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Causes of Flat Warts

Wart are very common small tumors that protrudes from the body. There are many different types of warts: plantar warts (located on the feet), flat warts, filiform warts (look like a piece of skin) and common warts. Warts can be located almost anywhere on the body, including hands, feets, arms, legs, mouth and even eyelids. Warts are contagious, but there are several different treatment methods to help remove warts from the body.

  1. Description

    • Flat warts are small harmless warts that are usually the same color as the skin. They often occur in clusters and are found most commonly on young children.

    Causes

    • Flat warts are caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). There are over 60 different types of HPV that are responsible for warts.

    Contagious

    • Warts are contagious through direct physical contact and it some physicians believe that they can also be spread through sharing of towels or sheets. Warts can also spread to different parts of the body.

    Over-the-Counter Treatment

    • There are several over-the-counter treatments that can be tried to get rid of the wart. Most over-the-counter products need to be used with care because the products destroy the good skin cells around the wart as well. Most products are an acid like liquid that eats away at the skin until the wart falls off. An alternative to the acid based medication, some medications called moist patches try to flood the skin with water until the wart falls off.

    Professional Treatment

    • Physicians can try to freeze the wart off using liquid nitrogen, or they can try and burn the wart off using a very hot rod. Both of these treatments can be very painful, but they tend to be more effective than over-the-counter methods.

    Warning

    • Self-treating warts is not harmful, but if the wart does not go away after a month of using over-the-counter treatment, go see your physician.

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