Why do warts come back?

This lesson is part of the WARTES HPV Masterclass. Preview: the first part of the narration.

One of the things that upsets us most about warts is when they come back after treatment. It can bring disappointment, worry, and even the thought that the treatment did not work. But there is an important fact you should know: warts coming back is something we doctors already expect, and it can be part of the natural course of HPV.

It does not always mean that the treatment has failed. Imagine a patient with warts in the genital area. The doctor chooses a method that suits the patient: burning, freezing, removing the tissue with radiofrequency or laser, or medicines applied to the wart.

These methods share the same aim: to remove the visible warts, to lower the amount of virus in the area, and to stop the warts from spreading. We will explain the differences between them in the treatment section. When a wart is removed successfully, most of the infected cells in that area go with it.

…