Like Dr. Pimple Popper But Poor

So today I worked in the urgent care at a county hospital for the first time all year. It was interesting! I got to see a lot of “bread and butter” general pediatric cases which is perfect because I want to go into gen peds.

One interesting case I saw today was an 11 year old girl with a huge wart returning to clinic for another liquid nitrogen treatment also known as cryotherapy. Cryotherapy essentially kills the wart by freezing it with liquid nitrogen.

Warts are caused by a virus called human papillomavirus. When this virus infects skin cells it causes warts to form. It can be transmitted from skin to skin contact or when skin comes in contact with surfaces hosting the virus (Yall better wash ya hands!).

I’d previously only prescribed salicylic acid for warts and instructed families to apply it at home. That’s usually the first-line therapy. But when the attending asked me to grab a scalpel and get the liquid nitrogen canister, I knew it was about to go down. This wart was HUGE.

To prepare a wart for cryotherapy, the dead surface must be filed away so that the liquid nitrogen can penetrate.

My patient, of course, did not do this at home so I had the pleasure of scraping away at it for 5 minutes. Flakes flew EVERYWHERE. It was kinda gross, yet soothing. I felt like Dr. Pimple Popper, but with much less money.

After I scraped away most of the dead skin, I sprayed the wart with liquid nitrogen and watched it shrivel away. Again, gross but cool. Then we sent the patient home with salicylic acid to apply daily before returning to clinic in 3 more weeks for her next cryotherapy session.

I have to admit, it was pretty cool to actually do something with my hands today. I kinda wanna do it again.

Where the warts at???

(Yikes, never thought I’d see the day.)