A wart develops when a human papillomavirus HPV infects the outer layer of skin and causes the skin cells to grow rapidly.
The virus can then spread from an existing wart to other areas of the body, causing more warts. Various types of this virus thrive in warm, damp environments such as showers, locker room floors, and swimming pool areas. You are most likely to develop a wart where you have broken skin, such as a cut, a hangnail, a closely bitten nail, or a scrape. Plantar warts are common in swimmers whose feet are not only damp and softened but are also scratched and broken by rough pool surfaces.
Common warts are often seen among those who handle meat, chicken, and fish. You can reinfect yourself by touching the wart and then touching another part of your body. You can infect others by sharing towels, razors, or other personal items. After exposure to a human papillomavirus, it can take many months of slow growth beneath the skin before you notice a wart. It is unlikely that you will develop a wart every time you are exposed to a human papillomavirus.
Some people are more likely to develop warts than others. It depends. There are many types of HPV, and the types that cause common warts are usually different from those that cause plantar warts and genital warts. If the wart on a person's hand is caused by a type of HPV that can also cause genital warts, then there is a chance that skin contact could cause genital warts.
Warts occur in a variety of shapes and sizes. A wart may appear as a bump with a rough surface, or it may be flat and smooth. Tiny blood vessels capillaries grow into the core of the wart to supply it with blood.
In both common and plantar warts, these capillaries may appear as dark dots seeds in the wart's center. Warts cover the lines and creases in the skin—this is one way to tell a wart from other skin conditions, such as skin tags or moles.
Human papillomaviruses can live on healthy skin without causing infection. But when a human papillomavirus enters the body through small breaks in the skin, it can infect the skin cells beneath the surface, causing a wart to grow. Watchful waiting is a period of time during which you and your doctor observe your symptoms or condition without using medical treatment.
It is often appropriate treatment for warts, because they generally go away on their own within months or years. But you may want to consider treating a wart to prevent it from spreading to other parts of your body or to other people. You can try a nonprescription wart treatment for 2 to 3 months before deciding to see a doctor. In rare cases, more testing is done.
If the diagnosis of a skin condition is unclear or if you are at high risk for having skin cancer, your doctor may take a sample of the growth and examine it a skin biopsy. A biopsy is usually done if a skin growth is darker than the skin surrounding it, appears as an irregular patch on the skin, bleeds, or is large and growing rapidly. Proper diagnosis of plantar warts is important. Some wart treatments can cause scarring.
Not all warts need to be treated. They generally go away on their own within months or years. This may be because, with time, your immune system is able to destroy the human papillomavirus that causes warts. The goal of wart treatment is to destroy or remove the wart without creating scar tissue, which can be more painful than the wart itself. How a wart is treated depends on the type of wart, its location, and its symptoms.
Also important is your willingness to follow a course of treatment that can last for weeks or months. Wart treatment isn't always successful. Even after a wart shrinks or disappears, warts may return or spread to other parts of the body. This is because most treatments only destroy the wart and don't kill the virus that causes the wart. Many people don't treat warts unless they are unsightly or painful.
You can treat warts yourself with:. If your child has a wart, treatment probably isn't needed. That's because warts often go away on their own. But if the wart is on your child's face or genitals or is painful or spreading, your child should see a doctor for treatment. Otherwise, it is usually safe to treat a wart at home with duct tape or salicylic acid. If the wart doesn't start to improve within 2 weeks, see your doctor. For more information, see Home Treatment. If you have diabetes or peripheral arterial disease, talk to your doctor before you try home treatment for warts.
It's important to distinguish a plantar wart from a callus before choosing a treatment. Wart treatment applied to a callus may be painful or create scar tissue.
Plantar warts are often hard to treat because they lie beneath the skin. A doctor may need to pare the skin over a wart to help the medicine penetrate the wart. The main way to prevent warts is to avoid contact with the human papillomavirus HPV that causes warts. If you are exposed to this virus, you may or may not get warts, depending on how susceptible you are to the virus.
Home treatment is often the first treatment used for warts. When done properly, home treatment is usually less painful than surgical treatment. If you are uncertain that a skin growth is a wart, or if you have diabetes, peripheral arterial disease, or other major illnesses that may affect your treatment, it is best to see a health professional.
Salicylic acid treatments are often effective. They aren't very painful, aren't very expensive, and usually don't cause scarring. Salicylic acid is a good treatment for children because it isn't very painful. For treatment to be successful, salicylic acid must be applied on a regular basis, usually for a number of months. Folk remedies, such as rubbing a wart with a bean, may have an effect on a wart. But such treatment may simply coincide with the natural disappearance of a wart.
If you decide to treat your warts, both nonprescription and prescription medicines are available. Other medicines used for warts include 5-fluorouracil, which is more often used on genital warts , and cimetidine.
Cimetidine can be taken by mouth orally or as an injection. As with any medicine, talk to your doctor before using a wart medicine if you are or may be pregnant. Some wart medicines may cause birth defects. Surgery is an option if home treatment and treatment at your doctor's office have failed. Surgery for warts is usually quick and effective.
No single surgical method is more effective than another in removing warts. Generally, doctors start with the surgical method that is least likely to cause scarring. A wart may return after surgery, because surgery removes the wart but doesn't destroy the virus that causes the wart.
The type of surgery used to remove warts depends on the warts' type, location, and size. Curettage, electrosurgery, and laser surgery are more likely than cryotherapy to leave scars, so they are usually reserved for hard-to-remove or recurring warts. If you have a large area of warts, curettage may not be an effective treatment. Cryotherapy , which uses a very cold liquid to freeze a wart, is the most commonly used procedure that doesn't involve medicine to treat warts.
This procedure poses little risk of scarring but can be painful. Gabica MD - Family Medicine. Author: Healthwise Staff. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use.
Learn how we develop our content. To learn more about Healthwise, visit Healthwise. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. Updated visitor guidelines. You are here Home » Warts and Plantar Warts. Top of the page. Condition Overview Is this topic for you? What are warts, and what causes them? How are warts spread?
What are the symptoms? How are warts diagnosed? How are they treated? If you develop a habit, you want it to serve more than one purpose.
Good news: Certain skin care habits improve your skin and your overall health, too. You itch. You ooze. Your skin looks rashy, red, and just plain mad. What causes eczema and how do you treat it? That all depends on the type of eczema. No creams or potions help for long. Do you have an allergy? Or a chronic skin condition called psoriasis? You Might Also Enjoy If you have plantar warts but there seem to be no connected symptoms, you can improve your chances of avoiding complications by considering your footwear.
Put comfort ahead of fashion and avoid shoes that are uncomfortable, no matter how stylish. Choosing shoes with well-cushioned support, or adding cushioned insoles can take some of the pressure off plantar wart hot spots. This helps prevent ingrowth, which could lead to painful warts. Treating heel calluses by soaking and scrubbing with a pumice stone may also help reduce further wart problems.
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