Warts can appear on anyone's body. In most cases, they disappear on their own, but sometimes it becomes necessary to remove them. Removing warts is of course best done in a sanitary setting. Self-destruction of such neoplasms may not give a result, or vice versa, lead to their injury. You will learn from the next article where you can remove warts.
Who Can Have Warts
Anyone can get warts, but those most likely to become infected with the papillomavirus are:
- children and adolescents;
- adults and children who have the habit of biting their nails or biting thorns;
- people with weakened immune systems.
Warts in children usually disappear without treatment. A dermatologist should be consulted if warts bother the child (for example, if they are painful) or if they multiply too quickly.
Signs and symptoms
Depending on its appearance and location on the body, several types of warts are distinguished. Below are the signs (the person sees) and the symptoms (the person feels) that are common to some types of warts.
Rough (common) warts
If a child has warts on their face, be sure to check their hands - you'll likely see warts there too. The virus usually spreads to the skin of the face when touched or when a child bites their nails.
Rough warts:
- it is more common on the fingers, around the nails and on the back of the palms;
- it is more common in places where the skin is often damaged, for example, where there are burrs or there is a habit of biting nails;
- most often they look like a small nodule (compression) with an uneven rough surface;
- there may be black dots on the surface (actually, these are small thrombosed veins), sometimes mistakenly called the "root" of the wart.
plantar warts
They occur on the soles of the feet and are sometimes difficult to treat.
Plantar warts:
- more common on the soles of the feet;
- can grow, merge and form so-called clusters (mosaic warts);
- more often flat or growing inward (due to pressure from walking);
- it is painful, especially with pressure;
- often causes a feeling of pebbles in shoes;
- There may be black dots on the surface.
flat warts
- it can appear anywhere, but, as a rule, it is more common in children on the face, in men - on the chin, in women - on the legs;
- Smaller and smoother than other types of warts
- usually appear in large numbers, located in multiples and groups, as a rule - from 20 to 100 at a time.
Filiform warts (acrochords)
- it looks like long threads or thin finger-like projections;
- more common on the face: around the mouth, eyes, and nose;
- tends to grow rapidly.
Do I need to get rid of warts and why
In medicine, a numbering system is used for each type of papillomavirus. HPV types 57, 26-29, 14-17, 12, 10, 7 1-5 - are known to be responsible for the appearance of various types of warts from 1 to 4 - cause plantar warts, 49, 28, 3 and 10 - plain, HPV 27 - ordinary.
Oncogenic HPV types such as 52, 39, 33, 31, 30, 70, 40, 51, 55, 61-64 require special attention, they can cause a precancerous condition and are considered the most dangerous. When localized on the penis, vagina, cervix - HPV types 16, 11, 13, 31, 33, 35 - form genital warts and papillomas.
The following papillomaviruses, which can be localized on the external genital organs and mucous membranes, are considered especially dangerous - these are types 70, 66, 56, 33, 31, 18, 16. Many people who develop warts ask the 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 aesthetic discomfort, it is necessary to treat or remove neoplasms with an increased risk of injury to the growth, since the presence of foci of viral infection provokes their spread to other areas of the skin, and there is also a risk. transformation of the neoplasm into a malignant one. Always consult a dermatologist to find out the type of wart, papilloma or condyloma and determine the best way to get rid of it.
Do not delay your visit if:
- The neoplasm is bleeding or rupture has occurred;
- If the wart becomes painful, itching, burning occurs.
- Changes color, becomes heterogeneous, changes shape and size
- The number of warts is increasing, multiple girlish growths appear
- If the wart is localized in a conspicuous place, it is usually traumatized and causes psychological discomfort.
It may not be safe to remove warts at home on your own. All doctors agree that removing warts at home is dangerous and is not recommended for the following reasons:
- Self-removal of the build-up often leads to the formation of a wound, scar or burn in the nearest skin tissue;
- With various home methods, it is possible to introduce an infection into the wound and develop an inflammatory process or spread the virus to other parts of the skin;
Of course, the probability of a true wart turning into a malignant neoplasm is not great, but there is still such a risk, and after self-removal of any neoplasm, it can happen, without diagnosis and hysteroscopy of the removed material. negative results.
How are warts diagnosed?
In the case of warts, a dermatologist usually only needs to look at them to make a diagnosis. In some rare cases, a biopsy may be required to confirm the diagnosis. To do this, the doctor will remove the warts and send the sample to the laboratory, where it will be examined under a microscope. Don't worry - it's a quick and safe procedure.
how to treat warts
Warts in children usually disappear without any treatment.
In adults, warts are completely harmless in most cases, but unlike children, they sometimes do not go away on their own.
A dermatologist consultation is required in the following cases:
- warts change their shape, color, size;
- warts hurt you;
- the number of warts increases.
There are many different methods to remove warts. The choice of this or that method depends on the age of the patient, his state of health and the type of wart.
Wart - body gain
Often papillomas (warts) are confused with moles. Like moles, warts can also be removed with the same methods. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, traditional surgery already leaves scars on the skin.
Surgical removal of warts is generally not recommended because warts often grow back.
It is not always possible to accurately control the depth of impact on tissue with cryodestruction and laser removal. Electrocoagulation allows you to control the depth of exposure, but the risk of scarring remains. Therefore, sometimes a combination of several methods is used. Other treatments for warts include topical salicylic acid, duct tape, and chemical treatments.
