Warts are small skin growths caused by various strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV). These lesions are common, leading many people to seek quick medical attention for removal, often turning to convenient walk-in clinics. Urgent care centers are equipped to handle many minor skin issues. They can generally remove warts, but treatment depends heavily on the wart’s specific characteristics and location.
Determining Factors for Urgent Care Treatment
Urgent care providers use specific criteria to determine if they can safely treat a wart. Treatment is appropriate for common warts found on the hands and feet, including plantar warts that are not complex. These facilities are best suited for lesions that are small to medium in size and lack deep rooting or widespread clustering.
The wart’s location is a key factor; non-sensitive areas like the palms and soles are the most straightforward for intervention. The wart must also be uncomplicated, meaning it is not rapidly multiplying or recurring frequently.
Urgent care facilities decline to treat certain types of warts due to the need for specialized care or potential complications. This includes large, deeply embedded, or widespread lesions, such as mosaic warts. They also avoid warts on sensitive areas (face, eyelids, mouth). Urgent care clinics do not treat genital warts, as these require specialized evaluation due to their association with sexually transmitted infections and cancer risk.
Wart Removal Procedures Available at Urgent Care
The most common method for wart removal at urgent care centers is cryotherapy, which involves freezing the lesion. This procedure uses liquid nitrogen, applied with a cotton swab or specialized spray device, to destroy the wart tissue. The extreme cold causes the cells to die, leading to the formation of a blister beneath the treated area.
The patient may experience a stinging or burning sensation during the brief application. Over the next few days, the blister dries up, and the dead wart tissue sloughs off, typically within one to three weeks. Complete removal often requires multiple treatment sessions, usually between one and four visits, spaced two to three weeks apart.
Some urgent care facilities may also offer other methods, such as prescribing stronger topical medications like high-concentration salicylic acid, which slowly peels away the wart layers. Less commonly, clinics with advanced equipment may perform electrocautery or curettage (burning or scraping the wart off). Cryotherapy remains the standard in-office procedure due to its effectiveness and ease of use.
When a Specialist is Necessary
A referral to a dermatologist or primary care physician is necessary when the wart presents with specific concerning features. Warts located on the face, eyelids, or genital area are best handled by a specialist who can minimize scarring and manage delicate tissue. If the diagnosis is uncertain, a specialist should be consulted, as some growths can mimic warts but may be more serious conditions like skin cancer.
Specialized care is also needed for warts that are resistant to treatment, meaning they have failed to clear after several rounds of cryotherapy or other non-specialized methods. Large, widespread, or clustered lesions, such as mosaic warts, often require more aggressive or complex treatment protocols better performed in a dermatology setting. Recurrent warts or those causing significant pain, especially plantar warts that interfere with walking, are also indicators that a specialist should intervene.