like how it looks and she hates that it makes her look different than her twin. She is afraid people will start saying that they can tell them apart because she's "the one with the wart." I don't think anyone would like that nickname. I think that makes it a little worse for her than it would be if she were one of my non-twin kids.

 

I've read online that I should not treat anything on her face OTC. Does that mean I have to take her to her primary care provider and then get a referral for a dermatologist? It seems like way too much effort and expense for something that should be so simple. We have to travel 30min one way to see the doctor and dermatologist, and I expect it would be at least a month before the dermatologist would see her after we get the referral. The wart has been there for a little over a month already. Do most warts go away on their own within a few months, or should I get the process started to see the dermatologist right away? I can't tell for sure what kind she has- it's pretty plain. It's not bumpy, large, discolored, or anything weird. It kind of looks like a pimple that's not inflamed. Is there any way to tell if it's the kind that will go away or if it's starting to go away? She does not pick at it and there's no signs that it is spreading. I thought it was milia at first.

[*********]

Aw, poor girl. I've got no wart experience, but as a mama, if it were my girl feeling self conscious about it, I'd take her to her primary doc and see what he recommends.

[Julie Smith]

My nephew had a wart on his foot. It ended up getting so big he couldn't wear shoes and they called it his sixth toe.

 

He had multiple Dr. appointments about it. They used every type of over the counter wart treatment. Eventually they got a prescription cream that cost 200 dollars a bottle. After treating it for a shorter than recommended time it just fell off.

 

My borther is also prone to warts that wouldn't go away. He had a wart of his foot and he had to go in for freezing at the Dr. every other week for months. in between visits he had home care stuff.

 

From them I learnt to not mess around with warts. Even if they are small they can GROW. (I also learnt that my brother and his family are rightfully afraid of warts.)

[regentrude]

Our experience (each kid, DH) was that some warts go away on their own, eventually. Some did not, or maybe would have had we waited longer (it was several months).

We had some removed by a dermatologist when the kids were very little, and even after a decade, there are small permanent scars- fortunately, those were not on the face.

[fairfarmhand]

Aw, poor girl. I've got no wart experience, but as a mama, if it were my girl feeling self conscious about it, I'd take her to her primary doc and see what he recommends.

:iagree:

[Kim in Appalachia]

My youngest son had several on his face when he was just 6 (4 around his mouth, and another 3 or 4 near his one ear. His older brother ripped one off one day just because. It was not nice. ). We gave him Tagamet 3 times a day for a couple of months, and it did the trick. You can google Tagamet to read about it's affect on warts. It doesn't work for everyone. We've also used it for my 2 daughters when they were younger. One second dd had a few on her hands. For her, the Tagamet worked quickly, less than a month. For some reason it doesn't seem to work for me.

[laughing lioness]

ds has them. Chiro said take powdered Vit C - we use Metagencic ultra potent C powder- and start wtih 1 T dissolvd in glass of warm water. Increase until they have diarhea (that's as much as they can tolerate) and then back off- the point is for them to take as much as they can tolerate w/o getting the runs. Take daily. We had tried everything else otc and nothing worked. W/i 3 days of the vit c cure the warts are shrinking and a couple had disappeared. They are caused by a virus and the c goes after the virus. hth.

[Jennifer3141]

Anything that involves the FACE would be treated by a doctor immediately. :(

[elegantlion]

I had an untreated wart on my hand when I was much younger. It lasted almost two years. If it's affecting her self-esteem I'd probably try one of the options here, but take her in shortly if it doesn't work.

[gingersmom]

My daughter had warts on her foot that left untreated (her choice because she was too scared) spread like wildfire. I can guarantee you she will never make that same mistake again. We saw the podiatrist once a week for treatment because it was such a large area.

 

I had one on my wrist as a child that became 2, then 3 before I got them removed.

 

I would take her in ASAP.

[Paige]

Thanks. I'll call and take her in. I don't have any other wart experience, so I was hoping people would say most of their warts went away untreated quickly. Six months is too long for us! I can't give her tagamet or anything that may cause digestive issues because of other medications she takes.

[fairfarmhand]

My dd had a couple near her lip around age 4.

 

They went away within a year with no treatment,.

 

They started out tiny and stayed tiny. Dr. said they could do something about them if they got bigger but preferred to wait and see if they'd disappear on their own. you couldn't really even tell they were warts. They were so small that you had to look closely to even tell they were there.

[Cindy in FL.]

Vitamin C did the trick for my son that had over 30 on his hands alone. Dermatology treatments, Compound W, apple cider vinegar, etc. did not work for him. For my other two less warty sons, they just went away on their own.

[Celia]

I'm glad to read you're taking her in, especially as it's on her face. It might not be a wart, but molluscum contagiosum from what you've described.

