HPV Vaccine for Warts: What Primary Care Should Know

This transcript has been edited for clarity. If you have a patient with recurrent or recalcitrant verruca vulgaris, you may have heard of using the HPV vaccine as treatment. There is biologic rationale for this approach; however, there is an important caveat: The HPV types that cause verruca vulgaris are different than the ones targeted by the 9-valent vaccine.

Despite this mismatch, observational studies and case studies have suggested that the HPV vaccine may provide cross-protective immunity, which may potentially help clear or prevent cutaneous warts. However, this is not an FDA-approved treatment, and the evidence largely consists of observational studies and small trials.

For primary care, continue to recommend the HPV vaccine for its approved indications. However, we do need larger, randomized controlled trials before considering it standard of care for verruca vulgaris.