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What Is A Wart?
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Warts, acne, pimple are skin conditions
that are at worst bothersome. Called Verruca, a wart is basically
a hard, rough growth on the surface of the skin, which may
appear in varying shapes, sizes and numbers anywhere on the
skin. Warts may appear even on the lips or the tongue. On the
face, they form beard-like projections. The most common type of
wart is a round, raised lesion having a dry and rough surface;
flat or threadlike lesions are also seen.
Wart results from infection caused by
certain viruses. These viruses live in cells located in the
surface of the skin. An overproduction of the cells is caused by
the viral infection. The thickened surface layer forms folds,
wherein little blood vessels grow. Warts do not affect the
underlying tissue of the skin.
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Warts are usually painless, except for
those in pressure areas, such as the plantar warts occurring on the
sole of the foot. Those that grow on the sole of the foot look like
corns. Or, warts may occur as isolated lesions or grow profusely,
especially in moist regions of the body surface. When they appear in
moist parts of the body, they may grow in masses, looking like tiny
cauliflowers.
Can warts spread?
Warts are considered contagious. The virus may spread when a
wart is scratched open it may spread to another part of the body or
to another person. A single wart may remain at the same spot for
several years without changing, or it may spread and what are known
as satellite warts may appear. |
Warts on the hand |
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How are warts treated?
Some warts disappear without any treatment. This may happen
because immunity to the virus develops in the body. When it is
required, only a physician should remove the wart.
There are many methods employed by
physicians to remove warts. They try to do it with minimum scarring.
They may apply acids or other chemicals that will gradually dissolve
the wart or they may advise surgical excision. The wart tissue may
be burned or frozen for easy removal. This causes little harm to the
deep layers of the skin.
Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery is a two-step process for removing the wart without
hurting the skin around it. In the first step, the wart is made
ready for removal and the second involves freezing the wart tissue
by a qualified doctor. It may take a few sittings before a wart is
removed completely. Generally it takes about two weeks for preparing
the wart for removal. The process involves applying a gel and a pad
on the wart. Once it is ready, the wart will appear white and
fluffy. The doctor will now remove the white skin layer covering the
wart and then use cryosurgery to freeze the base root of the wart.
Though an uncomfortable process,
cryosurgery is not considered painful. Healing is said to be rather
quick after cryosurgery. The procedure leaves little or no scar or
mark. At worst, it is said that the area that has been treated may
appear lighter in color than the skin around it. A patient may get
back to normal activities including swimming and bathing.
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