Warts- What are warts, Type of Warts, Identifying warts, Warts Treatment

Warts

What are warts?

Warts are caused by a viral infection. The virus penetrates through the skin and may often enter through traumatized or damaged skin or areas that are under repetitive stress. Warts are often spread in moist areas which have remnants of infected skin such as locker room floors or the surfaces surrounding swimming pools. Warts can appear on any skin surface. On the sole of the foot they are called "plantar warts". Plantar is the scientific term for undersurface or the bottom of the foot.

Type of Warts

Common warts - growths around nails and the back of hands; usually have a rough surface; grayish-yellow or brown in color.
Foot warts - located on the soles of feet (plantar warts) with black dots (clotted blood vessels that once fed them); clusters of plantar warts are called mosaic. These warts may be painful.
Flat warts - small, smooth growths that grow in groups up to 100 at a time; most often appear on children's faces.
Filiform warts - small, long, narrow growths that usually appear on eyelids, face, or neck.

Identifying Warts

Warts, corns, and calluses are all hard and flat.
The wart generally has a better defined peripheral boundry.
Warts on the hands, fingers or top of the foot or toes are usually more raised. Plantar warts differ in color but are often gray.
The center frequently has pinpoint black spots that represent areas of bleeding within the wart. This is one of the hallmarks of a wart.
A wart will also often have pinpoint bleeding when it is debrided (trimmed) by a physician.

Sports Affected

Although there is a possibility of warts affecting anybody, chances of its striking the following sports could be more than others:

Athletics
Swimming

Prevention Tips