If the genital warts are persistent and difficult to eliminate, a more drastic treatment may be in order. Laser treatments use an intense beam of light to cauterize the blood vessels and efficiently gets rid of the warts but the process can be painful and is expensive. Surgical removal of the wart is another option, which involves the patient being put under local anesthetic, and is thus a more expensive treatment but effective nonetheless. The final option that is used only after all other treatments have failed is electrocautery. This process uses an electrical current to essentially burn the wart cells and prevent new ones from developing.