Warts is one of the most irritating skin problems and is immensely widespread all across the globe. The skin on hands and feet is most prone to them, and they can develop more than once in a lifetime. There is no permanent treatment to them, not even the most extreme level of precautions can keep a person safe from warts. By the looks of them, they appear similar to small lumps. Sometimes they are so small that their initial development is not even visible to the affected person.
If you are not really sure what are warts, this article will surely clear all your doubts and misconceptions.
Development of Warts:
Warts develop in numerous manners and can have varied sizes. They can come up single or in the form of a cluster. Both ways, there are great chances of them growing furthermore. Clusters, when not treated properly and on time, have the ability to spread across the skin gradually. On the other hand, those that appear single can get bigger in size as time passes.
If you are still wondering what are warts, they can be peculiar at times, affecting only a certain part of the body. They would keep recurring only to that area, leaving all others untouched. Mostly it is the soles of the feet where warts keep developing from time to time. These are called Verrucas and are surely the most common warts spreading on human bodies. Mostly, it’s the kids and adults that are affected by warts. However, no matter where they pop up and in what intensity, they are always non-cancerous.
What Causes Warts?
Warts is caused by a certain kind of virus named as human papilloma virus. Abbreviated as HPV, when it comes in contact with the human skin, its certain strains lead to the development of warts on it. The virus is attracted to the moist surface of the human skin, and thus infects it conveniently. Numerous strains of this virus have been discovered by now, and each strain causes warts to appear at a different part of the skin, making headway for a different kind of wart.
How Do Warts Spread?
As long as these warts are there on your body, they are contagious. Any person touching them can develop warts on any part of his body, considering the original type he came in contact with. In case the skin of the person touching it is wet, the chances of warts developing on him increase manifold. At times, a wart on one part of the body may be the cause of its development on another part of the same body. There are many reasons why this may happen, with the most significant being the act of scratching it. Alongside this, biting the fingers having warts can also develop them in other parts of the body.
Kinds Of Warts:
As mentioned above, warts can be of different types depending upon the kind of virus strain that causes them. Some of the most widespread ones include:
- A) Common warts: These warts appear grainy and mostly appear on fingers and toes. The corners of these warts are greyish and the inner is hard.
- B) Flat warts: As the name specifies, they are flat in shape, most commonly appear on the faces and are not initially noticeable.
- C) Filiform warts: Undoubtedly the most dreaded ones, filiform warts grow on the face, mostly around the nose. Being right in the front, they are highly noticeable to others.
- D) Plantar Warts: These warts grow under the feet, and make it impossible to walk at times. These are the ones that are required to be treated soonest possible, or they lead to impairment to walk. However, the fact that they grow inside the skin and not outside it makes them the most difficult ones to deal with. If the home remedies fail, they should be checked to a doctor soonest possible before they turn into giant beasts making it difficult for you to walk.
Treating And Managing Warts:
There are numerous warts treating methods available, and you can choose one just according to your convenience and liking. Most of the time, you don’t even need to do anything about them and they would go away by themselves! However, they would certainly look ugly and make you uncomfortable till the time they are there on your skin. If you really want to get rid of them, you have plenty of options right in front of you.
Knowing the basics: Being aware of all the aspects regarding warts is important to weed out them. For instance, wrapping them or putting them in a bandage will hurt the skin furthermore, as air won’t be able to reach it and let it heal. Alongside this, one basic rule to follow in order to let the wards heal themselves is to keep them dry at all times. Over moisturization can further aid warts to grow in an uncontrollable manner.
Caring at home: You don’t really need to see a doctor to treat your warts. You can take good care of them at home and would be able to get rid of them conveniently. An over-the-counter cooling spray is easily available at the pharmacy, using which you can kill the virus causing warts. It is basically concentrated cold air, which makes it easier for you to scrape the wart away from the skin. However, you need to make sure that you have followed the right safety protocols. This will reduce all the chances of it spreading across the body.
White vinegar, one of the most famous cleaners, tends to remove all the discomfort causing elements from the surface it is poured on. Hence, you can also try out this method of removing the overlying virus with the help of white vinegar. All you need to do is to spread it on the wart and let it stay there for some time. The wart will automatically soften down, making it easier for you to scratch it off.
You can also use Salicylic acid to remove warts. All you would need to do is to damp the wart with it and let it stay this way for some time. However, this process may take time and you would have to wait for some days before the wart goes away completely.
Should You See A Doctor?
Warts are not cancerous; hence they don’t pose much danger. However, if constant treatment at home is not showing any positive signs of wart removal, you need to see a doctor. Using liquid nitrogen, your doctor would freeze the skin and take the wart off. It may cause a bit of discomfort or pain, but it would remove the wart in a single go.
If not healed on time, the wart may even be required to be taken out through surgery!
Conclusion:
Warts are common but can get exceedingly annoying if they don’t go away on time. This is especially true when they develop on the face, making one look and feel extremely uncomfortable and underconfident. Hence, knowing the basics behind the formation of warts and all the possible methods of wart caring is indeed quite important. Taking immediate actions to weed them out of your skin and helping it to heal would surely make all the difference!