Watching movies is one thing that we all love, and especially watching a fiction movie that has witches troubling good people make us deeply involved in the movie. Usually, witches are shown having a big lump of skin on their face or on their nose. But in real life, nobody likes an abnormal growth on their body that might affects their appearance and make one embarrassed in front of everyone. Such abnormal growth might be because of a viral infection that results in lumps of skin called – WARTS.
About Warts
Warts are painless growth on the skin surface that is caused by a virus called human papilloma virus (HPV). There are more than 100 subtypes of HPV detected. The virus can attack any part of the body, but are found mostly affecting the warm and moist regions of the body such as small cut or scratch on the hands, feet, and fingers. Many of us might have had or still having a wart on the body. Many warts are harmless and they go away on their own. Warts are not a cause of concern until they appear on the face or on other obvious parts of the body that result in embarrassment. Very rarely warts are itchy, especially if they appear on the feet. Warts are found to be more common in kids than in adults. Anyone can pick up the warts virus just by physical contact or by using anything that a person with warts has used.
There are different types of warts like
- Common warts are small hard bumps in the shape of a dome and are usually grayish brown in color. They are found on fingers, hands, elbow, knees, and have a rough surface with black dots in it.
- Flat warts are smoother than other warts and are of the size of a pinhead. The color of flat warts range from pink, white or yellow.
- Plantar warts are found in the sole region of the legs. They might cause itching and can be uncomfortable while walking.
- Filiform warts are finger shaped small projection of skin that are usually seen near the mouth, eyes, and nose.
- Genital warts appear on the genital regions of the body. It is common in women than in men. It can spread through sexual contact.
Causes
Warts are caused by direct contact with the HPV virus. Any cut or trauma in the body, damage of nail skin by biting the nails facilitates easy inoculation of the virus. Then the virus may spread through autoinoculation. Patients with weak immune system, and with conditions like AIDS or kidney transplantation are at high risk of developing a wart. Warts virus can also spread from person to person and from one part of the body to another. Therefore, physicians always insist on washing the hands after touching the warts. Warts that appear in the genital region can be sexually transmitted.
Just by a simple casual touch of the wart does not say for sure that the person might get warts. But yes, of course, warts virus can spread from person-to-person by direct contact. The virus also spreads when anything used by the person with warts is used again by a healthy individual. Pricking warts can make them spread to other parts of the body.
Warts are harmless growth on the skin surface. Sometime they might cause itching. Many warts usually go away on their own but it take several month or years for them to vanish. But some warts do not go away on their own, they require doctor’s intervention. Researchers are not sure why some warts go away on their own and some do not.
Treatment
Warts require treatment, as it can cause pain and bleeding if bumped. And in many, it can be embarrassing if it appears on the face. And also importantly treatment decreases the spreading of warts to other parts of the body. It is very important to know that warts that appear on the hand, feet, and fingers are treated differently from the warts in the genital regions. Therefore, it can prove harmful if any non-prescribed medications are used by the patient himself/herself to treat genital warts. Warts on the face should also be dealt with utmost care.
Warts that appear on the hands, feet, or knees can be treated by applying salicylic acid gel on the wart after washing the wart or after a shower, as salicylic acid sinks deeper if applied on moist skin. Before taking bath the next day, the wart should be rubbed with a pumice stone or emery board to remove all the dead cells on the wart then take bath and apply salicylic acid gel again. Using cantharidin may be another option. The physician will apply cantharidin on the wart. This does not pain initially but after 3 to 8 hours the patient might feel pain and blistering of the wart. Then the affected region is wrapped with a bandage, which has to be removed after 24 hours. If the wart does not go away with one treatment, then the physician might shift to another treatment option.
Another effective treatment option for treating warts is freezing the warts by liquid nitrogen. This treatment may cause numbness of the affected region due to freezing and later the patient might feel burning sensation due to thawing of the skin. This treatment is called as cryotherapy. For effective results the treatment may be repeated every 1 to 3 weeks for a total of 2 to 4 times.
Immunotherapy is another treatment option. A topical medicine called imiquimod is injected into the body. It causes allergic reaction and triggers the immune system to act against the wart. If the above treatment options do not work, the physician may remove warts by burning it or cutting it or removing it with laser therapy. These treatments are effective but they normally leave a scar on the skin.
Genital warts
Genital warts grow in the genital regions. They are caused by HPV like other body warts. They are small, flat, tiny bump in the genital region. In men they are seen on the penis, close to anus, or in the region between the penis, and the scrotal sac. In women, they grow on the vulva, perineal areas, vagina, and the cervix. HPV is associated with cancer of the anus, penis, and the vulva but it doesn’t mean that all HPV infection leads to cancer. In women, genital warts may cause mild bleeding from the cervix and may change the color of vaginal discharge. Genital warts are usually painless but sometime cause itching.
Removing genital warts
In case of genital warts, no home remedies should be tried without consulting a physician. Genital warts may be removed by freezing the wart (cryo-therapy) or by removing it with laser treatment. It can also be removed by electro-surgical excision procedure, where a sharp instrument shaped like a loop is placed under the wart and it is then cut out. A liquid called podophyllin resin may be prescribed as it removes the wart by stopping cell growth. Podopfilox gel/lotion can be applied on the warts, twice a day for 3 days and then the lotion need not be applied for the next 4 days and after that the cycle is repeated for the next 4 weeks. The chance of recurrence of genital wart is high as treatment can get rid of the wart but does not cure the viral infection. The virus stays inside the cell and gives rise to another wart. Therefore warts may have to be removed more than once.
Outlook
Warts on the skin (expect genital warts) go away once for all when treated. If any trace of wart cells or virus is left in the body, the immune system will defend the body against them. But this is not the case with genital warts as the chance of recurrence is high for genital warts. Treating any type of wart at home can result in serious complications, therefore consulting a doctor and taking his advice is always appreciated.
