Surgical Treatment of Recalcitrant Wart.

Kim, Ka Ram; Choi, Jai Koo; Hur, Gi Yeun; Ko, Jang Hyu; Seo, Dong Kook; Lee, Jong Wook; Jang, Young Chul

Search: J Korean Soc Plast Reconstr Surg Search

CLOSE

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 2011;38(6):798-802.
Published online November 1, 2011.

Surgical Treatment of Recalcitrant Wart.

Ka Ram Kim, Jai Koo Choi, Gi Yeun Hur, Jang Hyu Ko, Dong Kook Seo, Jong Wook Lee, Young Chul Jang

Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, School of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, Korea. jkchoi57@gmail.com

Abstract

PURPOSE
A wart is caused by epidermal infection with the human papilloma virus. Although wart naturally disappears in some cases, it require treatment because of pain, aesthetic problem, and the possibility of malignant change. Conventional non-surgical treatment cannot be a fundamental solution for the pain and has such disadvantages as frequent recurrence and difficulties in achieving a satisfactory outcome. A surgical procedure was performed on patients with wart and the procedure had a good outcome. METHODS: We investigated the gender, age, lesion site, mean treatment duration, and presence or absence of recurrence in 21 patients with a wart within the period of January 2007 to July 2011. For local lesions, primary closure, including subcuticular suture after the excision, was performed. If the defect size was too big to do primary closure, we performed rotation flap. For wide multiple lesions, a split thickness skin graft was performed.
RESULTS
Among the 21 patients, 12 patients were male and 9 patients were female, and their mean age was 42 years(SD=17.38, range: 11~75 years). The lesion site was the foot in 10 patients, the hand in 8 patients, the face in 2 patients, and the scalp in 1 patient. The mean treatment duration was 13.5 days(SD=4.36, range: 6~15 days) for the primary closure or rotation flap, and 18.5 days(SD=2.12, range: 17~20 days) for the skin graft. 20 patients were cured without recurrence. No recurrence was observed in the patients who underwent primary closure or rotation flap. One of the two patients who underwent a skin graft of their wart that had covered their entire palm had local recurrence in part of her finger tips.
CONCLUSION
We performed surgical procedure on recalcitrant wart. As a results, we can treat it with short treatment duration, low recurrence rate and less scarring and get high patient satisfaction.

Keywords: Wart; Surgical treatment; Primary closure; Skin graft

TOOLS