Abstract

ORDONEZ, C; SILVA, E  and  PALACIOS, S. A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTIVENESS BETWEEN CRYOTHERAPY vs A COMBINATION OF 20% SALICYLIC ACID + 12% LACTIC ACID FOR THE TREATMENT OF VULGAR WARTS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS. Rev. argent. dermatol. [online]. 2018, vol.99, n.3, pp.3-10.  Epub Sep 30, 2018. ISSN 1851-300X.

Common warts are benign skin neoplasms caused by HPV-2 virus, but also related serotypes 1, 4, 7, 26 and 29; they appear particularly in childhood, can be located anywhere in the body but most common in hands and forearms.

There are many treatments for warts, including the application of salicylic acid and liquid nitrogen, considered as first-line treatments, however there are few studies comparing the effectiveness of salicylic acid vs liquid nitrogen, which is why we made a controlled clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of liquid nitrogen vs a solution of salicylic acid 20% + 12% lactic acid for treatment of common warts in children and adolescents. The study included 80 patients between 5 and 16 years of both sexes, who suffer of common warts on hands and forearms.

The 80 patients were divided in two groups of 40 members each, one group received liquid nitrogen by a maximum of 7 sessions, and the other received a solution of salicylic acid 20% + 12% lactic acid for a period of 4 weeks.

The results showed that liquid nitrogen is more effective than the combination of salicylic acid 20% + 12% lactic acid for the treatment of common warts in children and adolescents (OR28.5, CI 6.011 to 135.121, P 0.000). The mean number of sessions required to achieve healing was 2.1 sessions. The main adverse effects were pain (chi2 37.90, P 0.000) and blisters (chi2 68.83, P 0.000) never the less, the effects were mild and they did not need further treatment.

Keywords : warts; treatment; cryotherapy; salicylic acid; children.