Wart removal is a necessity to sufferers whose daily activities have been inconvenienced or when the warts badly affect their physical appearances. It can be rather embarrassing for the victims to face their friends or just about anyone especially when multiple warts develop on their bodies in visible areas. Worse still, folks who are ignorant about the causes of warts may mistakenly view the sufferers as lacking in personal hygiene and therefore suffer from multiple ugly warts. As you can see, the impact these warts have upon the individual extends beyond just the physical. Suffering from warts can be detrimental to one’s confidence and self-esteem. This article will walk you through briefly what are the different types of warts, what are the likely causes, and what can be done to treat them.

Warts are mostly harmless skin growths caused by viruses called human papillomavirus. The acronym for this virus is HPV. HPV attacks the cap of the skin, and causes warts to develop. All in all, there are broadly 4 wart types. They are foot or plantar warts, common warts, flat warts and genital warts. Genital warts are perhaps the toughest to deal with.

Foot warts also commonly called plantar warts grow on our soles which are subjected to high pressure all the time. Plantar warts can grow in clusters and look speck-like mosaic tiles giving them the name mosaic warts. They are flat in appearance unlike common warts due to the walking pressures. They are known to cause considerable pain and discomfort to sufferers. Plantar warts removal then becomes a must. Research has revealed that ground moisture ie wet floors are good breeding grounds for wart-causing viruses. Our feet are constantly subjected to walking pressure and fine skin cracks can easily develop, exposing them to the attack of the plantar wart viruses. This explains why people who share public showers are at higher risks to developing plantar warts than those who don’t.

Common warts appear in skin surfaces which are broken, or fine skin cracks on our hands, particularly on fingers or nails. These cracked skin surfaces make our skin vulnerable to the attack of HPV. If you look at the common warts on your hand, you will notice that there are black dots on the warts that look like small seeds. These are actually the appearance of blood vessels, and people start to call them seed warts. Common warts also tend to be raised above the skin surface, giving it a rough texture.

The third type is flat warts. Children tend to suffer from these warts which look like small minute pinheads, which is why flat warts are also known as juvenile warts. They appear on arms, hands, knees or even on the face and grow in huge numbers sometimes to 100s of them. Kids who suffer from facial warts are a poor lot as they can be painful and itchy and also affect their psychological development. Wart removal should be administered when this happens to arrest the problem.

Genital warts are the nastiest of the whole lot. Our genital tissues are very sensitive to pain and itch and you can imagine the intensity of discomfort and pain these warts can cause. These warts can resemble little mushrooms or flat bumps and as the name suggests grow on genital areas like the groin, on the penis or anus of men. For the women, they would appear on the cervix, in the vagina, perineal or vulva area. Genital warts are also potentially more dangerous than other warts because of their tendency to develop into malignant growths, ie cancerous. Such warts are normally a result of sexual activities.

Generally, the occurrence of warts is attributed to the exposure of broken skin to the HPV. As such, any activity, or circumstances that could provide such conditions would make it ideal for warts to develop. This explains why warts normally appear on hands of children who love nail-biting. A weak constitution could also make one vulnerable to the viruses. HPV can be transmitted by physical contact with objects used by carriers of these viruses. In short, warts can be contagious and it is best that you avoid sex or direct contact with any known sufferer or share personal items with them. Unfortunately, because of the rather long incubation period these viruses, symptoms are not visible until many months later.

Finally we look at what are the treatment methods available should you seriously need them. Cyrotherapy is the medical name of the process of eliminating the warts by freezing them off. The warts can be excised or cut off with sharp scissors or scalpels, or removed using over-the-counter medications containing acidic agents like salicylic. Warts can be cauterized or burnt off, or surgically removed by laser as well. But I have to caution you to find out more about each treatment method from your local dermatologist as different types of warts require different treatment method. The results and side effects may also vary.

I hope the above information is useful to you. If you are interested to know more about how you can effectively remove those nasty warts in a totally natural and safe way from home, do read up on my blog.