What are Warts? - Causes & Treatments
A skin wart is an infection by viruses in the human papillomavirus (HPV) family. A skin wart usually occur on the forearms, palms, fingers, and/or feet and its appearance depends on its location.
What are the types of warts?
There are several types of warts including:
- Common warts: a slightly raised small solid growth that resemble a small cauliflower with a rough texture are commonly found on hands.
- Plantar warts: a flat, rough with spongy surface warts that are commonly found on the soles of the feet. The plantar warts on the feet may be painful due to the pressure areas as they get pushed into the skin.
- Flat warts: a small slightly raised, smooth warts which can be found on the face, hands and shins. They are less common as compared to the other warts and they appear in large numbers
- Mosaic warts: are a cluster of smaller plantar warts joined together. They are white, often tender and is about the size of a pinhead. They can be commonly found on the balls of the feet or under the toes, but may also spread and cover larger areas on the entire sole of the foot. It does not hurt as much as compared to the plantar warts.
Wart Removal at Ensoul Clinic Singapore
Although skin warts are harmless, they are contagious and can spread from one part of the body to another or to children.Thus it is important to always wash your hands regularly. As warts are developed when tiny blood vessels grow into the core of the wart to supply it with blood. To remove it, we must first destroy the blood in the tiny vessels and lasers are one of the ways to do it. The traditional method to treat skin warts was to use an ablative laser to destroy the wart. However, to carry out a complete removal, the surrounding skin will also get damaged, leaving a depressed scar. The newer method I now practice is to use a vascular laser to cut off the feeding blood vessels to the wart. The infected tissue eventually dies and the warts falls off while the surrounding skin remains intact.