Warts: Causes, Types and Safe Removal Options

What causes warts and how do they spread?

Warts spread through direct contact with someone else's wart, or by touching surfaces that carry the virus, such as pool decks, changing rooms and shared showers. The virus usually enters through tiny cuts or cracks in the skin, which is why warts are common in people who bite their nails or pick the skin around them.

Not everyone exposed to the virus develops warts, because immunity differs between people. Children and teenagers are more prone, as are people with weakened immunity due to illness or medicines. Warts can appear weeks or months after infection, so people rarely know when or where they caught them.

What are the common types of warts?

Warts look different depending on where they appear. Common types include:

Genital warts are a different type passed on through sexual contact. They must never be treated with pharmacy products meant for hands and feet and need a medical examination.

• Common warts: rough bumps, skin-coloured or slightly darker, usually on the fingers, the backs of the hands and around the nails.
• Plantar warts: on the soles of the feet, flattened by walking, sometimes painful like a stone in the shoe, often with tiny black dots.
• Flat warts: small, smooth and numerous, on the face or legs, and they can spread with shaving.
• Filiform warts: thin, long growths, often around the mouth, nose and eyelids.

Why should you not cut or burn a wart at home?

It can be tempting to cut a wart with a blade or scissors, burn it, or try remedies shared online. These attempts can cause bleeding, bacterial infection and a permanent scar, and they may carry the virus to nearby skin, so you end up with more warts, not fewer.

Some skin cancers can look like a wart at first, so any unusual growth that bleeds or grows quickly needs a doctor's examination before any attempt to remove it. People with diabetes or poor circulation should never treat foot warts themselves, because a small wound on the foot can become a serious problem.

What treatments are available for warts?

The doctor chooses treatment based on the wart's type, location and number and the patient's age. Common options include:

Most of these treatments need several sessions 2 to 4 weeks apart, and a wart can sometimes come back after clearing, because the virus may remain in the surrounding skin.

• Salicylic acid: a pharmacy product that gradually peels away the wart's layers. It needs daily use for several weeks and is not used on the face.
• Freezing with liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy): done by the doctor in clinic. A blister forms under the wart, which then falls off within days; it can cause temporary pain.
• Prescription topical treatments: such as creams that stimulate the skin's immune response, with type and duration set by the doctor.
• Electrocautery, laser or surgical removal: for stubborn or large warts, performed by the doctor under local anaesthetic.

How can you lower the risk of catching or spreading warts?

Prevention is about limiting contact with the virus and protecting the skin from small cuts. In summer, pools and gyms are busier, and they are common places to pick up foot warts, so wearing pool sandals there helps.

• Do not touch other people's warts, and do not pick your own.
• Wear sandals at pools, changing rooms and public showers.
• Do not share towels, razors or nail clippers.
• Keep your feet dry and change sweaty socks.
• Cover a wart with a plaster when exercising or swimming.