Warts - The Different Types And How To Treat Them

What causes warts? Luckily, if you’ve got them, you can get rid of warts with a bit of effort and they may even go away on their own.

Warts are caused by a virus (called the human papillomavirus) which affects the cells in your epidermis. This virus causes your cells to multiply faster than they should which then causes a benign tumor called a wart. This rapid growth causes the skin to bump up in a mosaic, wart like appearance. You’ll often notice warts have dark dots and these are actually your blood vessels. Warts do not have roots and are only in the epidermis or upper layers of your skin.

What happens is the virus invades the skin cells and causes the cells to reproduce at a faster rate than normal. This is what causes the “bump” of the wart - which is simply too many skin cells trying to fit into a compressed space. Warts can appear at any time, and they can also disappear on their own without any treatment.

There are different types of warts, all caused by the same virus. The warts on the bottom of your feet are called plantar warts and can be quite painful. Plantar warts often grow on the balls in heels where the most pressure is put. Flat warts can be found on the face and look a little different than warts on other parts of your body simply because your facial skin grows differently.

Here’s more on the different types of warts:

Flat Warts

These warts are flat topped and smoother than other types of warts. You often see them on the face because the wart grows a little differently on facial skin giving a different appearance.

Common Wart

The common wart or Verruca Vulgaris are those thick bumps with the rough surface that we often think of when we hear the word “wart”. These are usually found on the hands, space needs an elbow.

Plantar Warts

These are the wart you get on the bottom of your feet and they can be really painful because they can grow into the skin rather than out. Depending on where they are located on your foot, just walking can put enough pressure on them to make them really hurt.

There are different ways to get rid of warts but not everyone will respond to each method. Everything from salicylic acid to freezing to duct tape could work. The key is to find a method that works for you keep trying if you really want to get rid of those warts.