Warts are growths on the skin in the form of nodules or papillae. This is the most common skin pathology that occurs in more than 90% of the world's population. Warts can appear on any person, at any age, on absolutely any part of the skin, from the face to the feet. The disease is often contagious, everything depends on the immune system of the person.
What causes warts
It is a common belief that touching a frog causes warts to appear. That is a fallacy. The causative agent of the disease, which results in the formation of warts, is infection with the human papillomavirus. According to statistics, this infection causes about 20% of all cancers.
The risk of HPV infection increases significantly:
- when using other people's means for personal hygiene and objects of common use;
- in public places (swimming pool, bathroom, etc. ), especially when you walk there barefoot;
- in case of skin damage;
- with increased sweating of hands and feet;
- during contact with an infected person (handshake, sexual contact, etc. );
- when you walk in tight, uncomfortable shoes that cause friction on the skin of the feet;
- when you use non-sterile instruments (in a beauty salon, etc. ).
Are warts always dangerous?
Most warts are completely harmless and can theoretically disappear within a few weeks or at most a month. In this case, patients are more likely to be concerned about a serious cosmetic defect, which causes psychological discomfort and interferes with leading a full lifestyle.
Warts are often painless unless they are on the soles of the feet or another part of the body that is subject to shock or constant contact. But there are cases of itching and discomfort in the affected area.
How to recognize warts: symptoms and signs
An inexperienced person may confuse warts with other skin growths, for example, moles, calluses, melanomas.
The main differences between warts and moles:
- moles have a dark or black shade, while warts have a light color;
- warts grow tightly together with the skin, moles are separate structures, as if glued to the body;
- moles are soft and smooth to the touch, warts hard, hard and rough.
It is also easy to tell a wart from a callus. Pressing on the growth causes a painful sensation, and if it is peeled off, you will see traces of bleeding under it. Beneath the blisters is new, tender skin.
You can tell a wart from melanoma by color and shape. This dangerous disease is characterized by heterogeneous red and black shades, proliferation and uneven contour.
It is not difficult for a dermatologist to make a correct diagnosis by visual examination. But a good expert will not be satisfied with a simple inspection. They will definitely use a special magnifying device - a dermatoscope. If a pathogenic process is suspected, scraping of the superficial layer will be necessary.
In the case of anogenital warts (located around the anus and on the genitals), a consultation with a gynecologist or proctologist is necessary.
What is the structure of benign neoplasms
Growths consist of cells that have partially retained their original functions and are capable of slow growth. They are similar in structure to the tissues from which they originated. They can exert pressure on nearby tissues, but do not penetrate them, because they have a capsule in their structure. They respond well to hardware and surgical treatment and, as a rule, do not cause relapses.
There are always congenital formations on the skin - moles or warts, as well as acquired ones. The latter occur on the surface or in the subcutaneous layer as a result of metabolic disorders, reduced immunity or under the influence of viruses.
Common (simple, vulgar) warts
Common warts are thick, dry growths characterized by an uneven and rough surface to the touch, varying in size and rounded in shape. They look like hard, keratinized blisters up to 1 cm in diameter, which rise significantly above the surface of the skin.
The surface of common warts is often covered with grooves and ridges, which is why the new growth vaguely resembles a cauliflower or raspberry with black dots inside.
This is the most common type of wart, accounting for up to 70% of all such skin neoplasms. Common warts can appear on the skin at any age, but they most often affect children and young people. This is due to the fact that they have weaker immunity than adults.
Common warts most often appear on the hands (fingers and backs of the hands), knees and elbows, sometimes on the face or feet, and extremely rarely on the lining of the mouth.
In addition to the large "parental" wart, a scattering of small growths can form. Young neoplasms usually remain flesh-colored, over time they take on a dirty gray or grayish-brown shade, less often yellow or pink. This is due to their uneven porous surface that collects dirt.
Vulgar warts usually do not cause concern: they do not cause unpleasant symptoms, do not hurt and do not itch. However, they can cause pain if they are in areas subject to impact or in contact with clothing. Growths can heal on their own over time, especially if they appear in childhood.
Why do benign formations appear on the skin?
Cosmetologists and dermatologists do not know the exact mechanism of their formation. The most common cause is:
- injuries;
- viruses;
- systemic diseases of the body, for example xanthomas, are caused by excess fat in the blood;
- long-term skin diseases;
- exposure to aggressive substances;
- excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation;
- x-rays;
- heredity (for example, seborrheic dermatosis).
