A Comparative study between topical 15% potassium hydroxide and 20% Salicylic acid in treatment of multiple palmoplantar warts

Abstract

Warts are one of the most reported cases at Dermatology outpatient departments. These are usually benign conditions and involve the skin surface and mucosa i.e. both the oral and genital. Human papilloma virus (HPV) is the causative agent. HPV has more than 150 types (Cardoso and Calonje, 2011). Salicylic acid as a keratolytic agent has been studied by various dermatologists. Salicylic acid can remove warts by exfoliating the skin cells until the wart is gone. The acid may also irritate the skin around the wart, so trigger an immune response to build healthy skin cells in the area (Cockayne et al., 2011). KOH topical treatment in cutaneous and genital warts is proved to be very effective and results in high response rates either in solitary or multiple lesions. This effect is due to its ability to dissolve keratin and penetrate deeply into skin (Camargo et al., 2014). The current study aimed at comparing between the efficacy, safety and recurrence rate of topical 15% potassium hydroxide (KOH) and 20% Salicylic acid in the treatment of multiple palmoplantar warts. To our knowledge, this is the first study that compared between these treatment modalities. We included 40 patients complaining of multiple palmar and