Is it harm to use Salicylic acid on moles?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am a 30-year-old female. I have no medical issues and take no medications. I have had an issue with common and flat warts since I was in my early teens. I have had then frozen off, tried duct tape, ACV, homeopathic remedies basically everything. If common warts on my fingers did go away, they would come back elsewhere on my fingers. Flat warts have never gone, and I seem to get one or two more every year. They appear on my hands, legs, stomach, chest, neck, and, newly on my face. I have three small common warts on my fingers. I decided to try Salicylic acid as it is the one thing I had not before. One on my finger was very small and went after like three treatments, The others on my fingers are responding well. The flat warts are a bit different, they now sting more after a week of treatment when I apply the acid. This fades after five minutes. The skin goes very red around them, even though I am careful to only apply them on the wart and not the normal skin. My concern is this: I have a big one on the skin over my hip. I am sure it is a wart, but then my partner said that maybe it was a mole. I am not prone to moles and do not have any others. It is one that stings a lot now on day 7 of treatment. My question is can I just continue to treat it like the others? The packet says not to put it on moles, but will anything bad actually happen? It would be impossible to get diagnosed now anyway as it is reacting to the acid so looks gross and you would not be able to tell.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern, but from the picture (attachment removed to protect patient identity) it just looks like just an eroded lesion and cannot really tell it is basic form because it is manipulated with the acid for seven days or more. However, if you go to the dermatologist they will look under the dermatoscopy to confirm it or if the lesion is too much bothersome you can also do an excision of the lesion and get it done. Since you have a history of too many warts of different types, it is advised you get your immune status checked up. Also, if you are prone to eczema and allergy that causes disruptions of the skin barrier, the virus will be able to penetrate more easily causing warts. When you are using Salicylic acid (17%), be sure you protect the surrounding area with petrolatum jelly like Vaseline, to protect it from burning/peeling off. From the photo attached, the surrounding skin looks really irritated, so take care. Also, soak the area for 5-10 minutes to soften the wart so that the medicine can penetrate well. Since you have quite a few warts, cosmetic procedures will be very beneficial to you. You can do laser-assisted removal, cryotherapy, electrocauterization, curettage, injection of 5 Flurouracil to increase the immune cells. Kindly discuss with your local dermatologist which will be best for you after examining warts. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I have seen the photo attached (attachment removed to protect patient identity), it looks from the picture (although not so focused) like a wart and not a birthmark. It looks like a wart because it looks like it has a rough surface unlike that of a mole that would be smooth-surfaced. Salicylic acid is a keratolytic acid, that is it peels off the skin layers especially of thickened rough surfaces, it does not have much effect on the virus. However, if you use it on a mole since the morphology of a mole is different from that of a viral wart, it causes severe irritation as it can irritate the superficial skin capillaries and vessels too. This is the reason it is not advised on moles. SA does cause a minor burning sensation but if applying SA on this particular lesion is irritating too much, you can look out for more options as I have mentioned. I hope this helps.

Is it harm to use Salicylic acid on moles?

Ask your health query to a doctor online

Company

Customer Care

Get iCliniq