Most skin lesions are benign
Plantar (pointy) warts
Plantar warts are a type of vulgar wart. The manifestation of the disease is most often observed in children and at the age of 20-30. Of all skin warts, plantar warts occur in 30%.
Warts on the soles of the feet look like hard, round bumps with papillae in the middle. Characteristic black dots are visible inside the nipple - a multitude of small thrombosed capillaries. Along the edges is a small ring of keratinized skin. The visible part, which rises above the surface of the skin by only 1-2 mm, can reach 2 cm in diameter and is only a quarter of the total size of the plantar wart, which is mainly formed in the deep layers of the epithelium (skin).
Externally, the spine resembles a callus. A plantar wart can be distinguished (differentiated) from a callus by a visible break in the skin pattern consistent with the wart.
This type of neoplasm most often affects the feet (soles, sides and toes), and less often the palms. They appear on the skin as small whitish, precise skin lesions, sometimes itchy. Over time, their surface becomes rougher and changes color - from yellow to dark brown.
Plantar warts in themselves do not pose a threat to health, but when walking they cause significant discomfort to a person, cause pain, which often increases and can even bleed. This is due to the location of the tumor and the specificity of its growth. Because the spine grows inward, the weight of the body when walking compresses the pain receptors.
The incubation period of the disease ranges from several days to several years. The infection enters the body and goes into a mode of waiting for a favorable environment to be activated. Plantar warts regress without treatment in 50% of cases. But this process takes from 8 months to a year and a half.
Without treatment, plantar warts will enlarge and multiply, even to the point of forming large groups of tumors. It can even lead to a temporary loss of a person's ability to work due to unbearable pain that prevents walking.
Based on the characteristics of the lesion and its location, plantar warts are divided into 3 types:
- simple;
- periungual
- mosaic.
Do benign formations hide danger?
Benign neoplasms are unpredictable structures that can manifest at any time or not at all. The process of their transformation into malignant ones has not been fully studied. There is no clear answer to the question of what exactly triggers this process. Mechanical trauma, excess ultraviolet radiation, metabolic disorders, and other factors are believed to contribute to degeneration. One way or another, if you have a benign skin lesion, you should not experiment and rely on chance. Moreover, today the removal does not cause difficulties.
Periungual plantar warts
Periungual warts are small, rough formations with cracks on the surface, which are located on the hands and feet of a person, that is, near the nail plate or deep under it. From the outside, they resemble heads of cauliflower.
They can be flat, pointed or hemispherical. As a rule, periungual warts are gray, but they can also be flesh-colored. They are not too dense, like ordinary plantarni, but they have a rather deep root.
This disease mainly affects children and young people. The main factor of infection is microtrauma of the skin around the nail. Those who bite their nails and kiss stray animals, as well as people who carelessly remove cuticles, use unsanitized tools and work in water without gloves, are particularly at risk.
This type of neoplasm does not pose a threat to human health, but is mostly just a cosmetic defect. Periungual plantar warts do not cause discomfort or pain when pressed. However, the wart under the nail is not so harmless - over time, the neoplasm causes exhaustion of the nail plate and its further destruction.
In addition, various bacteria and viruses enter through cracks on the surface of growths, which are easily formed due to frequent manual work, causing re-infection. Also, as warts grow, cracks can cause pain. The cuticle is often lost and a tendency to inflammation (paronychia) develops.
Tumor removal is necessary to stop the proliferation of growths that easily spread to healthy fingers. Localization of the wart under the nail plate makes treatment and removal difficult. When it appears in childhood or adolescence, it may disappear on its own.
Where Warts Come From - They're Contagious!
Like herpes, warts are the result of a virus. More than a hundred types of viruses are responsible for the formation of warts, most of which are HPV. Since there are oncogenic types of HPV, some formations can be particularly dangerous in terms of cancer, for example those that develop around the genitals.
No matter what the warts are or where they are, never scratch, rub or scratch them, as they can transfer millions of viruses to other areas of the skin where new growths can appear!
It is very easy to pick up wart viruses. For example, infected human epithelial cells end up in pool water. They swim in the water and easily find their prey. The wart virus can also be spread by direct physical contact, simply by shaking hands. The penetration of the virus into the body is facilitated by small lesions on the skin.