[Paige]

I'm glad to read you're taking her in, especially as it's on her face. It might not be a wart, but molluscum contagiosum from what you've described.

 

It does look like that, but there's only one. Wouldn't it have spread by now?

[Amy in TX]

 

It does look like that, but there's only one. Wouldn't it have spread by now?

 

My son had molluscum, only one, under his chin for several weeks w/out spreading. In case that's what it is, make sure she doesn't touch it or scratch it or share facecloths/towels with anyone until you see the doctor.

[Plink]

I'm glad you are taking her in! The poor thing deserves to have proper treatment.

 

It must be awful to be a pre-teen with anything obviously wrong with with your face. Kids are just beginning to be self conscious at that age, and I'd hate for her to begin life with an "I'm so ugly" mentality.

[Harriet Vane]

In my experience (myself and the two kids) no, they do not go away. Rather, they grow and spread and then become inordinately difficult to get rid of.

 

Don't bother with a general practitioner for this, for two reasons. One is that they are not as knowledgeable about available treatments. Another is that this is your dd's face, and so needs more care. Get a dermatologist, preferably a younger one who, if asked, can list multiple possible treatments. (I wasted waaaaaay too much time on more than one podiatrist as well as dermatologists who treated warts only one way, ugh.)

 

Get this taken care of immediately, and plan to treat it aggressively from the get-go so the virus does not spread.

[Mommyof4ks]

It usually takes years for them to go away on their own, or at least that is our experience. Of she is bothered by it, then I would take her in.

[LAS in LA]

The women in our family have warts (which disappear during pregnancy!). I've had many on my hands and feet. As a child, I had one at the base of my nose. That one and several on my hands were removed by our family doctors with liquid nitrogen; the LN freezes the wart, it turns white and falls off in a week or so. It's a little uncomfortable, but it does the trick quickly and I don't think warts have come back in those exact places. Treating the underlying virus sounds like a good idea. My daughter (almost 8) had a large wart on her hand which fell off this week after starting about 6+ months ago.

 

ETA: I've never had any scarring from the LN treatment. The "freeze mark" fades away like a minor cut.

[Cinder]

I'm glad to hear you're taking her in. I think since it's on her face and it's bothering her that it's a good idea to see a doc about it soon. Ds had a wart on his arm that grew quickly but then fell off after only a couple weeks. I was amazed since I know some warts can be persistent. I hope your dd's treatment gets her feeling better soon.

[Beth S]

I'd suggest you just go directly to the dermatologist, asking friends for a recommendation.

Our ds had a stubborn wart on his finger (for over a year).

The doc used a new treatment using chemotherapy medicine topically.

Worked great.

I truly would not delay because it's on her face, due to scarring, and I would skip the pediatrician & just go to the dermatologist.

[Celia]

I'm glad to read you're taking her in, especially as it's on her face. It might not be a wart, but molluscum contagiosum from what you've described.

When my ds had it on his arm, he only got a few of them, and they went away on their own in a few months.

[Garga]

The dermatologist who treated my son's warts was a joke. They did the cold treatment and the acidic beetle juice treatment and it just got worse and worse. And no, it wasn't that the dermatologist was bad. It's just that the older I get the more I realize doctors are crazy agressive and seem to know nothing of gentle treatments.

 

Well sort of. After the 6th attempt at treating the wart, I asked the dermatologist, "Why can't I try duct tape?" And she said, "That's an excellent idea." See, sometimes when when they know about alternative treatments, they're not allowed to tell you about them. This was my first foray into alternative medicines, so it's not like I was looking to be upset at the doctor. This was what started me looking for other options. Until The Wart, I trusted doctors and Western Medicine exclusively. This all happened last summer.

 

For that wart, which was on his finger, we covered it with duct tape for a few weeks (to starve it of air and light) and it fell off on its own.

 

But when he got a wart on his foot, the duct tape would come off when he sweat. We've been using tee tree oil (found in the vitamin section at wal mart for a few bucks) and it was gentle and the wart was gone in a couple of weeks. It's a light oil and you dab it on with a q-tip. No pain and it dries in a minute or less. You can google " tea tree oil." It's pretty safe stuff.

 

I don't like being a doom and gloom perrson, but the dermatologist was like taking a sledgehammer to a piece of china. Waaaay over the top treatment for something that could be handled gently and pretty cheaply. We spent HUNDREDS for the dermatologist. I spent under $10 for the oil.

 

Oh, and the dermatologist treatments were very painful for days afterwards and resulted in horrible looking blisters (these things were ghastly)or white coatings over the wart, depending on which treatment they used. It was like something from the dark ages. I wondered if they'd try to drill a hole in his head next. (Not really. That was hyperbole.)

 

If you go to the derm for the face, they might head straight into surgical removal, so there aren't the blisters or whatever.

