Warts - Symptoms and treatments

16 June 2025

What are warts?The reasons for the occurrence, diagnosis and treatment will be analyzed in articles by 37 years of experience in dermatologists.

Determination of the disease.Causes of the disease

wart- These are uneven benign benign tumors in the form of locally growing upper layer of the skin (epiderma) with papules (nodules) or plaques.

The frequency of warts in adults is 7-12%, and in primary school students, the frequency of warts is as high as 10-20%.

Warts are very similar to other skin tumors.Often, a person cannot independently determine the disease to make a diagnosis and must contact a dermatologist.

The cause of warts is human papillomavirus.The various warts that can develop depend on the type of virus.Therefore, each type of human papillomavirus affects its most characteristic localization on the fabric.

Types of HPV	extremely localization	Types of warts
1	feet, knees, palms, Brush, fingers	Sub-professional warts and palm warts, Occasionally - Simple warts
2, 4	Hands, fingers, knees, Not very common - Step	Simple warts, Occasionally - soles of the feet, palms and mosaic warts
3, 10	Tibia, hands, face	Flat warts
7	Brush, fingers	Butcher warts
5, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19-24	Face, hands, Front of the body	Verruchamic epidermis dysplasia

Viral infections usually occur in the contact path – direct contact with infected and healthy skin (e.g., handshake) or indirectly (via handrails, toys, etc.).Therefore, it is possible to get infected with human papillovirus in a variety of places - in public transportation, schools, work, houses, contact and wet places (swimming pools, saunas, gyms).Small damage caused by the epidermis and inflammation of the skin can lead to infection.

Additionally, the appearance of warts helps:

Immune deficit (including HIV infection);
Warm and humid environment;
Professional exposure to meat and fish ("butcher warts") is required.

Certain types of human papillomaviruses are transmitted from parents.

But from toads and frogs, you can’t get infected despite the fear of horrible stories in childhood – it’s one of the most popular myths for no reason.

If similar symptoms are detected, consult your doctor.Don't intervene yourself - it's dangerous to your health!

Symptoms of warts

Symptoms vary depending on the type of wart.

Common warts:

Round dense papules of conventional colors, size 1-10 mm, larger.
The surface of the papules is covered with cracks and layers.
If the father is on the finger, the branding disappears and twists.The same goes for paintings of palms.
Simple warts are located both single and several – usually they appear in the most injured places (hands, fingers, knees).
When using a dermatoscope, the doctor can see the small brown spots - bolts (blocked) capillaries.Patients often refer to this view as “root.”This is the main feature of a doctor: Dermatologists can distinguish warts from other similar diseases (such as infectious molluscs and cornealomas).

Social (horn) warts:

The main symptom of patients usually consult a doctor while pressing and walking is pain.
Such warts are usually located on the feet.
Usually, when contacting the doctor, a character of uneven plaques of the usual color can be seen, although in the first stage you can see even papules.Through corneal tinylation, capillaries can only be seen when the keratinous layer of the skin are removed.
Skin pattern twisted.
Usually, plantar warts are single, but have 2-6 pieces.
Often, these warts are confused with corn (especially dry) - patients usually come to receive the description of the problem.

Flat (young) warts:

In appearance, this is a round, clear, smooth normal, pink or brown 1-5mm.
Appear on hands, calves, often on face.
There are always several warts like this - they are grouped.

Verrucilia (Senior Warts) Epidermal Epidermis:

Large round combinations are normal, pink or brown tumors.
Most often appear on the face, hands, and front side of the body.
You can confuse cornealoma, lichen, and skin cancer.

Pathogenesis of warts

If the human papillomavirus enters the body in a latent state for a long time - a person usually doesn't even know its existence.When the factor appears to be beneficial to the virus, it begins to “breed” in the epithelium, resulting in tissue changes.

Unlike other viruses, human papillomaviruses do not destroy epithelial cells – of course, they die during keratinization and exfoliation.

The transmission of infection is affected by local factors and immune system status.Therefore, people with HIV infection or kidney transplants are more affected by wart development.Moreover, these tumors are often difficult to treat.With normal immunity, the virus does not affect the deeper layers of the skin, so many people are warts alone after a few months.

The main stage of warts is the acceleration of division rate and cell growth through the virus.Such rapid metabolism leads to thickening of the skin layer.Because fabrics grow in specific small areas, nodules occur, called warts.

