Warts and the effects of 10 weeks of Acupuncture:

A recent study showed that Acupuncture was more effective in treating Flat Warts than the common application of Tretinoin ointment. The American Academy of Dermatology defines warts as “Warts are benign (not cancerous) skin growths that appear when a virus infects the top layer of the skin. Viruses that cause warts are called human papillomavirus (HPV). You are more likely to get one of these viruses if you cut or damage your skin in some way. Wart viruses are contagious. Warts can spread by contact with the wart or something that touched the wart.” ¹ Warts are a common problem for most of the world’s population.

The study found in the International Journal of Dermatology found the following:

Background Flat warts are a common presenting complaint in adolescents and adults and may be a cosmetic problem as well. Patients suffering from flat warts are often unsatisfied with conventional medical care because of adverse effects such as intolerable pain, hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation, or occasionally allergic contact dermatitis. To offset the possibilities of hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation, and scar formation, the method of auricular acupuncture was used.

Methods Single-blind method adopted, 60 subjects with flat warts were all outpatients and randomly allocated to a treatment group or a control group, with 30 patients in each group. Thirty subjects in the treatment group were treated with weekly auricular acupuncture for 10 weeks while the other subjects in the control group were treated with 0.1% of tretinoin ointment topically for 10 weeks.

Results Sixteen subjects in the treatment group (53.33%) recovered fully from flat warts without recurrence during the ensuing six months’ follow-up after 10 weeks’ surgery compared with only one subject in the control group (3.33%). The therapeutic effect of the treatment group was statistically better than that of the control group by Mann–Whitney U-test with SPSS software (P < 0.01). During the treatment period and the ensuing six months’ follow-up, no adverse effects were observed by the investigators or reported by patients.

Conclusions Our findings suggest that auricular acupuncture may be a viable alternative for the treatment of flat warts. Larger randomized studies are needed to fully evaluate auricular acupuncture against more conventional treatments, and these are planned.

This study could offer those who suffer from warts in the Denver metro area some other options as to how to treat the issue in a safe and harmless manner. As with any clinical research more studies need to be done to continue the work however, at this time this is promising news for those who suffer from warts and for those who cuddle with those who have warts.

Works Cited

American Academy of Dermatology. http://www.aad.org/skin-conditions/dermatology-a-to-z/warts. Web Accessed January 24, 2012.

Ning, S., Li, F., Qian, L., Xu, D., Huang, Y., Xiao, M., Duan, G. and Li, Y. (2012), The successful treatment of flat warts with auricular acupuncture. International         Journal of Dermatology, 51: 211–215. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-4632.2011.05232.x