Where and how to remove warts

Warts can appear on anyone's body. In many cases, they go away on their own, but sometimes it becomes necessary to remove them. It is of course best to remove warts in a health care setting. Self-elimination of these neoplasms may not give a result, or vice versa, lead to their injury. You will learn where you can remove warts in the next article.

warts on hands

Who can have warts

Anyone can get warts, but the most likely to get infected with HPV are:

  • children and adolescents;
  • adults and children who have a habit of biting their nails or biting their beards;
  • people with weakened immune systems.

In children, warts usually go away without treatment. A dermatologist should be consulted if the warts bother the child (eg painful) or multiply very quickly.

Signs and symptoms

Depending on the appearance and location on the body, several types of warts are distinguished. Here are the signs (what the person sees) and symptoms (what the person feels) that are common with certain types of warts.

Common warts

If a child has a wart on their face, be sure to check their hands - you will likely see warts there as well. The virus usually spreads to the skin of the face when it is touched or when a child bites their nails.

Common warts:

  • more common on the fingers, around the fingernails and on the backs of the palms;
  • more common in places where the skin is often damaged, for example, in places where there are burrs, or when the habit of biting nails;
  • most often they look like a small nodule (compaction) with an uneven rough surface;
  • may have black dots on the surface (in fact, they are small thrombosed vessels), which are sometimes mistakenly called the "root" of the wart.

Plantar warts

They appear on the sole of the foot and are sometimes difficult to treat.

Plantar warts:

  • appear more often on the soles of the feet;
  • can grow, unite and form clusters (mosaic warts);
  • more often flat or growing inward (due to the pressure created when walking);
  • are painful, especially with pressure;
  • often cause the sensation of a pebble in the shoes;
  • may have black dots on the surface.

Flat warts

  • can appear anywhere, but, as a rule, occurs more often in children on the face, in men - on the chin, in women - on the legs;
  • Smaller and smoother than other types of warts
  • as a rule, multiple and located in groups, usually appear in large numbers - from 20 to 100 at a time.

Filiform warts (acrocords)

  • look like long threads or thin finger-like growths;
  • are more common on the face: around the mouth, eyes and nose;
  • tend to grow quickly.

Should I get rid of warts and why

For each type of papillomavirus in medicine, a numbering system is used. It is known that the types of HPV numbered 57, 26-29, 14-17, 12, 10, 7 1-5 - are responsible for the appearance of various types of warts, from 1 to 4 - cause plantar warts, 49, 28, 3 and 10 - flat, HPV 27 - ordinary.

Oncogenic HPV types require special attention, such as 52, 39, 33, 31, 30, 70, 40, 51, 55, 61-64, they can cause the onset of a precancerous condition and are considered to be themore dangerous. When localized on the penis, in the vagina, on the cervix - HPV types 16, 11, 13, 31, 33, 35 - form genital warts and papillomas.

The following papillomaviruses, which can be localized on the external genitalia and mucous membranes, are recognized as particularly dangerous - these are types 70, 66, 56, 33, 31, 18, 16. Many people who develop warts arisethe question: is it possible to remove warts, is it dangerous or not?

In any case, a person should consult a dermatologist to determine the nature of the neoplasm, its type. In addition to eliminating cosmetic discomfort, an increased risk of injury to the growth, it is necessary to treat or remove neoplasms, since the presence of foci of viral infection provokes its spread to other areas of the skin, and there is also a risk of the tumor degenerating into a malignant tumor. Be sure to see a dermatologist to find out the type of wart, papilloma, or condyloma and how best to get rid of them.

Do not postpone your visit if:

  • The neoplasm is bleeding or torn;
  • If the wart becomes painful, itching, burning occurs
  • Changes color, becomes heterogeneous in color, changes shape and size
  • The number of warts increases, multiple daughter growths appear
  • If the wart is located in a prominent place, it is often traumatized and causes psychological discomfort.

Removing a wart at home on your own may not be safe. All doctors are unanimous in saying that removing a wart at home is dangerous and not recommended for the following reasons:

  • Self-removal of the accumulation most often leads to the formation of a scar, scar or burn of the nearest skin tissue;
  • With various home methods, it is possible to introduce infection into the wound and develop an inflammatory process or spread the virus to other areas of the skin;

Of course, the probability of turning a real wart into a malignant tumor is not great, but there is always such a risk, and after self-removal of any tumor, without diagnosis and hysteroscopy of the material removed, itmay have adverse consequences.

How are warts diagnosed?

In the case of warts, to make a diagnosis, the dermatologist usually only has to examine them. In rare cases, a biopsy may be needed to confirm the diagnosis. To do this, the doctor will remove the wart and send the sample to the laboratory, where it will be examined under a microscope. Don't worry, this is a quick and safe procedure.

diagnosis of a wart

How to treat warts

In children, warts usually go away without any treatment.

In adults, warts in most cases are also completely harmless, but unlike children, sometimes they do not go away on their own.

A consultation with a dermatologist is necessary if:

  • warts change in shape, color, size;
  • warts hurt you;
  • the number of warts increases.

There are many different methods of removing warts. The choice of this or that method depends on the age of the patient, the state of health, as well as the type of wart.

Wart - body gain

Often papillomas (warts) are mistaken for moles. Warts, like moles, can be removed in the same way. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, traditional surgery leaves a mark on the skin anyway.

Surgical removal of warts is generally not recommended because warts often grow back.

With cryodestruction and laser removal, it is not always possible to precisely control the depth of the effect on the tissue. Electrocoagulation makes it possible to control the depth of exposure, but the risk of scarring remains. Therefore, a combination of several methods is sometimes used. Other treatments for warts include topical salicylic acid, duct tape, and chemical treatments.