Classification and stages of wart development

There is no universally recognized wart classification.However, several varieties that can be distinguished from:

Common warts- The most common type (70% of warts are them).Not feeling this tumor will only cause aesthetic discomfort to a person.
Social warts- It appears on the feet, painful, and therefore requires treatment.The skin injury promotes the occurrence of this wart due to uncomfortable, narrow, rubbing shoes.
Flat warts- They often appear among young people, teenagers.This is due to the instability of the hormonal background of young people who affect the entire body.Usually, flat warts are almost invisible.
Warts in the elderly- Inherent to the elderly.It often appears on the body, covered with clothes, but can meet on the face and hands.Without discomfort, wart healing in older people may occur much slower, due to slow metabolism in young people.

Other authors distinguish more from these types of warts:

Mosaic warts(HPV 2, 4) - Tumors on the palm and soles of the shoe.They appear to be the focus of high venereal diseases, the thickening of the layers of the skin (usually in the front of the foot) covered with deep cracks.
Cystic warts(HPV 60) - Very rare tumor on the feet.It's a soft knot with cracks.When opened, a white yellow emission appears, similar to cheese.
Movie warts- Thin trumpets appear near the mouth, nose or eyes.
Wart "butcher"(HPV 7) - Appears on the hands and fingers of people who are constantly touching meat and fish.They appear in the form of hypertrophic tumors similar to cauliflower but normal color.

In addition, according to its positioning, the types of warts are distinguished.

Therefore, warts - tumor-shaped tumors that appear on the genitals (especially where the skin transitions to the mucosa).Usually they are caused by HPV 6 and 11.

Complications of warts

The main reason why wart patients go to a doctor is an aesthetic defect that may affect the quality of their lives, be confident and develop many complexes.Complications also include rupture of the wart surface and connecting the infection, and with certain types of warts - soreness during walking.

In malignant tumors, skin warts usually do not regenerate, they are harmless, but in rare cases, this complication can still occur in people with oppressive immunity.

Other complications can occur when trying to remove the tumor independently.In this regard, inflammation and aesthetic defects may occur in the form of scars, as well as further spread of the virus on the skin, which is why a person wakes up in the morning after independently removing one wart.

Remember that under the guise of warts, a completely different disease can be hidden, and it is impossible to be sure without consulting an experienced doctor.

Diagnosing warts

Usually, sufficient examination (clinical map) and a history collected (medical history) are to be diagnosed.

To confirm the diagnosis, doctors can conduct histological studies - study of tumor cells.

It is very important to make a differential diagnosis - distinguishing warts from other diseases.For example,Common wartsIt is necessary to distinguish it from the following diseases:

contagioine mollusk- More people appear on the body and genitals, less than their hands and feet.It is a hemisphere that presses on the ground when pressed from the side, and the white "gray" stands out.
Epidermal wart neck- More commonly, a person has it from birth.It rises above the skin surface and is usually covered by hair.
Bazalioma- The tumor in the form of the center nodule roller is covered by the shell.Inherent to the elderly.

Warts that persistIt is necessary to distinguish it from the following diseases:

Corneal disease- Large areas of keratinization and skin inflammation.No worn capillaries.
ladomary-sifilids- Multiple painless tumors, along the surroundings, skin laying.The response to syphilis is positive.
corn- Usually painless, pain only occurs with vertical pressing.

Doctors should also distinguish the remaining types of warts from multiple diseases.If another pathology is suspected, it can prescribe other diagnoses (e.g., antibodies that identify viruses, CT, or MRI).

Treat warts

Wart treatment is carried out for aesthetic purposes to improve the quality of life of patients.After examination, it can only be prescribed and diagnosed accurately after examination.An independent attempt to get rid of warts is unacceptable because patients without medical education cannot accurately identify the disease and the complications after this "treatment" are more frequent than recovery.

There are several ways to treat warts.They are usually performed under the supervision of a doctor, some of which are only performed under the conditions of the clinic’s procedures office.

Chemical treatment method

In order to get rid of warts, dairy beetles and salicylic acid gypsum applications were used.The percentage of drugs and their use methods (long-term wear, application, etc.) depends on the prevalence and localization of the tumor.

Circus and 2-chloropropionic acid solutions can also be used.In this case, chemical composition is applied to the pretreated surface, which remains on the wart until the color changes (depending on the type of wart).Repeat the procedure several times after 7, 14 and 21 days.Before each step, the fabric is mechanically removed.

