Common
Warts
It is a sad fact
of life that warts and humans
have been keeping close company
for millennia. Many potions,
lotions, and cures have
 been designed and applied, but still
the growths persist. Common
warts are benign non-cancerous
skin growths of the top layer of
skin and mucous membranes. They
are skin colored, rough to the
touch, dome-shaped, and usually
grow around the nails, on
fingers or the back of hands.
Causes
Common warts are
caused by a virus known as human
papilloma virus (HPV). More
than 100 strains have been
identified, and at least 60 are
known to cause warts. Specifically, types 1, 2, 4, 27,
and 29 are the most frequent HPV
strains to infect people and
cause a wart to develop.
HPV
strikes where the skin is broken,
for example cuts and scratches
or where fingernails have been
bitten and skin has been damaged
in the process. Warts can
spread from person to person and
from one part of the body to the
other. For these reasons
doctors recommend that if you
touch a wart you should wash
your hands immediately.
Symptoms
HPV causes
unusual growth of cells at the
base of the outer layer of
skin. Contrary to popular
belief common warts do not have
deep roots; they stay on the
surface of the skin, and are
completely harmless.
Scientists
believe that there are several
reasons why some individuals are
affected by warts, and others
remain trouble free. These
include: the type and strength
of the viral strain, the health
of the exposed person, and the
strength of an individual’s
immune response.
Common warts
appear mostly on the hands and
feet and are round, raised
growths. They are more
common in young adults and
children. A common wart
can range in size from a pinhead
to 10 mm.
Alternate names: verruca
vulgaris
Image from Health-pictures.com
Common warts are
painless with one exception.
If the wart develops on the
bottom of the foot (known as a
plantar wart), then the pressure
of walking on the wart causes it
to grow inward instead of
outward and they are often quite
painful.
Other than
plantar warts, common warts
rarely cause any other problems
except for being an eyesore,
especially for the people that
are suffering with the common
wart.
Treatment
Like all wart
treatments, common wart remedies
require patience. There is no
overnight cure. One treatment
option is to ignore them. Warts
eventually go away, though this
may sometimes take years for the
immune system to get rid of
them. If you can’t bear to see
common warts on any part of your
body then over the counter
ointments, plasters, and patches
may work.
Combination
therapies are known to have
reasonable success rates, where
two or more agents are applied.
Or see a doctor who can freeze
common warts with liquid
nitrogen or zap them with
electricity or laser light.
Duct tape, which can be
purchased from a hardware store
has also been used as a
treatment. The regime lasts for
about two months and involves
leaving a piece of duct tape on
a wart for six days at a time,
then removing it, scrubbing the
area with an emery board and
repeating the process.
According to one study (Focht
III D, Spicer C, Fairchok M.
The Efficacy of Duct Tape vs.
Cryotherapy in the Treatment of
Verruca Vulgaris (the Common
Wart). Archives of Pediatric
and Adolescent Medicine 2002;
156:971-4) 85% of the warts
disappeared within four weeks
and the treatment was as
effective as freezing. However,
more recent research suggests
that a wart is more likely to
reappear with duct tape
treatment ( Wenner R et al.
Duct Tape for the Treatment of
Common Warts in Adults.
Archives of Dermatology 2007;
143:309-13).
Common Warts References:
1. Dermatology Nursing
Feb. 2008, Vol. 20 No. 1
2. pulsetoday.co.uk
19 November 2008
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