Treating Warts - with cimetidine - Brief Article

Pediatrics for Parents, June, 1998

Warts, particularly if there are many, can be very difficult to treat. If a child has only a few, and will cooperate with the treatment, then there are many different ways to try and eradicate this viral infection. But if the child has numerous warts, common treatments such as freezing, cutting, using acid, etc., are impractical.

Doctors in Australia recently published the results of treating children with multiple warts with cimetidine (Tagamet). They treated 33 children ages five to seventeen who had multiple warts. Eighty-two percent of the children were completely cured with no recurrence. It took anywhere from two to twenty weeks for the drug to work. Cimetidine didn't work with adults or adolescents over 17 years old.

This anti-ulcer drug shouldn't used in children without the advice of a physician.

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 8/97, pp. 289-90.