Warts

What Are Warts?

Warts are benign (not cancerous) skin growths that appear when a virus infects the top layer of the skin. Viruses that cause warts are called human papillomavirus (HPV). You are more likely to get one of these viruses if you cut or damage your skin in some way.

Wart viruses are contagious. Warts can spread by contact with the wart or something that touched the wart.

Warts are often skin-colored and feel rough, but they can be dark (brown or gray-black), flat, and smooth.

Types of Warts:

There are a few different types of warts. The type is determined by where it grows on the body and what it looks like.  If you see a wart on your child’s face, check your child’s hands for warts. The virus that causes warts can spread from the hands to the face through touch or nail biting.

Common warts have these traits:

  • Are more common where skin was broken, such as from biting fingernails or picking at hangnails.
  • Can have black dots that look like seeds (often called “seed” warts).
  • Grow most often on the fingers, around the nails, and on the backs of the hands.
  • Most often feel like rough bumps.

Foot warts – also called plantar warts. Plantar warts have these traits:

  • Can grow in clusters (mosaic warts).
  • Can have black dots.
  • Can hurt, feels like you have pebbles in your shoe.
  • Grow most often on the soles (plantar surface) of the feet.
  • Often are flat or grow inward (walking creates pressure, which causes the warts to grow inward).

Flat warts – Flat warts have these traits:

  • Are smaller and smoother than other warts.
  • Can occur anywhere. Children usually get them on the face. Men get these most often in the beard area, and women tend to get them on their legs.
  • Tend to grow in large numbers — 20 to 100 at a time.

Filiform warts – Filiform warts have these traits:

  • Looks like long threads or thin fingers that stick out.
  • Often grow quickly.
  • Often grows on the face: around the mouth, eyes, and nose.

Who Gets Warts?

Anyone can get warts. Some people are more prone to getting a wart virus (HPV) than others. These people are:

  • Children and teens.
  • People who bite their nails or pick at hangnails.
  • People with a weakened immune system (the body’s defense system).

In children, warts often go away without treatment. A dermatologist should treat warts that hurt, bother the child, or quickly multiply.

What Causes Warts?

Viruses called human papillomavirus (HPV) cause warts. It is easier to catch a virus that causes warts when you have a cut or scrape on your skin. This explains why so many children get warts. Warts also are more common on parts of the body that people shave such as the beard area in men and the legs in women. You can spread warts from one place on your body to another.

Warts can spread from person to person. You can get warts from touching a wart on someone’s body. Some people get a wart after touching something that another person’s wart touched, such as a towel. It often takes a few months for warts to grow large enough to see.

Signs & Symptoms: Warts are usually skin-colored and feel rough to the touch, but they can be dark, flat, and smooth. The HPV virus enters the skin through a small scratch or wound. This explains why warts often appear around fingernails where the skin is often dry or cracked. After the skin becomes infected by the HPV virus, skin cells start reproducing more rapidly. This creates small bumps where the skin becomes a bit thicker than the surrounding skin.

Prevention: Most people who are exposed to the HPV virus do not develop warts. Warts can passed from person to person, sometimes indirectly. However, the risk of catching hand, foot, or flat warts from another person is small. The time from the first contact to the time the warts have grown large enough to be visible is often several months.

How Do Dermatologists Treat Warts?

Warts often go away without treatment. This is especially true when children get warts. In adults, warts may not disappear as easily or as quickly as they do in children. Although most warts are harmless, dermatologists do treat them.

You should see a dermatologist if you cannot get rid of the warts, the warts hurt, or you have many warts. Dermatologists have many treatments for warts. The treatment used depends on the patient’s age and health as well as the type of wart.

A dermatologist may use one of the following treatments:

  • Cantharidin: A dermatologist may treat a wart in the office by “painting” it with cantharidin. Cantharidin causes a blister to form under the wart. In a week or so, you can return to the office and the dermatologist will clip away the dead wart.
  • Cryotherapy: For common warts in adults and older children, cryotherapy (freezing) is the most common treatment. This treatment is not too painful. It can cause dark spots in people who have dark skin. It is common to need repeat treatments.
  • Electrosurgery and curettage: Electrosurgery (burning) is a good treatment for common warts, filiform warts, and foot warts. Curettage involves scraping off (curetting) the wart with a sharp knife or small, spoon-shaped tool. These two procedures often are used together. The dermatologist may remove the wart by scraping it off before or after electrosurgery.
  • Excision: The doctor may cut out the wart (excision).

If the warts are hard-to-treat, the dermatologist may use one of the following treatments:

  • Bleomycin: The dermatologist may inject each wart with an anti-cancer medicine, bleomycin. The shots may hurt. They can have other side effects, such as nail loss if given in the fingers.
  • Chemical peels: When flat warts appear, there are usually many warts. Because so many warts appear, dermatologists often prescribe “peeling” methods to treat these warts. This means, you will apply a peeling medicine at home every day. Peeling medicines include salicylic acid (stronger than you can buy at the store), tretinoin, and glycolic acid.
  • Immunotherapy: This treatment uses the patient’s own immune system to fight the warts. This treatment is used when the warts remain despite other treatments. One type of immunotherapy involves applying a chemical, such as diphencyprone (DCP), to the warts. A mild allergic reaction occurs around the treated warts. This reaction may cause the warts to go away.
  • Laser treatment: Laser treatment is an option, mainly for warts that have not responded to other therapies. Before laser treatment, the dermatologist may numb the wart with an anesthetic injection (shot).

Another type of immunotherapy involves getting shots of interferon. The shots can boost the body’s immune system, which gives the body the ability to fight the virus.

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