Characteristics of Patients with Common Warts Living in the Koyang and Northern Area of Kyunggi Province in 2006

Background: Common warts are benign and usually self limiting skin lesions. However, there have been few studies to assess the characteristics of patients with common warts according to their local residence. Objective: The study was conducted to assess the characteristics of patients with common warts lived in Koyang area and northern area of Kyunggi. Methods: We carried out a retrospective analysis of patients with common warts, who had been diagnosed in the Myongji Hospital, Kwandong University College of Medicine from January 2006 to December 2006. Results: Two-hundred and eighty-one patients (128 male, 153 female) were analyzed. A group of patients aged under 10 years old showed most of the occurrences of common warts. The mean age was 16.1 years. Most of the patients visited our clinics within 10 month of the emergence of warts. Hands were more commonly involved than feet. More than half of the patients had one lesion at the time of their visit. Common warts were most prevalent in August. Cryotherapy was used to treat most of the patients. One-hundred and two patients showed complete recovery on clinical ground. The mean number of the treatment was 4.8 times. Atopic dermatitis was observed in 29 patients. Twenty-nine patients had also family members infected with common warts. Conclusion: We analyzed the characteristics of patients with common warts living in the Koyang area and northern area of Kyunggi. Further studies would be needed to assess the characteristics of common warts affected by different regional environments. (Korean J Dermatol 2008;46(7):909∼914)