In children, warts often appear under the nails as a result of sucking or chewing on fingers, which can be painful and difficult to treat. Children can easily pick up viruses while playing. As a result, one in four children have viral warts on their hands or feet.
Whether we get infected with the virus or not depends on how strong our immune system is. A strong immune system fights the infection that causes warts.
Mosaic plantar warts
Mosaic warts are a special type of neoplasm. These are plaques, so-called clusters, formed as a result of the fusion of many small plantar warts tightly pressed together. The layout of the plates resembles a mosaic (hence the name).
This formation is usually observed in a small and localized area. It can reach a diameter of about 6-7 cm. In the early stages of development, mosaic warts look like small black bumps. As they develop, they take on the appearance of white, yellowish or light brown cauliflower, with dark spots in the middle. These spots are caused by thrombosis of blood vessels.
This type of wart is quite rare. They usually affect the hands or soles of the feet, and are especially common under the toes. Unlike common plantar warts, mosaic warts cause little or no pain when walking because they are flatter and more superficial.
Mosaic warts are highly contagious. It is difficult to treat them due to the multitude of foci of viral infection. The success of the treatment is facilitated by its timely initiation. As a rule, mosaic growths tend to recur even after surgical removal.
Benign and malignant skin neoplasms: what are the differences?
Benign pathologies do not pose a threat to human life. If they reach large sizes, they can interfere with the proper functioning of various body systems. In contrast, malignant ones grow quickly and aggressively, penetrate the surrounding tissues and create metastases over time. Some damage vital organs and cause death.
Sometimes benign skin tumors change due to external or hereditary causes. They acquire the ability to degenerate into malignant pathologies. Such conditions are called borderline or precancerous, they represent a great danger to health and life, although they do not always have pronounced symptoms.
Flat (juvenile) nipples
Flat warts are a fairly common type of tumor and the least problematic. They appear as small lesions (several mm in diameter) or smooth papular lesions. They can grow singly, which is quite rare, or in large numbers, close to each other.
There are several stages of the disease:
- mild – one or more painless warts;
- medium – from 10 to 100 painless growths;
- severe - more than 100 neoplasms.
If they are localized in places that experience excess pressure (friction from clothes, shoes, etc. ), they cause pain.
Flat warts are easy to recognize and have a white, brown, yellowish or pink shade, similar to the color of flesh. They are about the size of a pinhead and, compared to other types of warts, are smoother and flatter. In fact, where a flat wart develops, the skin rises slightly (up to a height of about 5 mm), forming a kind of raised circular area.
Growths usually appear on the face, knees, elbows, back, legs and hands (especially fingers). People of absolutely any age become victims of this disease. But it most often affects children and adolescents (20% of schoolchildren have it), hence the other name for warts - juvenile.
In a close group of schoolchildren, 80% show resistance (resistance) to the virus. In adults, irritation and inflammation after shaving contribute to tumor proliferation.
The incubation period of the infection can last up to 8 months. Most of the time, the disease is just a cosmetic defect. Young warts are painless unless caused by mechanical pressure or injury and can sometimes itch, but are extremely contagious.
The virus is practically not transmitted through shared objects, the main route of infection is skin contact. Flat warts reproduce so easily that it is enough to touch a healthy part of the body to cause the birth of a new formation.
The peculiarity of this type of warts is that in most cases no treatment is required: they can disappear as suddenly as they appeared, especially in children. In adults, the disease must be treated, and the virus is very resistant to drug treatment.
Transmission of warts by direct contact
Minor trauma or maceration leads to epithelial barrier dysfunction and subsequent loss of skin integrity, opening the way for viral infection and wart formation. The incubation period ranges from 3 weeks to 8 months after exposure. In most cases, spontaneous regression is observed.
Laser removal of warts
Today, laser surgery is one of the best ways to get rid of warts. This is a painless and safe procedure that can be used in areas of maximum sensitivity. Laser tumor removal is very effective: the probability of relapse is minimal. It is significantly affected by the severity of the disease.
Warts are removed by layer-by-layer cauterization of the affected area, thanks to which the doctor controls the depth of the effect. At the same time, the laser beam cauterizes blood vessels, which prevents bleeding at the point of exposure.
