Customer Reviews

Dr. Scholl's Freeze Away Wart Removing Kit

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I fought with warts as a kid and had them successfully frozen off by a dermatologist. Now I'm thirty and it would seem that I have caught a new set of warts on the back of my hand. I went to the dermatologist to have them frozen off but she wouldn't freeze deep enough and after I healed up the warts came back, literally waiting under the scabs, very frustrating. So I bought this new freeze away, and was able to let it go deep enough to kill the warts. It works, but beware, the second step liquid, it turns scaly white and does not come off, at all! So if you are concerned about appearance, especially women/girls, just stick with the freezing part, it works well enough by itself. I also found that the first time you activate the tip (i.e. freeze it) it doesn't really freeze well, you'll probably have to give it another shot of cold and then it will really work, it should sting and immediately frost the skin right around it. If not, you didn't get it cold enough. Make sure you press it against the wart for long enough, maybe a little longer than the directions, it hurts, but you just have to hang in there and give it time to kill the wart.

Dr. Scholl's Freeze away is a new over-the-counter means to treat warts. In the past, only an MD could use liquid nitrogen in the treatment of warts. Now the consumer can use the same technology to treat warts at home. At around 20 dollars for a kit (that has 12 treatment applicators), this is a quick and relatively inexpensive means to treat warts. A typical doctor's office co-pay is around 20 - 25 dollars, so this kit is as cost-effective as a doctor's visit, without the hassle of having to go the doctor. I have treated several warts at home with this system with mixed results. Some warts have been eliminated with one treatment (the wart sheds in about 2 weeks). Other warts have been more resistant to treatment and have required multiple treatments, the treatments being 2-3 weeks apart.

In using this system, I have found some treatment tips I would like to share. First, I think it is essential to cut off the top surface of the wart as much as possible. This thins the wart and allows it to freeze deeper, killing the infected cells more thoroughly. Use a sharp scalpel, an emory board, or even sandpaper. Remember that the shavings from the wart may be infective. Second, the treatment time is critical for success. The instructions cite treatment time of 10-20 seconds for most warts, with up to 40 seconds for plantar (sole of feet) warts. The thicker the skin and thicker the wart, the longer you want to hold the cryotherapy tip against the wart. Unsuccessful therapy generally means that the treatment time was not long enough. The goal of cryotherapy is to freeze the wart virus and kill it. Expect the treatment to hurt (sometimes a little - sometimes a lot, depending on where the wart is). After charging the tip with the can, place it against the wart for the amount of time recommended in the instructions. It will "sizzle" as it contacts the wart, and this is desirable, for you want the tip to be cold so that the treated surface turns a frosted white. When you remove the tip from the wart, the surface will be white and frozen, but will quickly warm and become red. It may hurt for minutes to several hours. While the box indicates that only one treatment is necessary, I have found most warts require 1 or more treatments, with 2 - 3 weeks between each treatment. Healing of the frozen surface takes about 1-2 weeks with the hopeful end result that the wart falls off. Generally there is little or no scarring. If the treatment time is longer or you are treating a larger wart, a blister may form. If the blister breaks, be diligent to clean the area to prevent the spread of the wart virus. Avoid contact with the fluid in the blister, as it likely contains wart virus which can infect other areas.

There are three main ways to treat warts: cryotherapy, liquid salicylic acid therapy, and duct tape therapy. All these usually work if applied consistently. Cryotherapy offers no clear advantages over the liquid wart removal (salicylic acid), except that it is quicker and less of a mess. Duct tape therapy (taping the wart for 7 days straight) seems to be just as effective as any other therapy. It is certainly cheap, but the main disadvantage is treating warts in sightly areas such as the fingers, hands or face.

I like cryotherapy for warts for its ease of therapy. If you want to get rid of a wart as quickly as possible, give this treatment a try.

Jim "Konedog" Koenig

For the person who wishes more information on warts see below:

Warts are caused by the Human Papilomavirus. HPV enters the body in an area of broken skin. The virus causes the top layers of the infected skin to grow rapidly, producing a wart. The body has a hard time eliminating warts because warts hide in our own cells where the immune system cannot find or recognize them as being foreign. However, over time, sometimes years, the immune system finally "discovers" the wart virus and produces anti-bodies against it. At this point, all the warts are attacked and eliminated.

