Carboxytherapy Plus Urea Speeds Healing of Recalcitrant Warts, reports research

A new study published in the Journal of Medical Virology showed that in individuals with persistent common warts, combining carboxytherapy with topical 50% urea cream may speed up healing and result in higher lesion size reductions than urea cream alone.

In dermatological practice, common warts (verruca vulgaris), which are benign epidermal proliferations mostly caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, are often seen. While many warts go away on their own, resistant lesions can last for a long time, be uncomfortable, look bad, and have a detrimental impact on one's quality of life. Conventional therapies, such as cryotherapy, electrosurgery, keratolytic drugs, and immunotherapeutic methods, might cause discomfort, irritation, scarring, or recurrence and may need many sessions. Topical urea has strong keratolytic and moisturizing properties and may help remove hyperkeratotic wart tissue, especially at high doses of 50%.

Because of its possible effects on local circulation, tissue oxygenation, and immune-mediated responses, carboxytherapy has been investigated as an adjuvant treatment. Therefore, combining topical urea with carboxytherapy may improve therapeutic effectiveness while keeping a safe profile. Comparative data on these methods for stubborn common warts is still few, though. Thus, this study evaluated and contrast the safety and effectiveness of 50% urea monotherapy with 50% urea plus carboxytherapy.

20 individuals with stubborn common warts in their extremities (apart from the plantar surface) were chosen. Topical 50% urea cream was used twice daily on one side of the body's lesions (group A), while a combination of topical 50% urea cream and carboxytherapy was applied to the other side (group B). Weekly carboxytherapy was administered, and both therapies were maintained until full recovery. Up to two weeks following the fifth carboxytherapy session, the number and size of lesions were evaluated. Six months following full remission, the recurrence rate was assessed.

There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the number of lesions. Lesion size decreased considerably more in group B than in group A. In group B, the time for full resolution was much shorter. Neither treatment group experienced any noteworthy adverse events. 6 months following full clearance, neither group reported any recurrence of lesions. Overall, for the treatment of resistant recurrent common warts, both topical 50% urea cream monotherapy and combination therapy with topical 50% urea cream and carboxytherapy were successful

Reference:.

Bagherani, N., Rafiei, M., Smoller, B. R., Yaghoobi, R., Moradzade, R., Mirnezami, M., & Rafie, Z. (2026). Assessment and comparison of efficacy and safety of monotherapy with topical 50% urea cream and combination therapy with topical 50% urea cream and carboxytherapy in treatment of recalcitrant common wart: A randomized, single-blinded, 2-split clinical trial. Journal of Medical Virology, 98(8), e71061. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.71061