WARTS CAN BE A SIGN OF SOMETHING MORE SERIOUS

What are warts?

Warts are tiny growths that appear as raised bumps on your skin when it is infected by a virus known as HPV (human papillomavirus)
Warts have been around since the beginning of time and were discovered in mummies as far back as 3000 years ago.
10% of the population gets some sort of wart at some point of their life. In school-aged children the prevalence of warts is at about 20%.
Warts are not very dangerous to your health, but the issue is they are can be contagious and painful as well

How Does a Person Get Warts?

Warts can be contagious and spread by close skin-to-skin contact. Warts can also be caught indirectly from contaminated surfaces or objects, such as swimming pools, towels, razors, and gym locker rooms. If your skin has open cuts or lesions you have a higher chance of getting warts.

Whether you get a wart or not depends on your immune system and how it responds to HPV. People with chronic skin conditions tend to have compromised immunes systems That’s why people with chronic skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis are more likely to get warts.

Types of Warts

There are five major types of warts and each one shows up on different parts of the body and have a distinct appearance.

Common Warts:

Common warts have a thick and rough appearance and a roundish top. They often appear grayish/brownish in color.

They usually show up on the fingers and toes but they can appear elsewhere.

Common warts are usually about 1 millimeter (mm) to 1 centimeter (cm) in size, and can occur alone or in clusters.

These warts are usually the most benign of all types and are not harmful.

Signs and symptoms of common warts can include:

Seem to spread to other parts of your body through direct contact
Small rough skin bumps that can be hard and dry.
Brown or gray in color with small dark spots which are clotted blood vessels.

Flat Warts:

Commonly found in children and young adults, these warts are caused by a contagious virus but luckily it can’t hurt your health. Although these warts don’t affect your health, they are often painful.

Unlike common warts, flat warts are smooth to the surface, yellowish in color, and of course flat like the namesake. They are small about the size of a pinhead and are often found in small clusters on the face, hands, or legs.

Children are more likely to get flat warts as they tend to have open cuts or scratches on their skin. When young boys and girls go through puberty, they begin to shave face and legs and thus are at increased risk of getting flat warts because of razor cuts. Young people with acne tend to touch their face more often and scratch which can cause the HPV virus that causes warts to enter.

In addition, people with a weakened immune system because of poor health, chronic disease, chemotherapy, or certain drugs are at greater risk.

Plantar Warts:
Plantar warts are very different than common and flat warts. These warts do not grow out of your skin but rather into it.
Plantar warts exclusively appear on the feet only which makes them easy to self-diagnose. They make walking uncomfortable and often painful. They are characterized by a small hole on the bottom of the foot surrounded by hard dry skin.

There are two types of Plantar Warts.

– Mosaic-type plantar warts.

Mosaic warts grow in a mosaic type pattern in clusters on the bottom of your feet. They are also known as recalcitrant plantar warts or verrucae. These types of warts typically require more than a traditional wart ointment and cream and often require doctors’ treatment.

-Myrmecial-type plantar warts

Myrmecia appears as smooth textured, deepened, and rough to the touch warts mostly either on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet. They also can occur beside or beneath the nails. They tend to be shaped like spheres or half domes.

These warts appear yellowish as calluses and can have black dots. They create pain in the feet with direct pressure.

Filiform Warts:

Filiform warts are thin and long and project out of the skin. They look very different from giving them a distinctive appearance. They often occur around a person’s eyes or lips.

Filiform warts grow around your eyes, lips or nose and less commonly on the neck. Like all other warts they are contagious with direct contact and can also spread to other parts of your body. They do not have a distinct color and are often the same color as your skin tone.

Unlike other warts mentioned above they are not painful in any way and they show up quickly growing on your skin within a day or less.

Wart Treatments:

Most warts do NOT require surgery. Many warts are treated well with at home wart creams or ointments. The most important thing to remember in preventing warts is to keep your hygiene up and make sure your cuts and lesions are covered and disinfected.

Salicylic Acid

Most warts can be treated at home with a topical that contains Salicylic Acid. Salicylic Acid is available in over-the-counter creams, gels, or ointments. Your first course of action when treating warts is to use a product with Salicylic Acid.

Studies have shown that medical topicals that contain Salicylic acid have a 65%-80% success rate in clearing warts.

One of the best wart solutions is made by Wartrol and it is the best reviewed wart removal solution because of its mix of natural ingredients in addition to salicylic acid. If you want to check it out, you can find it here.

If you choose to go with another brand, you can find other good salicylic treatments online.

Cryotherapy

If Salicylic Acid does not work your next best bet is trying Cryotherapy. It can be inconvenient since not everyone lives near a facility which offers it and it costs more money then a product like Wartrol.

In cryotherapy, liquid nitrogen is placed onto the wart essentially destroying it by freezing it off. Once the wart is frozen a scab develops where the wart was and eventually falls off.

Only a healthcare professional can carry out cryotherapy and it usually requires more than one treatment which can make it pricey.

Cantharidin
Cantharidin is an odorless, substance classified as a terpenoid, and is secreted by certain types of beetles. That’s right it comes from bugs. In large doses it is poisonous and historically it has been used as part of aphrodisiacs.

A doctor may apply cantharidin to your warts. Although usually painless Cantharidin can create blisters when trying to remove a wart and can be rather uncomfortable. You will need to see a doctor to perform this treatment.

This is painless, but it creates a blister that may be uncomfortable. As this blister forms, it lifts the wart from the skin. The doctor will then remove the dead part of the wart.

Antibiotics

You will need a doctor’s prescription to use antibiotics. You will use them if the wart gets infected. Although antibiotics may help get rid of warts, many times they just stop infection and reduce inflammation.

Conclusion:
Warts can be painful but luckily, they are more of an eyesore than a danger. Typically, all you will need to get rid of them is a Salicylic cream or ointment.

In rare cases they can become infected and if that happens you might need to see your healthcare provider to make sure it does not cause other issues.

The most important thing to do is to never panic and don’t let warts get you down as they usually leave over the course of time.