Three methods of laser coagulation are common:
- Carbon dioxide (CO2) laser. Procedures using this laser are more painful. Although the CO2 laser closes the blood vessels, it also kills the nipple tissue. In this process, there is a possibility of damage to healthy tissue. Wounds usually take longer to heal, and scarring is possible. Efficiency is about 70%.
- Erbium laser. It is characterized by a shorter wavelength. The likelihood of scarring after healing is significantly reduced.
- Pulsed laser for coloring. This laser more effectively closes the blood vessels that feed the nipple. It does not damage as much healthy tissue as the CO2 laser. It is also the only type of laser approved for use in children. The effectiveness of this treatment method is about 95%.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Minimal probability of scarring (depending on the degree of pathology neglect) | High price |
| Fast tissue healing | |
| High efficiency of the method | |
| Minimal damage to healthy tissue | |
| The speed of the procedure |
Removal of warts is performed under local anesthesia. A crust remains at the cauterization site, which disappears within 14 days. After the procedure, the patient quickly returns to his usual way of life, provided that all the doctor's recommendations are followed.
Treatment of filamentous papillomas
In 90% of cases, filamentous warts do not heal on their own (as, for example, juvenile or vulgar warts in childhood can heal on their own).
They need to be treated. Especially if these formations are injured.
For example, if the papilloma is on the neck, it can be injured by a chain or collar of clothing. If on the face - from the glasses, under the chest - from the bra. You must be aware that such permanent damage can lead to inflammation of this formation and its pain.
Official methods and treatment methods
Laser removal of filamentous warts - read a detailed article on laser removal.
The simplest and fastest, yet inexpensive way to treat this type of papilloma. The doctor directs the laser beam at the formation of the skin, which vaporizes and burns it. First, you need to numb the skin with novocaine so that the patient does not feel pain. And wear eye protection.
The entire procedure takes no more than 1 minute per nipple. The consequences are small crusts on the wound. After 3-5 days, this crust is removed and healthy and clean skin is formed in that place.
Removal by radio wave method - read the article about radio wave surgery.
The principle of operation is as follows: the device for radio wave surgery ("Surgitron") creates a high-frequency radio wave, which destroys the wart tissue in the same way as a laser, i. e. vaporizes it.
The entire procedure is carried out in the same order as the laser treatment method - first (obligatory! ) local anesthesia, then exposure for 1-2 minutes (it all depends on the size of the formation to be removed). The consequences of radio wave treatment are exactly the same as laser treatment.
Removal of filamentous papillomas with liquid nitrogen - read information about liquid nitrogen.
This method is popular because of its simplicity. No need to numb the skin with injections, no need for a doctor to be present. The procedure can be performed by any nurse or cosmetic clinic worker.
Working principle: liquid nitrogen, which has a temperature of minus 195 degrees, freezes the nipple tissue. The doctor or nurse, by dosing the effect on the skin over time, does not allow the appearance of frostbite on the adjacent healthy parts of the skin around the pathological formation.
After the procedure, in 90% of cases the papillomas will disappear on their own within 3-4 days.
Electrocoagulation of filamentous warts.
Today, this method is used much less often, because it is a more traumatic method. Papillomas are excised with an electric knife. In this case, a burn and a wound appear on the skin, which then take longer to heal.
Radio knife removal
The most effective modern method for wart removal is radio wave removal. First of all, this is due to the fact that in this procedure the instruments do not come into contact with the patient's body: they are produced at the frequency of radio waves.
Other advantages of removing warts with radio waves should be noted:
- complete painlessness;
- speed of procedure;
- exclusion of edema and infiltration;
- absence of postoperative complications;
- absence of scars at the site of wart removal;
- quick rehabilitation period.
The procedure is also performed under local anesthesia. After exposure, a crust forms on the affected skin area, which disappears on its own within 7-10 days.
Prevention of skin tumors
Unfortunately, medicine has not yet learned to prevent the appearance of various formations on the skin. But dermatologists give their patients the following preventive recommendations:
- do not delay contacting a doctor if a tumor appears on the skin;
- remove the formations only after the specialist and diagnostics confirm their benign nature;
- avoid excessive exposure to the open sun;
- use sunscreen, especially if you are prone to moles and hyperpigmentation;
- they do not come into contact with chemically active and carcinogenic substances;
- do not eat foods that contribute to the development of cancer (smoked meat, sausages, animal fats, meat products with food stabilizers).