Get Rid of a Mosaic Wart

Mosaic warts, which are clusters of plantar warts that accumulate under the skin, can be very painful and difficult to treat.[1] Sometimes mistaken for calluses on the feet, it’s important to have a doctor diagnose plantar and mosaic warts so that you can figure out proper treatment.[1] There are different ways to treat mosaic and plantar warts at home and with professional medical care.

Steps

Treating Mosaic Warts with Home Remedies

  1. Have a doctor diagnose your plantar warts. Before you use any home remedies to treat warts, confirm that any skin condition you suspect may be warts are actually plantar or mosaic warts. An accurate diagnosis can help you to develop the best care plan and help ensure that you don’t damage your skin with unnecessary treatments.[1]
    • A doctor will diagnose the warts by examining them.[1]
  2. Leave the warts to heal without treatment. Plantar warts will often disappear on their own without treatment.[1] If your mosaic warts are not painful, consider leaving them to heal without treatment.[1]
    • Mosaic warts, which appear on the feet, are often very painful and you may want to treat them as soon as possible.[1]
    • The only way to ensure that you do not experience a recurrence of mosaic warts is to ensure that they are completely removed.[1]
    • If you decide to not treat your wart, it’s important to understand that you can transmit them to other people. Plantar warts are very contagious.[1]
  3. Apply salicylic acid to the wart. Salicylic acid, which is the active ingredient in aspirin, is an over the counter treatment that is applied to the wart to remove it. Salicylic acid comes in different forms such as gels, liquids, or even patches.[1]
    • You can get salicylic acid treatments for plantar warts at most drug stores and many grocery stores.
    • Apply salicylic acid every day after soaking your foot to soften the warts.[1] The treatment shouldn’t cause you any pain.[1]
    • Salicylic acid treatments can take weeks to work and remove the warts.[1]
    • Only use salicylic acid on your skin. If you get it on your eyes or in your nose or mouth, rinse it off with water right away.[2]
    • Salicylic acid is not a good treatment option for those with neuropathy, as the numbness makes it difficult to determine tissue damage.
  4. Cover the warts in duct tape. Although doctors are not sure why this home remedy works, covering your warts in duct tape can help treat and remove mosaic warts. In between treatments, you should file off the dead layers of the wart with a foot file.[1]
    • Apply the duct tape directly over the wart and leave it there for six days.[1]
    • When you remove the duct tape, file off the dead wart layers with a foot file or pumice stone, which you can get in any drugstore.[3]
    • Expose the wart to the air for 12 hours after filing off the layers of dead skin. Reapply the duct tape after this.[3]
    • Continue this treatment of duct tape and filing until the wart is completely gone.[1]
  5. Freeze off the warts with over the counter medications. Cryotherapy, or using a freezing treatment, can also effectively treat and remove warts. This over the counter medication can be painful and comes with other dangers.[3]
    • You can purchase freezing treatments at most drug stores or some grocery stores.
    • Freezing is a safe treatment for warts if used according to the package directions. There is minimal risk, though freezing treatments can cause pain.[4]
    • Freezing treatments can be flammable and shouldn’t be used near any fires, flames, heat sources such as curling irons, or lit cigarettes.[3]
    • Freezing treatments are not ideal for treating warts on children, as the process can be too painful.
  6. Exfoliate the skin on the wart. Getting rid of the dead or dying skin on a wart may help it to heal faster, especially if you opt to forgo other treatments. Use a pumice stone, emery board, or foot file to gently remove the layers of dead or dying skin from a wart.[5]
    • It’s important that you gently file off the skin on a wart or around it. If you don’t you could damage your skin and potentially spread the warts to other parts of the affected area.
  7. Use a Vitamin C paste. Grind up 4-5 Vitamin C tablets and make a paste to apply to the warts. This very acidic mixture can help dissolve the warts and fight the virus that causes warts.[6]
    • You can get Vitamin C tablets at most drug and health food stores.
    • Mix the ground up tablets with distilled water and dab the paste onto your warts. Cover the area with a bandage or duct tape.[6]
  8. Administer a vinegar compress. Soak a cotton ball or bandage in vinegar and administer to your skin with a band aid or elastic tape. Using this treatment daily may help to dissolve your wart.[6]
    • You can use any type of vinegar, though many sources suggest using apple cider vinegar.[6]
    • Leave the compress in place for one to two hours daily.[6]
  9. Prevent warts from spreading. One of the best ways to treat warts is to not get them. There are several options to not spread the virus from wearing proper shoes to not picking at warts.[7]
    • Avoid direct contact with your plantar warts as much as possible and wash your hands after applying treatments.[7]
    • Clean and dry your feet and change your shoes and socks daily.[7]
    • Wear shoes or sandals to places such as pools or gyms, where the risk of contracting warts is high.[7]
    • Don’t pick at your warts, which may spread the virus that causes them.[7]
  10. See your doctor if home remedies don’t work. In the case that your mosaic warts don’t heal or get worse with home treatments, consult your doctor. You may need a stronger treatment, such as a laser procedure, to completely remove the warts.[1]

Seeking Professional Treatment

  1. Talk to your doctor about professional treatment options. If your warts don’t go away with home remedies or you choose to allow your doctor to remove the warts, talk to her about your different treatment options. This can help ensure that you get the most effective, least invasive, and most painless treatment for your warts.
  2. Undergo topical treatment. Your doctor may decide to treat your warts topically with a mixture of cantharidin and salicylic acid. You may see results within a week to a few months.[1]
    • Your doctor will apply the mixture directly to your wart and cover it with a bandage.[1]
    • The treatment will cause a blister to form under the wart, which may peel off the wart.[1]
    • Cantharidin treatment is painless when administered, but often becomes painful after 24 hours.[1]
  3. Freeze off the wart with liquid nitrogen. Similar to over the counter cryotherapy, your doctor may opt to freeze off your wart with liquid nitrogen. This can be a painful treatment that requires multiple applications.[1]
    • Your doctor will apply the liquid nitrogen directly to the wart. Like cantharidin, this will cause a blister to form under the wart and help peel it away.[1]
  4. Use a chemical peel to strip away the wart. Your doctor may choose a chemical peel to treat your wart. She may apply it in the office or give it to you to do at home.[1]
    • In general, your doctor will use a higher concentration salicylic acid to peel away the wart than is commercially available.[1]
  5. Shave the wart and apply acid. In this often very painful treatment, your doctor will shave away the surface of the wart and apply a bichloracetic or trichloroacetic acid to the affected area. This type of treatment requires frequent doctor’s visits.[8]
    • You will need to return to your doctor’s office weekly for treatments with this method.[8]
    • Your doctor may ask you to apply salicylic acid to the wart in between visits.[8]
    • Shaving and applying acid can cause burning and be very painful.[8]
  6. Get laser therapy. If your warts are especially acute or persistent, you doctor may treat them with laser therapy. Laser treatments cauterize tiny blood vessels, causing infected tissue to die and the wart to fall off.[8]
    • There is little evidence for the effectiveness of laser therapy.[8]
    • Laser treatments can cause pain and scarring.[8] For this reason, they are often used as a last resort for treatment.[1]
  7. Receive immunotherapy. If other methods of medical treatment do not heal your warts, your doctor may try immunotherapy. They may inject your warts with antigens or apply creams to the warts.[8]
    • The goal of immunotherapy is to stimulate your immunotherapy to destroy the wart.[1]
    • Immunotherapy can be painful and cause scarring and is used less often than other treatments.[1]

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Sources and Citations

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