Warts

what are warts?

These small, noncancerous growths appear when your skin is infected with one of the many viruses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) family. The virus triggers extra cell growth, which makes the outer layer of skin thick and hard in that spot. While they can grow anywhere you have skin, you’re more likely to get one on your hands or feet. The type of wart depends on where it is and what it looks like.

types of warts:

• Common Warts:

These flesh-colored growths are most often on the backs of hands, the fingers, the skin around nails, and the feet. They’re small (from the size of a pinhead to a pea) and feel like rough, hard bumps. They may have black dots that look like seeds, which are really tiny blood clots. Typically they show up where the skin was broken, perhaps from biting your fingernails. This can also transfer the virus from your hands to your face.

• Plantar Warts:

Unlike other warts, the pressure from walking and standing makes them grow into your skin. You may have just one or a cluster, because they’re flat, tough, and thick, it’s easy to confuse them with calluses. Look for black dots on the surface.

• Flat Warts:

The upside of these warts is that they’re smaller (maybe 1/8 inch wide, the thickness of the cord that charges your phone) and smoother than other types. The downside? They tend to grow in large numbers — often 20 to 100 at a time. Flat warts tend to appear on children’s faces, men’s beard areas, and women’s legs.

• Filiform Warts:

These fast-growing warts look thread-like and spiky, sometimes like tiny brushes. Because they tend to grow on the face — around your mouth, eyes, and nose — they can be annoying, even though they don’t usually hurt.

• Genital Warts:

You can get these by having sex with someone who has them. They may look like small, scattered, skin-colored bumps or like a cluster of bumps on your genitals. They can spread, even if you can’t see them. Don’t try to get rid of genital warts yourself, they can be hard to treat.what