Common warts are small growths on the skin that usually appear on hands and fingers. They can be diagnosed by comparing their appearance to photos of warts. They can be spread through skin breaks or contact with an infected person. Salicylic acid and duct tape are effective treatments, but severe cases may require medical treatment.
A common wart is a small growth on the skin that usually appears as a flesh-colored, gritty, or dome-shaped bump. Such warts typically appear on the hands and fingers, but can also emerge on other parts of the body. Its name, the common wart, is a clinical definition given by the medical world because it occurs more often than other more serious types of warts. Warts defined as common are usually harmless and often eventually fade away.
An effective way to determine if a skin growth is a common wart is to compare its appearance to photos of actual warts on medical websites or in health care books or publications. A person unsure whether a growth is a common wart or something more serious should seek the advice of a doctor. Healthcare professionals can usually diagnose common warts almost immediately.
A common wart can spread to other parts of the body through scrapes, scrapes, or other breaks in the skin. Warts can also be contracted by touching something that a person with warts has come into contact with. Since warts are caused by a virus, it can be passed from person to person.
However, not everyone who comes into contact with a common wart virus gets one. Some people are apparently immune. Those most likely to develop warts after being exposed to the virus are children, young adults, people with faulty immune systems, and organ transplant recipients.
Although common warts sometimes require no treatment, wart sufferers often want to get rid of them because they can be unsightly and embarrassing. Medical professionals typically do not discourage self-treatment of positively identified common warts at home. Two treatments generally considered effective are the application of over-the-counter salicylic acid and the use of duct tape.
Various products containing salicylic acid in liquid or patch form can be purchased at drugstores or retail store drugstores. Instructions generally call for the product to be applied to the wart for a week or more. The acid usually kills the growth eventually, and the wart can often simply be removed after the infected area has been soaked in warm water.
Duct tape treatment is another method that some research suggests may work. Common instructions include covering the wart for about six days. After removing the duct tape, a person should soak the wart with warm water before using a pumice stone or nail file to scrub the wart away. You may need to repeat this treatment several times before it fully works.
In severe cases of a common wart, medical treatments are needed. These can include freezing, cutting, or using stronger acids to burn the warts.
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