Warts can occur anywhere on the body. There are many different kinds of warts. "Common warts" appear most often on the hands, but they may appear anywhere on the body. They are rough, gray-brown, dome-shaped growths. "Plantar warts" occur on the bottom of the feet, are hard, thick patches of skin with dark specks inside the growth.

Flat warts are found on the face, arms, or legs. They are small (about 2-4 mm in diameter), have flat surfaces. and are pink, light brown, dark brown, or skin-colored yellow.

Filiform warts are generally found around the mouth, on or in the nose, or in the beard area. They are flesh-colored with jagged fingerlike edges.

Periungual warts are found under and around the toenails and fingernails. They appear as rough, irregular bumps. These warts are very painful to treat as the fingers are very sensitve with lots of nerve endings.

Genital warts occur on the genitals, around the anus, within the rectum or vagina, or on the cervix. Don't use cryotherapy or salicylic therapy on genital warts - consult with an MD.

I initially bought this for getting rid of skin tags. After three treatments on the same one, it's still there, although it does look a bit smaller.

What it DID work on was a seborrheic keratosis on my shoulder. Again, it took three separate treatments, but I'm happy to say that it finally fell off the other day and the skin around it is mildly red but doesn't look scarred...i.e. I think it will heal up just fine.

As the first person stated, it does sting a bit, and I would recommend having someone else do the freezing if you're not into inflicting unpleasant sensations upon yourself, or if the spot you want to freeze is in an awkward place.

This product has two fatal design flaws. First the expanding propellant is not able to get the applicator tip cold enough. Secondly the applicator tip is a rigid stub. It will not make useful or appropriate surface contact with the target. This is unlike the liquid or spray on nitrogen at a doctor's office.

Don't waste your hard earned money on this product.

I tried this stuff on three different attempts, each attempt was its own two-week period, this all being on a single and very average size wart. I even trimmed it down first to "increase the freeze depth" like someone else mentioned. (who must work for DR Scholl based on the length of their praise for the product). I also held the applicator on for ridiculously long periods, and it never took the wart off. Nobody wants to pay 30 bucks for something that takes two weeks to figure out that it didn't work. I had two other warts in the past, and I'm going back to what does work....COMPOUND W. Its even way cheaper, and takes the same time period. Let me ask you this?....if you're not alergic to salicylic acid, and freezing takes just as long for the desired effect (for the few it works on), and compound W is cheaper, then why would you ever buy this? Trust me folks...its just not worth it.

I don't typically write reviews but I had to since I see so many people write that it doesn't work for them. My 6 year old had 3 small size warts on his foot and I used 2 treatments on each wart just to make sure they went away. The key thing about using the kit is that it suggest using the product for no more than 22-24 seconds (prob to keep people from hurting themselves), which might not be long enough to kill the Wart. So one must use a little judgement and keep the applicator on the Wart until the Wart turns white (without burning yourself). After a bath, I used the same applicator 2-3 times on the same wart and the Warts went away in 12 days. One of the warts didn't respond to the inital treatment, so I repeated the previous steps and it finally went away.

I have given this product more than one chance (I've bought it twice now, and there are 12 freeze sticks in each pack!) but it just hasn't worked for me. I have multiple warts on my hands and have tried everything under the sun, but this is not something that works. Don't waste your money! Upon first use, I felt a slight burning on the wart as I held it for the allotted amount of time required and then it turned white. I bandaged it up and the next day it was slightly smaller but definitely did not make ANY difference within a few days. The directions specifically say to use the product in spaced out intervals so I'm not sure how it could have been successful.
I would instead recommend Apple Cider Vinegar or even Dr. Scholl's liquid wart remover, both are so much more effective and much less expensive!

This product does work, but you have to stick with it and not give up. First you freeze the warts, then you put the liquid drops on the wart.

Simple, it's does what a doctors office visit will do. And since some warts require multiple visits, this stuff is much more affordable than the doctors office.

I had a couple of warts on my fingers. I tried Dr. Scholl's Freeze Away, as well as Dr. Scholl's liquid. It seemed to be doing something but the warts would stay on there. Very weak stuff. Get Compound W, it worked very very quickly for me and the warts never came back.