Avoca Wart & Verruca Treatment Set

What is Avoca Wart & Verruca Treatment Set?

A pencil-shaped applicator with a tip of solid silver nitrate, packed in a capped plastic holder with an emery file. Silver nitrate is a caustic: it chemically destroys the wart or verruca tissue it touches, and this set is the pharmacy version of the pencils used in podiatry and minor-surgery clinics. Because it is corrosive and stains, it is a pharmacy medicine and must be used exactly as the instructions describe.

How does it help?

The tip is moistened with a little clean water (not salt water or saline, which stops it working) and held against the wart or verruca for one to two minutes. The silver nitrate reacts with the tissue it touches and destroys the surface layer of the wart, which darkens and can be filed away with the emery file. Repeated once a day, three days for a wart and six for a verruca as the leaflet describes, it works down through the wart until healthy skin is left. A ring of petroleum jelly around the wart keeps the caustic where it is wanted.

Key benefits

• Destroys wart and verruca tissue directly, a layer at a time
• A short course of once-a-day applications over a few days
• Supplied with an emery file to remove the treated tissue between applications
• Licensed in the UK since 1982 for removing warts and verrucas

Who should take care?

Always read the patient information leaflet before use. Do not use it if you are allergic to silver nitrate or potassium nitrate. Never use it near the eyes, on the face, on the genitals or anal area, on moles, birthmarks or any skin growth you are not sure is a wart, or on broken or infected skin, and do not use it for genital warts. It is corrosive and stains: keep it off healthy skin, protect the area around the wart with petroleum jelly, and keep it away from clothing, towels and surfaces, as marks are permanent. Do not use it on a child without speaking to our pharmacist first, as the licence carries no data on use in children. People with diabetes, poor circulation or numbness in the feet should not treat verrucas themselves and should see a podiatrist. It is for one person only and must not be shared. If the skin becomes very sore, or the wart has not gone after the course described in the leaflet, stop and ask our pharmacist. Our pharmacist checks it is right for you before it is supplied.