Common warts types treatment and removal

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Common warts or what we alternatively call  verruca vulgaris and they generally develop when there is a break in the skin such as a scratch and a cut, allowing the virus to invade and cause the skin cells to grow hastily. HPV (human papilloma virus), specifically types 1, 2, 4, 27, and 29 strains, have been identified as the major reasons for the development of these common warts and also genital warts.

These common warts are non-cancerous, they are usually rough to the touch, they have the same color as the skin but are characterized with some tiny dark specks, and they are usually raised growths on the skin. They can be as small as a pin heads but they can grow up to ten millimeters and are mostly dome-shaped.

They are generally painless and slightly contagious which means they can be transmitted from one person to another that is why experts advise not to share your clothes or linens to a person who has warts or have them wash with boiling water before next use.

Although it usually occurs on one part of the body it still can spread to the other parts.

Individuals of any age can be affected by these common warts due to their health predisposition, the individual’s immune response and the type and strength of the viral strain. Although this usually affects children since they have lower immunity to the wart virus, same as with young adults.

Common warts usually grow on the hands and or feet.

These are the other types of common warts named according to its appearance or location:

• Plantar warts – seen on the bottom of the foot. These warts can be exceptionally painful since there is pressure on the foot during jogging or plain walking which sometimes cause the wart to grow inward instead of the normal protrusions.
• Flat (“plane”) warts – or verruca plana. These warts frequently occur in multiple numbers appearing on the legs, face and other parts of the body. This type of wart can be quite embarrassing and itchy because they are easily seen.
• Periungual warts – These warts grows around or under your fingernails or toenails. As the size of the wart increases, it will cause a part of your fingernail to stick out and when it reaches the nail palate it may lead to fungal infection
• Filiform warts – or facial warts often emerge around the eyes, face, neck, and lips. They appear to be long and narrow warts composed of several thin projectile-like protrusions.

Any wart growing on any part of your body is quite bothersome and irritating to the eyes but there are ways to rub out these common wart growths. There are already a lot of over-the-counter medications usually based on salicylic acid to remove the warts prepared in gels, drops, plasters and pads that can remove any size of wart you have.

The salicylic acid breaks up the protein which makes up the wart and the thick and bulky layer of dead skin that usually covers it but this not generally good for diabetic patients or in parts of your body where there is reduced blood circulation since there would be a decrease in wound healing capacity.

Another method is freezing the wart at a temperature of negative 70 Fahrenheit produced by the aerosol sprays that can be bought without prescriptions. This is just quite similar with the liquid nitrogen used by the dermatologists.

These common wart treatments available over-the-counter are known to be safe. If the area gets irritated, or when there is redness, burning sensation just stop using the product.

The never so costly but hassle to use duct tape since you have to wear it all the time even while you are working can be used to remove warts. Suffocating the wart by covering it up with a duct tape, electrical tape, or other non breathing tape is known to help get rid of the warts.

This treatment removes 85% of the common warts in four weeks time and proves to be as effective as freezing the warts according to a study.

There is a high percentage for the warts to reappear after it has already been treated. Common wart treatments requires a lot of patience since it will really take time for it to be removed and some warts of the same type do not respond to the same over-the-counter treatment you have applied.

Or so, combining two or more treatments increases the success rates of wart removal. It is better to see your dermatologist and have it painlessly removed and free from scars if the wart cannot be just easily ignored.

As they say, prevention is still better than cure. To avoid having wart growths, it is best to practice good personal hygiene, such as taking a bath every day, washing your hands routinely and cleaning any wound religiously.

Furthermore, increasing your body’s immune system through proper diet and intake of foods rich in Vitamin A, C and E will decrease the chances of common warts to grow on any part of your body.

Canthardin, together with other chemicals, is also widely used in the removal of common warts and it is topically applied on the area where there is a huge concentration of these pesky warts. After application, the infected area is bandaged and left for days in that condition untouched and undisturbed.

Blisters may happen and as time goes by, the skin covered by the bandage may become increasingly uncomfortable but the advantage in this specific method is that it is not painful compared to the surgical process of common wart removal.

After a while, when you lift the bandage, off comes the warts together with the dead skin that sticks with the bandage. Some of the dead warts that are left can be easily peeled off.

There are other ways of combating the common wart, some organic, some with the use of certain chemicals, however, nothing beats prevention so steer clear from places where common warts can easily multiply and infect you.