Basic methods for removing warts
As practice shows, many patients try to get rid of them using folk methods. However, it is always useful to understand that folk methods alone are not very effective and in some cases can even be dangerous. The right process is possible only if the specialist fights not only with the skin manifestations of the virus, but also with its basis. There are several ways to get rid of these neoplasms:
- radio waves. . . A relatively new, but already proven method. With the help of a special apparatus, a radio wave of a certain frequency is exposed to the skin formation. The advantage of the method is that it allows you to remove both the wart itself and its root.
- Electrocoagulation.This term hides the cauterization of the neoplasm using a special electrode. You can always be sure that you will not experience any negativity thanks to local anesthesia where all procedures are performed.
- Liquid nitrogen.Another well-known method. Nitrogen freezes the wart and its root, so it's really fast and quality removal.
To remove warts, dermatologists may use:
- cryotherapy(liquid nitrogen) is the most common method for removing rough warts in adults and older children and is not overly painful. But often the procedure needs to be repeated. And using this method on dark-skinned people can cause dark spots on the skin.
- Electrosurgery and abortion. . . Electrosurgery (electric moxibustion) is an effective way to remove coarse, filiform and plantar warts. Curettage is a method that involves scraping off the wart with a sharp knife or a special tool (curette). After scraping, electrocoagulation is performed and a bandage is placed over the wound.
Often these two procedures are used together. A dermatologist can remove warts with curettage before or after cauterization.
The doctor may also remove the wart surgically.
In cases where the above methods do not give positive results, the dermatologist can use one of the following methods:
- Laser treatment under local anesthesia;
- Etching chemicals are often prescribed to treat flat warts. Such peeling is done daily at home, for this they use preparations of salicylic acid and glycolic acid;
- Immunotherapy in wart treatment is a way of activating the body's own defenses. It is prescribed in cases where other types of treatment do not give positive results.
One of the types of immunotherapy is the application of a special substance on the wart. An allergic reaction occurs around the treated warts, which can help the body cope with them. Another type of immunotherapy is the injection of interferon into the warts. Injections can boost immunity and make the body fight the virus.
Unfortunately, there is no way to permanently get rid of warts with a 100% guarantee. They can reappear in the old place and reappear in a new place. Sometimes it seems that new warts appear faster than old ones disappear. This happens if the virus infects cells adjacent to the wart before the wart is removed. This is why new warts often appear near where the old one was.
Self-treatment and removal
There are a large number of ways in which the removal of warts with folk remedies is quite successful, but this does not mean that you need to forget about traditional medicine and constantly self-medicate.
Any recipes for removing warts, every video on removing warts, reviews of people and cosmetologists - this is just promotional material that shows that removing warts in children and adults is possible without consequences.
But you should never try and make hasty conclusions - every neoplasm in the human body should be shown to a doctor, examined by him using laboratory tests, and only then treated or removed. However, we have decided to present you some methods used to remove warts at home. We hope that this material will remain for you informational purposes only, as we recommend.
Some clinics and beauty salons try to treat neoplasms on their own, as the cost of removing warts scares people a little, that's how it is.
ampoule therapy
A raw, medium onion is soaked in vinegar for about two hours, cut and attached to the wart overnight. The procedure is carried out until the wart disappears.
Wood ash treatment
Wood ash, preferably fresh, should be diluted with clean water until a homogeneous slurry is formed and 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. Thanks to the alkaloids it contains, warts can be treated quickly. They dry up and go. The procedure should be repeated until the wart disappears completely. Be careful when using celandine juice, it should not get on healthy skin as it is quite caustic.
Removal of warts and papillomas by cauterization
The method is painful, but, according to many, quite effective. It is necessary to take a dry stick from the 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, in addition to the fact that you can buy medicine for warts at the pharmacy, you can grow them at your own cottage or find them at home. It's up to you to try or not, it's up to you to think about, but we made our choice and have already recommended it to you many times.
After removal of the papilloma
Remember that simply removing the warts does not remove the virus from the body. After a long or not so long period of time, papillomas may reappear. This is due to the presence of viral particles. Precautions should be taken to get rid of the virus for a long time. How is it done?
Vitamin therapy. Conduct a course lasting two to three months, focusing on the high concentration of zinc in the received vitamin and mineral complexes. Zinc inhibits the replication of viral particles. Thus, the human papillomavirus dies once and for all.
- Good personal hygiene. Good skin care.
- Avoid stress, overwork, normalize the daily routine. Sleep should last at least eight hours a day.
- Eat well.
- Try not to overcool, avoid colds for the first three months after removing warts, and better - for six months.
- Check for intestinal dysbiosis. If possible, take a course of probiotic therapy.
- See an infectious disease specialist or immunologist. Your doctor will prescribe you antiviral drugs that stimulate your immune system.
When considering getting rid of a wart, first visit a qualified specialist.
Papillomas suspected of malignancy are best removed at an oncologist appointment.
Such formations are best subjected to control histological examination.
Prevention
To prevent the appearance of warts, dermatologists recommend the following:
- do not damage warts;
- wear sandals or other special shoes when entering the pool and in public showers and changing rooms;
- do not touch other people's warts;
- Wipe dry feet with warts, moisture tends to spread warts.