[J-rap]

It sounds like you're already planning to take her in, and I'm glad you are. I thought I'd add some of our own experiences.

 

In our experience, it depends on the type of wart (as to whether it goes away or even spreads). Years ago I got plantar warts on the bottom of my feet, and now I seem to just have them forever. However, they come and go, and they do not spread beyond the bottom of my feet. Sometimes they'll totally disappear and I'll go for a few years without any, and then one or two will pop up again for another few years.

 

I've also had one or two on my hand (though I haven't since I was a child), that I would treat with iodine and then they would eventually go away, and they didn't spread.

 

HOWEVER, my daughter got a certain kind of wart on her leg, and they spread easily and quickly. Especially when she shaved her legs! They were TERRIBLE. They eventually spread to her face, although we caught it before it was too bad, there.

 

We took her in to a dermatologist, and he had to use the liquid nitrogen removal on every. single. wart. She probably had 200 of them. She had to go in every month to be re-treated. It took about a year, and she wasn't allowed to shave during that whole time. She wore long skirts in the summer to cover them (fortunately maxi skirts were in :)).

 

Anyway, I would definitely take her into a dermatologist at least to find out what type of wart it is. He'll probably even ask if you want it removed with the liquid nitrogen when she's in. (And I would do it!) Keep in mind that sometimes it takes a couple of tries. Another daughter had a large one on her hand (which wasn't spreading but wasn't going away, and was quite large). It was treated once with liquid nitrogen and went away, and then came back even bigger. The second time it was treated with liquid nitrogen, however, it was permanent.

 

Duct tape works too, but I suppose she wouldn't want to wear duct tape on her face for a month!

 

Also, when my daughter with the wart on her hand was treated with liquid nitrogen, it was coded as surgery and we ended up paying a high fee for it, both the first time and the second time. I called the clinic and complained, but they wouldn't change it. Then when my daughter with the 200 warts on her leg/face was treated, they just called it a regular clinic appointment, and it was covered by our health plan. (Which was a good thing, because she was going every month for almost a year.) So, I don't know if it has to do with the health plan we had or what, but you might want to double check on that.

[Seasider]

I would definitely give the internal-working remedies (Vit C, Tagumet) a try before going for a surgical/technical type of removal. Not all dermatologists are interested in appearances; some seem to have a strictly clinical mindset. Might want to ask about that when selecting a dermatologist.

[mommymilkies]

Sometimes they go away, but I agree with going to a dermatologist and getting a variety of ideas for which method would be best.

[mrbmom77]

I haven't read the entire thread so sorry if this is a repeat.

I had some warts on my hand when I was a kid that just went away. They were very small and never attracted much attention.

My son had a huge wart on his elbow a few months ago. I treated it by applying tea tree essential oil every night and it disappeared in a few weeks. HTH

ETA: it hasn't come back. Tea tree is supposedly anti-viral. I bought it at the Walmart pharmacy - cheap, easy to find, no worries about side effects.

[dovrar]

Warts are a symptom of a virus. I suggest you increase her vitamin E intake and or start her on probiotics. Dd had a wart on her ankle that had been there for quite awhile. We've recently started drinking kefir water and it has shrunk considerably. Dh who had a wart that had been on his hand since he was a KID and after we started eating bread made with fresh ground flour (high in vitamin E) it fell off.

 

HTH

[Guest runningspeed]

 

Also, when my daughter with the wart on her hand was treated with liquid nitrogen, it was coded as surgery and we ended up paying a high fee for it, both the first time and the second time. I called the clinic and complained, but they wouldn't change it. Then when my daughter with the 200 warts on her leg/face was treated, they just called it a regular clinic appointment, and it was covered by our health plan. (Which was a good thing, because she was going every month for almost a year.) So, I don't know if it has to do with the health plan we had or what, but you might want to double check on that.

 

 

 

Wow... 200 warts on her leg/face???? I have warts but not that many! I just got this guide from howtokillplantarwarts.com and am going to give it a try. Hopefully it works.

[sparrow]

I'm glad to hear you're taking her in. We were able to successfully treat a wart on my daughter's toe with banana peel taped to it each night. It peeled away ( :tongue_smilie: ) in less than 2 weeks. If it takes some time to get into your doctor, you could always give it a try.

[Paige]

Thanks. I did take DD in last week. Our insurance requires that we see a PCM before going to any specialist. The doctor said she would not want to use any wart removers on the face, and said that sometimes retin A will be enough to take care of it. I've been putting it on every other day and the wart is almost gone. DD is very happy! If the retin A didn't work she'd send us to the dermatologist because she wanted to be very careful with where it was on DD's face.

[kiwik]

juvenile warts are a virus. I remember having dozens when I was about four. They reduced throughout my childhood and were gone by the time I was 12. They were not on my face though.