Causes of Wart and Prevention Tips
Suffering from warts? You must know more about this common skin problem to avoid getting it worse and spreading. Sometimes warts go away without any treatment, but ignoring them for a long time may lead to discomfort, and pain or you may spread this to others.
What Are Warts?
Warts are quite common and usually occur on fingers, faces, and genitals. They are small, harmless lumps of skin, which are caused by a virus – human papillomavirus (HPV). They look like grainy skin growths, sometimes clotted blood vessels, and are transmissible by touch. There are various types of warts, including- common warts to plantar warts, plane or flat warts, filiform warts, mosaic warts, and Subungual warts, which are important to treat.
What Causes Skin Warts?
Skin issues such as Warts are usually caused by an infection – human papillomavirus (HPV). When this virus enters the damaged skin, it causes a skin infection that forms warts and they are very contagious. This virus has an excess amount of keratin and a hard protein, develops the top skin layer of a wart, called the Epidermis. The extra keratin produces the rough and hard texture of a wart.
Once the virus invades the outer layer of skin, it looks like a tiny scratch, which later causes rapid growth of cells on the outer layer of skin and creates the wart. Additionally, a few forms of the virus cause skin warts on the hands, and other forms of HPV cause genital warts or can cause both. Also, these warts can easily form under or around fingernails and toenails.
How Does This Virus Spread From Person To Person?
This virus can quickly spread from person to person and from different parts of the body via-
-Direct contact with a wart
-Touching something contaminated with the virus, like- soap, towels, doorknobs, and shower floors
-Sexual intercourse, leads to genital warts
-Nail biting
-Shaving
Tips To Prevent Warts
Warts’ easy target is- damaged skin and they spread from person to person quickly. Following certain tips can lower the risk of picking up the virus and avoid its return. Here are certain tips, one should follow-
-Avoid shaving over a wart
-Cover your wart
-Get rid of biting nails habit
-Never share towels, clothes, nail cutters, razors, and other personal items
-Don’t touch another person’s wart
–Wash hands after touching warts
-Don’t forget to use condoms to prevent genital warts
– Don’t touch, scratch, or cut at a wart
-Wear the right kind of shoes when using public areas
-Last, but the most powerful prevention is to get the HPV vaccine
Additionally, don’t try to remove warts on your face or other sensitive part of your body using any home treatments as it may multiply the number of warts and your problem.
Warts Diagnosis And Treatment
Visiting a dermatologist can tell whether you have a wart or not. You may undergo a skin biopsy to decide the right treatment for your problem. Dermatologists have various treatments for warts, which depends on the condition of the wart, age, and health of the patient. Wart treatment can be done using the following methods-
-Cantharidin
-Cryotherapy
-Electrosurgery
-Curettage
-Excision
