After you've had contact with HPV, it can take many months of slow growth beneath the skin before you notice a wart. It is unlikely that you will get a wart every time you come in contact with HPV. Some people are more likely to get warts than others.
Warts come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. A wart may be a bump with a rough surface, or it may be flat and smooth. Tiny blood vessels grow into the core of the wart to supply it with blood. In both common and plantar warts, these blood vessels may look like dark dots in the wart's center. Warts are usually painless.
But a wart that grows in a spot where you put pressure, such as on a finger or on the bottom of the foot, can be painful. A doctor usually can tell if a skin growth is a wart just by looking at it. Your doctor may take a sample of the wart and look at it under a microscope a skin biopsy. This may be done if it isn't clear that the growth is a wart. It may also be done if a skin growth is darker than the skin surrounding it, is an irregular patch on the skin, bleeds, or is large and fast-growing.
Most warts don't need treatment. But if you have warts that are painful or spreading, or if you are bothered by the way they look, your treatment choices include:. Wart treatment doesn't always work. Even after a wart shrinks or goes away, warts may come back or spread to other parts of the body. This is because most treatments destroy the wart but don't kill the virus that causes the wart.
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. Common warts Common warts can grow on your hands or fingers. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Goldstein BG, et al.
Cutaneous warts common, plantar, and flat warts. Accessed March 7, Ferri FF. In: Ferri's Clinical Advisor Philadelphia, Pa. Kwok CS, et al. Topical treatments for cutaneous warts.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Kermott CA, et al. Mayo Clinic Book of Home Remedies. Almost all types of HPV cause relatively harmless warts that appear on your hands or feet. However, there are a few strains of HPV that cause warts on, in, and around your genitals. If you think you have genital warts or think you have been exposed to them, you should see a doctor right away.
There are five major types of warts. Each type appears on a different part of the body and has a distinct appearance. Common warts usually grow on your fingers and toes, but can appear elsewhere. They have a rough, grainy appearance and a rounded top. Common warts are grayer than the surrounding skin. Plantar warts grow on the soles of the feet.
Unlike other warts, plantar warts grow into your skin, not out of it. You can tell if you have a plantar wart if you notice what appears to be a small hole in the bottom of your foot that is surrounded by hardened skin.
Plantar warts can make walking uncomfortable. Flat warts usually grow on the face, thighs, or arms. They are small and not immediately noticeable. They can be pink, brownish, or slightly yellow. Filiform warts grow around your mouth or nose and sometimes on your neck or under your chin. They are small and shaped like a tiny flap or tag of skin. Filiform warts are the same color as your skin. Periungual warts grow under and around the toenails and fingernails. They can be painful and affect nail growth.
Although warts usually go away on their own, they are ugly and uncomfortable, so you may want to try treating them at home. Many warts respond well to treatments available at the drugstore. These over-the-counter treatments spray concentrated cold air a mixture of dimethyl ether and propane onto your wart.
This kills the skin and allows you to scrape away the surface of the wart. You must use these products every day, often for a few weeks.
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