If you’ve ever had a wart, you will know that they are embarrassing and inconvenient, but not usually harmful.
All warts are caused by viruses, specifically the human papillomaviruses. There are many different strains, and because these viruses are easily transmitted from person to person, childhood warts are a common result from contact when children play with each other.
Warts are also often transmitted in public spaces such as gyms, public showers, and the like.
Warts are skin lesions no larger than a half-centimetre in diameter. They can occur anywhere on the skin, but most often on the hands. They can also be flat or elevated, and they usually have a rough surface.
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The incubation period averages two to 18 months, so you may not even remember being exposed by the time that you notice the wart. About 50 per cent of people have “spontaneous cures” because the virus diminishes in numbers. However, recurrences are possible.
Few if any symptoms are associated with warts. They can be esthetically unpleasant, however, and when warts are visible or occur in groups over extensive skin areas, you may curtail activities to avoid having people see them. Sometimes too, there can be tenderness, and if you scratch or “pick at” the wart, irritation can result.
Plantar warts affect the bottom of the feet. It is the pressure on the weight-bearing surfaces of the soles and/or heels that flattens them. The surface of the plantar wart may reveal multiple tiny black dots that tend to bleed when the surface is scraped. These warts can become large and cause pain, discomfort, and even affect mobility.
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Non-prescription wart removers usually contain keratolytics which remove keratin (the skin cells that comprise the wart). Because these ingredients can remove healthy skin, you will want to protect the skin surrounding the wart. Applying adhesive tape with a hole cut in it no larger than the wart will protect your healthy skin. Stick it on your skin before you apply the wart remover and leave it in place until the remover dries. Some keratolytic wart removers are available as medicated pads that you can position over the wart.
Unfortunately, it can take weeks or months with repeated applications to remove warts with keratolytics, and if you have numerous warts the process can be impractical. You may be tempted to “cut off” the wart, but you risk damaging your healthy skin and you also risk infection. However, you can soak the wart in warm water to soften it and rub the surface gently with a pumice stone to remove upper layers.
Freezing the wart with liquid nitrogen can be done by a health-care professional, but there also is a non-prescription product that you can use on your own to freeze warts. Having a health-care professional do this might be the better option, because if you miss the wart you risk damaging your healthy skin. Scarring and infection are potential complications.
Other approaches include surgical removal and laser therapy, both by health-care professionals. Regardless of your treatment, repeated therapy is usually needed over three to four months, and wart recurrence is possible.
Numerous traditional methods exist for wart removal and range from procedures done at a full moon to application of specific types of tree sap, but using duct tape does seem to help. Soak and remove any dead skin, then apply a piece of duct tape slightly larger than the wart. It needs to be kept in place for about six days, then the process is repeated again for about a month.
And you thought duct tape was only for repairs!
