The treatment of common warts with infrared coagulation

Treatment of warts can involve medical and surgical methods. Infrared coagulation is a surgical method very rarely used in the treatment of warts. We planned an open-labeled prospective study to research the effect of infrared coagulation in the treatment of common warts, comparing it with electrocoagulation, and discussing its applicability as an alternative therapy regimen. Eighteen patients with common warts were included in this study. There were 49 warts of various sizes (1 mm to 1 cm) in these 18 patients. Twenty-seven warts were treated with infrared coagulation, and 22 warts were treated with electrocoagulation. Sixteen patients were treated with both infrared coagulation and electrocoagulation; two patients were treated with only infrared coagulation. The patients were followed-up for six months after treatment. Changes in sizes of warts, healing times, and cure rates were compared by Mann-Whitney U test. The mean healing time was 35.5 +/- 5.7 days with infrared coagulation and 32.9 +/- 4.0 days with electrocoagulation. There was not any significant difference between healing times (p > 0.05). Bacterial infection was seen on seven (31.8%) warts treated with electrocoagulation, but no side effects were seen with infrared coagulation. There was a significant difference between side effect rates in two groups (p < 0.01). Nine (33.3%) of the warts treated with infrared coagulation and seven (31.8%) of the warts treated with electrocoagulation recurred in the six-month follow-up period. The overall cure rates at the end of the follow-up period were 66.7% and 68.2% respectively. There was not any significant difference between the cure rates in the two groups (P > 0.05). We conclude that infrared coagulation is a safe and cheap method and should be kept in mind as an alternative modality for the treatment of common warts.