Skip to main content

Wa(r)ts In There?



If you have a few – or many – warts on your skin, help is at hand. Read on to know what causes warts and how you can get rid of them.

You’re sitting at your desk, idly reading through an email when your finger touches the inside of your arm. You feel a growth there – on examining it, you notice that your skin has developed a wart without you noticing. When you examine the rest of your body, you find a few warts in other places too. Now you’re worried and wondering if you’ve developed a serious skin disorder.
Relax – most warts are harmless and often painless. But they should not be present on your skin at all.
What are warts?
Warts are a growth of skin caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) that lives on human skin. Certain factors like poor skin health and reduced immunity can cause the HPV to grow unchecked. When this happens, there may be formation of a wart on the skin. In some cases, the HPV assumes a virulent form and can cause clusters of warts to appear.

You should worry if the wart is oozing a clear liquid, or is painful to the touch.

How to remove warts
Most people opt for surgical removal of warts, where the wart is simply sliced off the surface of the skin and the site is medicated to prevent infection and recurrence. But it is also possible to treat and remove warts by yourself. To kill the wart, you need to first kill the HPV that causes it. So all wart removal methods are aimed at killing the HPV – the wart then shrivels up and falls off.

Here’s how to remove warts with simple remedies:

ü  Ferment the wart with a hot compress, but apply lemon juice to dry it first. The hot temperature combines with the acidity of the lemon juice to dry out and kill the HPV.

ü  A sour substance like vinegar contains enough bite and acidity to kill the HPV. Take a dab of vinegar on a cotton pad and apply it to the wart and the skin surrounding it, twice a day. Let the vinegar dry on the skin and do not wash off. Over the period of a week, the wart darkens in colour and begins to shrivel. It soon dries off completely and falls off.

ü  If the wart has a narrow base and a wider top, twine a fine thread around the base and tighten steadily (but not so tight that it becomes painful or pinches the skin). Leave the thread twined around the wart for a couple of days, protecting the site with a bandage. The wart dies as the blood circulation is cut, and it comes away easily when you take off the bandage.


ü  An expert dermatologist can remove the wart using the right surgical implements. The procedure is quick and painless, but post-removal care is important to keep the site infection-free. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Warts - Symptoms and treatment

What is a wart? Wart is a harmless skin growth caused by one of the many human papillomaviruses (HPV). Normally they disappear without any treatment within 6 months to 3 years. They are common in children in the age group of 12 to 16. In few instances they become painful. Causes HPV enters through the broken skin and causes the top layer of the skin to grow rapidly which forms the wart. The incubation period varies between one to eight months. Symptoms Warts can be of different sizes and shapes. They can be rough and bumpy or flat and smooth. Inside the wart, tiny blood vessels grow which supply it with blood. They appear as dark spots at the centre of the wart. There are different type of warts and they grow anywhere on the body. ·          Common warts – Though they can grow on any of the body-part, mostly they are found on hands as gray-brown, rough dome shapes. ·          Plantar ...

Understanding Skin Problems and Finding Solutions

Good skin plays a crucial role in building a person’s self-confidence, while making them feel good about themselves. Healthy and glowing skin not only boasts of the person’s self-esteem but also allows them to focus on achieving their goals, rather than wasting time worrying about skin problems. It is for this reason that more and more men and women are willing to spend on skin care products and go an extra mile to have healthy skin, especially in the UAE.  Read on to know about some common skin problems that are prevalent in the country. Skin and Associated Problems Skin is the most sensitive part of our body and often the first indicator of problems like poor blood circulation or health. This is why it requires adequate care and nourishment. Healthy eating and a good lifestyle, involving a good sleep pattern, are essential for healthy skin, with some regular care required to nourish and nurture it. Women across the world are looking to use newer skin care products to ke...

Wart Removal: Good, Bad or Ugly?

The skin care market in India has witnessed growth at a CAGR of 16.4 percent between 2011 and 2015 and this rate is expected to double by 2021. This industry is largely dominated by skin fairness creams but the luxury skin care segment has also seen a huge rise in demand in recent times. One of the problems being faced by the country for quite some time now is that of warts. These raised bumps on the skin are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) and have also been discovered on 3,000 year-old mummies. Despite human beings having suffered from these growths for millennia, there still any trick to avoid or prevent them. Although they are not considered dangerous, they are ugly, embarrassing, contagious and above all, painful. What Do They Look Like and What Causes Them? Warts can form in various sizes and appearances. They can be black dots at the bottom of your foot, lone flat bumps on the back of your hands or massive clusters covering large areas of your skin. And, t...