WARTS
Warts are skin growths caused by a viral infection in the top layer of the skin. The type of virus that causes warts is the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). There are many different kinds of warts including common warts, flat warts, and plantar warts.
What causes warts? Warts are caused by an infection by the human papilloma virus (HPV). They usually occur on areas of the body in which the skin is frequently broken such as on the sides of the fingernails (caused by biting the nails), knees, elbows and feet. Common warts are sometimes called “seed” warts as small black dots or so called “seeds” can be seen in them. These are actually not seeds, but small blood vessels that have been blocked off and the dark color is dried blood. Kids tend to have warts more frequently than adults as their immune system has not yet been trained to deal with them. As we age, we develop immunity against many of the more common warts and therefore do not get them as frequently or at all. Individuals who have had transplanted organs tend to get lots of warts because the anti-rejection drugs they take keeps their immune system from dealing with the warts.
Treatment. There are probably as many ways to treat warts as there are doctors to treat them. Ideally, we try to remove the growth from the skin and at the same time try to “train” the patients immune system to “learn” how to make warts go away in the future. Anytime there is inflammation (redness and soreness) on the skin around a wart, the immune system is “learning” how to treat the wart. Often we recommend physically destroying the wart (by freezing, applying acids or cauterizing them) as this usually will remove the growth and will cause inflammation. Many times patients will come in and say “freezing (or acids, etc.) didn’t work”, but it really is simply a matter of doing it long enough and hard enough. Some people’s immune systems take longer to “learn” how to deal with warts than others. In fact, on average, it takes 4-8 separate treatments 2-4 weeks apart to make warts go away. Some dermatologists perform “immunotherapy” where they make you become allergic to a topical medication and then apply the medication to the wart. This causes an allergic reaction on the wart which usually makes it go away. There are some new topical medications that can “attract” the immune system to a wart and have had some success in making our own bodies’ immune system learn to fight off the warts. Finally, there are some medications that are FDA approved for other things that have been successfully used to treat warts. This is called “off label” use for these medications.
Warts are stubborn, ugly, viral infections of the skin that are more of a nuisance and embarrassment than they are a real medical threat. Contact one of the dermatologists on this website to help you find an effective way to deal with your warts.