Another chemical method is the combination of nitrogen, acetic acid, oxalic acid, lactic acid and copper nitrate trihydrate.In this way, only relatively small tumors are treated - up to 5 mm.The solution is also left until the color of the wart changes.After 3-5 days, the patient entered the control technology and, if necessary, he was given a second procedure after 1-4 weeks.

crydestruction

The method involves freezing the warts with liquid nitrogen: pressing the wet swab to damaged skin (capturing surrounding tissue in a few millimeters) for 1-5 minutes.Destruction of certain tumors requires multiple procedures, intervals of four weeks.

The main drawback of Cryodstruction compared to other methods is its soreness and defined effects, in which only one process is usually sufficient to remove.

Electrocondensation

Under the influence of current, warts are removed according to the layer.This procedure is performed under local pain medication.

This method is more effective than the contamination of crying, but it has a significant negative: electrocoagulation usually leaves scars at the point where the warts are removed.For those who are addressed to eliminate cosmetic defects Laser removal of warts on the legs This method will not be the most suitable.

Laser damage

With the help of lasers, the warts were also removed in layers.Svetoper contacts the skin for a few seconds to three minutes, depending on the size.The knot ab that appears is then removed and the bottom of the wound is treated with laser again.The patient is then instructed to treat the wound.The surgery itself is performed under the influence of local anesthesia.

Radio wave surgery

Radio wave surgery is one of the most modern and mildest ways to remove some benign tumors, including warts.

This method is based on the generation of electromagnetic waves with different frequencies: from 100 kHz to 105 MHz.During the process, the tissue resists the transfer waves, which heats the skin because of the release of molecular energy in the cells.Under the influence of heat, cells actually evaporate - obtaining neat incisions.Meanwhile, the affected fabrics have no mechanical effort.

Advantages of this method:

Safety;
The wound heals quickly;
Good cosmetic effects - eliminated scars and scars;
Relatively painless - use topical analgesics before small operations;
When the device is turned on, secondary infection is ruled out due to the automatic disinfection of the electrodes.

However, the effectiveness of this approach has been confirmed worldwide, but it is difficult to find clinics that use radio wave surgical methods.

Which treatment method to choose

All of these methods have several disadvantages:

During the first few weeks, the operating area had no appeal – the shell, the fabric became darker.This must be taken into account if the wart is in the visible part of the body (e.g., the face).
During the operation, an unpleasant odor and a certain degree of pain.

Furthermore, each of these methods requires the finding of contraindications in the initial consultation of the dermatologist.

But the main thing isThe possibility of recurrence is high, especially if warts are common, widespread.With each method, doctors don’t fight the root cause of the disease, but the consequences.Human papillomavirus cannot be cured.

Therefore, treatment refers to:

or damage to tumors caused by the site of introduction of the virus;
or stimulate antiviral immune response;
Or combine these methods.

In most cases, destructive treatments are used.They are 50-80% effective.

For surgical treatment, the age of children is usually not a contraindication.Therefore, many of these, including radio surgery, are used to treat warts in children.One exception is the chemical removal of warts due to the possibility of adverse reactions to substances.

What to do after the operation

After any of these operations, be sure to follow the advice of the subject physician.

After removing any of the methods described in the tumor, the doctor will usually prescribe the treatment at the location of the treatment.It is forbidden to remove the "crust" independently, wet the wound and expose it to the sun.

If the patient continues to suffer from warts, he should consult an immunologist, which may require medication, which will increase the resistance of the immune system to the human papillomavirus manifestation.

forecast.prevention

If the patient is not immune to immunodeficiency, the warts can pass on themselves, but this will take a lot of time - from months to years.Therefore, in 65% of cases, the warts degenerated independently for two years.If the wart is still on site two years later, it is recommended to delete it.It is recommended to delete multiple tumors immediately.

With normal immunity and the right method of removal (depending on the size and type of wart), the pathogenic tissue can be removed and good cosmetic results can be achieved.As immunity decreases and other triggers, human papillomavirus can cause recurrence.

There is no specific prevention of the disease.But is this inevitable?

If you follow several rules, you can reduce the likelihood of a virus:

Don't be barefoot in public places that may harm your skin and get infected with viruses (swimming pools, public showers, gyms).
Choose high-quality shoes and replace them more frequently.Try to dry your legs.Calories and moisture are an excellent environment for human papillomavirus to spread.
To avoid waving warts, just manicure to get certified masters and make sure they use sterile tools.

To prevent anal warts, four affluent vaccines from human papillomavirus are also very effective, according to the WHO (World Health Organization).To prevent other types of warts, there is currently no vaccine.

If you find a wart, don't try burning, cut it off, cut it off - so you can promote inflammation and further reset the skin virus.After such a "demolition" instead of a wart in the morning, you can wake up with ten.