VERRUCAE VULGARES (PALMAR AND PLANTAR)

Abstract

Numerous remedies have been employed in the treatment of common warts, ranging all the way from magic charms to surgical excision. Destruction by acids, electricity, carbon dioxide snow and radium, etc., have all produced good results in many cases. When large numbers of warts are present, however, local destructive measures are tedious, painful and, in the case of children, frequently difficult to carry out. Intramuscular injections of sulpharsphenamine have been used with success by some physicians, but the results are often disappointing, and the drug is not free from danger in such ailments as common warts. Since the administration of mercury by mouth is frequently beneficial in the treatment for juvenile flat warts, it was thought worth while to test the effect of another drug, bismuth, which in syphilis at least has a therapeutic effect similar to that of mercury. Previous experimental work has proved that warts are