Bleomycin injection for warts

Examples

Generic Name	Brand Name
bleomycin	Blenoxane

How It Works

Bleomycin is an anticancer medication used to stop tumour growth.

Why It Is Used

Although non-genital warts are not cancerous, bleomycin injection is sometimes used to kill skin cells, effectively stopping wart growth.

How Well It Works

There is no consistent evidence on how effective bleomycin is for warts. Cure rates have varied between 16% and 94%.¹

Side Effects

Bleomycin causes pain during and after the injection into a wart. Longer-term side effects include:

• Scarring.
• Nail damage.
• Skin colour changes.

See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)

What To Think About

Bleomycin is injected into warts that have been resistant to other treatments. It is usually used as a last resort because the injection is painful and expensive.

Bleomycin is considered too toxic to safely treat children or pregnant or breast-feeding women.

Bleomycin should not be used in people with Raynaud's phenomenon or peripheral arterial disease.

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Author:	Douglas Dana Sabra L. Katz-Wise Ralph Poore	Last Updated: January 10, 2007
Medical Review:	Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine Randall D. Burr, MD - Dermatology Andrew Swan, MD, CCFP, FCFP - Family Medicine
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