Basic methods of removing warts

As practice shows, many patients try to get rid of it using traditional methods. However, it is always worth understanding that traditional methods by themselves are not very effective and in some cases can even prove to be dangerous. The correct process is possible only if the specialist fights not only against the skin manifestations of the virus, but also against its very basis. There are several methods to get rid of these neoplasms:

  • Radio waves. . . A relatively new method, but already well proven. With the help of a special device, a radio wave of a certain frequency is exposed to the formation of the skin. The advantage of the method is that it removes both the wart itself and its root.
  • Electrocoagulation.This term hides the cauterization of the neoplasm with the help of a special electrode. Thanks to local anesthesia, under which all procedures are performed, you can always be sure that you will not feel any negative sensations.
  • Liquid nitrogen.Another well known method. Nitrogen freezes the wart and its root, which allows for very fast and high quality removal.

To remove warts, dermatologists can use:

  • Cryotherapy(liquid nitrogen) is the most common method of removing common warts in adults and older children, and it is not too painful. But usually the procedure has to be repeated. And using this method in people with dark skin can lead to the formation of dark spots on the skin.
  • Electrosurgery and curettage. . . Electrosurgery (electrical moxibustion) is an effective way to remove common, filiform and plantar warts. Curettage is a method of scraping the wart with a sharp knife or a special instrument (curette). After scratching, electrocoagulation is performed and a bandage is placed on the wound.

Often these two procedures are used together. A dermatologist can remove warts by curettage before or after cauterization.

The doctor can also surgically remove the wart.

In cases where the above methods have not given positive results, the dermatologist may use one of the following methods:

  • Laser treatment performed under local anesthesia;
  • Cautery chemicals are commonly prescribed to treat flat warts. Such a peel is carried out daily at home, for this they use preparations of salicylic acid and glycolic acid;
  • Immunotherapy in the treatment of warts is a way to activate the body's own defenses. Prescribed in cases where other types of therapy have not given positive results.

One of the types of immunotherapy is the application of a special substance to the wart. An allergic reaction occurs around the treated warts, which can help the body treat them. Another type of immunotherapy is the injection of interferon inside the warts. Injections can boost immunity and force the body to fight off the virus.

Unfortunately, there is no way that you can get rid of warts once and for all with a 100% guarantee. They can respawn in the old location and reappear in a new location. Sometimes it seems like new warts appear faster than old ones go away. This happens if the virus infects cells adjacent to the wart before the wart is removed. This is why new warts usually appear near where the old one was.

Self-treatment and elimination

There are a huge number of ways in which the removal of warts with folk remedies is quite successful, but this does not mean at all that you have to forget about traditional medicine and constantly self-medicate.

Any recipe for wart removal, each video on wart removal, reviews of people and cosmetologists - this is only introductory material that shows that wart removal in children and adults ispossible without consequences.

But you should never experiment and come to hasty conclusions - every neoplasm in the human body should be shown to a doctor, studied by him with the help of laboratory tests, and then only cured or removed. But despite this, we have decided to introduce you to some methods used to remove warts at home. We hope that this material, as we have advised, will remain informative for you only.

Since the cost of wart removal in some clinics and beauty salons scares people a little, they try to treat neoplasms on their own, it just happens like this.

Bulb treatment

A medium-sized raw onion is soaked in vinegar for about two hours, cut and tied to the wart overnight. The procedure is carried out until the wart disappears.

bunion for the treatment of warts

Wood ash treatment

Wood ash, preferably fresh, should be diluted with clean water until a homogeneous suspension is formed, which should be applied daily to the warts until they disappear.

Removal of warts with celandine

The wart is smeared with fresh celandine juice in the morning and evening. Due to the alkaloids it contains, warts are quickly treatable. They dry up and go away. The procedure should be repeated until the wart disappears completely. Be careful when using celandine juice, it should not get on healthy skin because it is quite caustic.

Removal of warts and papillomas by cauterization

The method is painful, but, according to many people, it is quite effective. It is necessary to take a dry stick from a branch of any tree and hold it over an open fire. When it begins to smolder, you need to cauterize the neoplasm with heat. This should be done several times, after 5-7 days the wart will disappear.

As you can see, besides the fact that you can buy drugs for removing warts at the pharmacy, you can always grow them in your own summer cottage or find them at home. It's up to you to experiment or not, to think, but we have made our choice and have already recommended it to you several times.

After the papilloma has been removed

Remember that just removing warts does not remove the virus from the body. After a long time or not very long, papillomas may reappear. This is due to the presence of viral particles. In order to get rid of the virus for a long time, prevention should be carried out. How to do?

Vitamin therapy. Conduct a course lasting two to three months, focusing on the high concentration of zinc in the vitamin and mineral complexes taken. Zinc inhibits the multiplication of viral particles. Thus, the human papillomavirus dies once and for all.

  1. Good personal hygiene. Good skin care.
  2. Avoid stress, overwork, normalize the daily routine. Sleep should take at least eight hours a day.
  3. Eat well.
  4. Try not to overcool, avoid colds after removing warts for the first three months, and better - six months.
  5. Look for intestinal dysbiosis. If available, follow a probiotic treatment.
  6. Consult an infectious disease specialist or immunologist. Your doctor will prescribe antiviral drugs that stimulate your immune system.

When thinking about removing a wart, see a knowledgeable specialist first.

Papillomas with suspicion of malignancy are best removed during an appointment with an oncologist.

Such formations are best subjected to a histological control examination.

Prevention

To prevent the appearance of warts, dermatologists recommend the following:

  • do not hurt the warts;
  • wear sandals or other special footwear when visiting the swimming pool, as well as in public showers and changing rooms;
  • do not touch other people's warts;
  • Wipe dry feet with warts, moisture tends to spread warts.