Warts - Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

A wart is generally a small, rough tumor, typically on hands and feet, that can resemble a cauliflower or a solid blister. Warts can grow on all parts of your body. They can grow on your skin, on the inside of your mouth, on your genitals and on your rectal area. Warts on the skin may be passed to another person when that person touches the warts. It is also possible to get warts from using towels or other objects that were used by a person who has wIt is also possible to get warts from using towels or other objects that were used by a person who has warts. Warts on the genitals are very contagious and can be passed to another person during oral, vaginal or anal sex.arts. Warts are usually painless with the exception of the warts on the soles of the feet. Common warts are different from moles, and they aren't cancerous. In fact, they're usually harmless and often disappear on their own.

Warts are rarely seen on children under the age of three, but after this age they become more frequent. In women, warts can grow on the cervix (inside the vagina), and a woman may not know she has them. A tiny cut or scratch can make any area of skin more vulnerable to warts. Also, if your child picks at a wart, it can spread to other parts of the body. Warts don't generally cause any problems, so it's not always necessary to have them removed, unless you have concerns. Another reason to treat warts is to prevent them from spreading further. Treatment helps prevent common warts from spreading to other parts of your body or to other people. But common warts may recur after treatment, and they may be a persistent problem. The doctor can also freeze warts and verrucas away with liquid nitrogen. Often several freezing treatments will be necessary before the warts are totally removed.

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Causes of Warts

Common warts are a type of infection caused by viruses in the human papillomavirus family. Some types of warts - such as genital warts are quite contagious, but the chance of catching common warts from another person is small. There are more than 100 types of human papillomavirus viruses. Some types of human papillomavirus tend to cause warts on the skin, while other human papillomavirus types tend to cause warts on the genitals and rectal area. Some people are more naturally resistant to the human papillomavirus viruses and don't seem to get warts as easily as other people. Warts usually spread through breaks in your skin, such as a hangnail or scrape. Biting your nails can also cause warts to spread on your fingertips and around your nails.

Symptoms of Warts

Common warts appear most often on the tops of the fingers and hands, usually along the cuticles, as rough, thick, cauliflowerlike papules that develop solitarily or in large numbers. They often contain one or more tiny black dots, which are sometimes called wart seeds but are actually small, clotted blood vessels. Flat warts are small, slightly elevated, flat-topped, pink or tan papules, are smoother than the common wart, and have minimal scale. They occur primarily on the face, arms, and legs, and a person can have several, even hundreds of them. Ano-genital warts are flesh to gray in color, grow in mucous membranes, and vary in size from small, shiny papules, to large cauliflowerlike lesions. They can extend internally into the vagina and cervix, the rectal area, and inside the urethra.

Treatment of Warts

Often warts disappear on their own, although it may take many months, or even years, for the warts to go away. But some warts won't go away on their own. There are several over-the-counter options. The most common ones involve salicylic acid. These products are readily available at drugstores and supermarkets. Removing a wart with salicylic acid requires a strict regimen of cleaning the area, applying the acid, and removing the dead skin with a pumice stone or emery board. Salicylic acid preparations are available as drops, gels, pads, and plasters. They are designed to apply to all kinds of warts, from tiny ones to great, big lumpy ones.