How to Identify a Wart - Easily!

December 23, 2021 2 min read

Warts are benign skin growths that develop on different parts of the body in various forms. Although warts are non-cancerous but they are still contagious. They're caused by HPV (human papillomavirus) and are often skin colored and rough, but they can also be dark, brown, or greyish black.

Since wart viruses are contagious, they can easily spread by contact with the wart itself or something that touched the wart. They're usually not bothersome but in some cases they can cause itching, tightness, or feeling of pressure. Its common to have even a cluster of warts which ends up covering more area on the skin.

Identify Different Types of Warts

Image source: NIH

  • Veruccas - Also referred to as Plantar Warts develop on ankles and soles of the feet. The warts that specifically form on the bottom of the feet or toes are called as verrucas. Since your entire body weight is on your feet all the time, it can cause the wart to grow even larger in size. As most of the warts are caused due to exposure to HPV, some of the most common instances can be walking barefoot in public places like gyms, showers, or outdoors.
  • Common warts - These are mostly found on your hands and fingers. They're sort of scaly to touch. You may also notice some kind of dark dots in the wart which are actually blood vessels but they're are referred to as seed warts.
  • Flat warts - Yup. They're smooth, flat and a few millimeters wide. Most common areas where flat warts occur are face, forehead, cheeks, and hands.
  • Mosaic warts - Typically found under the toes and can end up spreading on to the entire sole of your foot. They're a bit similar to plantar warts but mosaic warts don't hurt as much. Since these type of warts form under the feet, it can be more difficult to treat them.
  • Genital warts - You should be very careful with these types of warts as they are sexually transmitted and forms on genital area. Since they can be cancerous, you should definitely consider getting them check by your doctor.
  • Filiform warts - They're actually way more bothersome as compared to other types of warts. The part that sucks the most is that they form on the face and on top of everything, they have a bristles or brush like texture which causes that "witch" look. See the image below from NIH

If you're looking to remove warts at home, feel free to check out Aven Buzz Wart Remover Pen



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