Nerve damage after wart removal?

[didi768]

Had electro cautery(?) done on a wart on middle finger by the nail on my left hand about two months ago.  The area near it is still numb.  Is this permanant or will it take awhile for the nerves to reconnect?  My mom had a knife cut 15 yrs. ago on her finger and it is still numb.
Thanks

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Didi:

Electrocautery should not cause nerve damage, even if there was anesthesia and cautery was deep.  In any case, there is not much to be done except to wait a few months and see what happens.  If the nerve was affected, it will take some time for it to regenerate, and there is no special treatment to make that happen faster.  But again, in my experience, I haven't seen nerve damage from electrical wart treatment.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[didi768]

not sure if it was electro cautery for sure that they used on my wart.  It was with a machine I know with a metal thing.Think the procedure was called electrodessication.   He had to numb up my whole finger first.