Warts, as you already know, are caused by the human papilloma virus. They can be almost anywhere on the body, often warts appear on the hands. When are warts dangerous and require medical attention? How to prevent warts on the hands? You will find the answers to these questions in the next article.
Warts on the hands
A wart (verruca) is a benign contagious skin lesion similar to a papule or papilloma.
Common and flat and genital warts are caused by a virus that is common to them - Tumefaciens verrucarum. The incubation period is long (2-5 months). Histologically, depending on the clinical form, different severities of papillomatosis, acanthosis, hyperkeratosis are determined; in cells of the styloid layer - perinuclear vacuoles.
Warts (verruca vulgaris) are a dense, non-inflammatory nodule, from the head of a pin to a pea, grayish or yellowish in color, with a rough surface. Mostly localized on the hands. Simple warts can appear very much.
The wart is flat or youthful (verruca plana, s. Juvenilis) - a flattened papule, slightly protruding above the level of healthy skin, rounded or polygonal, contoured, fleshy or yellowish-pink in color, with a matte, sometimes shiny surface. Flat warts are usually recurrent, poured on the face, occiput in young people, mostly of school age.
Plantar wart (verruca plantaris) - a variety of common wart-like common wart - is localized at sites of greatest pressure, mainly at the back of the metatarsal bone and in the heel area. Pain before pressure. Scraping the horny masses off the wart surface reveals papillary growths.
Genital warts (condyloma acuminatum) appear in the form of a small pink papule, then grow, acquiring a papillary shape. When the papules merge, broad vegetation is formed. Characterized by a soft consistency, narrow base in the shape of a leg. It develops more often on the genitals, groin and intervertebral wrinkles, with dirty care and maceration of the skin.
Hand and palm wart features
Warts can affect absolutely any part of the epidermis of the hands, but they usually form on the back or in the finger area. In addition, most of these derivatives belong to vulgar growths, which do not differ in color from healthy skin and are relatively small in size, 0. 1-1 cm.
In terms of the number of such tumors, there are both isolated skin defects and multiple warts that tend to merge.
The distinguishing features of palm warts are as follows:
- Lack of pain and itching;
- The site of the skin defect does not have an epidermal pattern that is usually restored after removal of the wart;
- Black dots may appear on the forming surface to indicate clots.
Based on all the above, we can conclude that warts on the palms are a more aesthetic defect, which, nevertheless, can lead to a high spread of tumors and a high risk of mechanical damage if not treated in time.
How to Recognize a Wart |
A wart looks like a mass that rises above the skin, different from skin color. Several warts usually appear at once. At the same time, the localization can be very diverse: from the palms and face to the soles (plantar warts). Warts can appear on the palm and even under the nails! The formation is rough to the touch, or conversely, smooth and flat.
Papillomas in groups can merge.
Vulgar (common) warts usually appear on the fingers. The vulgar wart looks like a regrowth no more than a centimeter in size, is brown or gray in color, and is domed. Black dots may be visible inside the mold. Flat small warts often appear on the hands, they are characterized by the appearance of groups. Their color is pink or yellowish.
Appearance causes
Warts on fingers and other parts of the body are exclusively viral in nature, associated with the penetration of human papillomavirus into a patient’s blood. Based on this, warts on the fingers, palms and elbows should be treated to eliminate the root cause. Unfortunately, to date, no medical technique can completely rid a patient of blood from the virus, which explains the symptomatic treatment of neoplasms.
An important factor in provoking the appearance of warts on the hands is a decrease in the body’s immune response, which can result from overwork, malnutrition, or the infectious process. Given that HPV can enter the bloodstream by damaging the epidermis, it is worth noting the role of microtraumas, scratches, and small wounds that are not uncommon to the skin of the hands. Based on the above, you can re-evaluate the importance of adhering to personal hand hygiene.
Despite all of the above, HPV infection is not critical. Statistics show that about 90% of all people are carriers of the virus, which may not appear for a long time in a latent state in the blood.
As already mentioned, these tumors are caused by the penetration of more than a hundred types of HP virus into the body. This virus is quite common, and common warts are found in twenty percent of students.
It is important to remember that the attack multiplies quite intensively - as the upper layers germinate. In addition, the person from whom you got the "wart" virus may not have the warts themselves. HPV is particularly fond of skin cracks and microtraumas, so most of them "bring" people from public pools and reservoirs.
If you do not take treatment and do not eliminate such rashes, complications can occur: they can spread throughout the body and even return after disappearing. Removing warts at home can lead to keloid scars.
Wart symptoms on hands and fingers
Of course, warts, despite their harmlessness, should not be ignored as they can cause quite a bit of trouble. In addition, they are contagious and can be easily transmitted to new and new victims.
By the way, the occurrence of such rashes should be a reason to think about your immunity, as people with impaired immunity are at risk. A lot of stress weakens our immunity, so such people also become open to such a virus.
How to recognize a wart? Around the papilloma or nodule protruding above the skin, the skin will be characterized by light or, conversely, dark. The protrusion occurs in more than one, usually on the forehead, cheeks, arms and legs, small warts appear, dense and fleshy, smooth and flat. Rough growths appear around or under the nails, and you may also notice oval or round neoplasms on your feet that are painful to walk on. Touching, they are slightly rough or smooth and flat, they can merge in groups into a single neoplasm.
The wart virus can rest in your body for many years, and its incubation period can last up to six months, so don’t be surprised if they suddenly appear for no apparent reason.
Warts can be different: there are vulgar or simple, flat, plantar, as well as filiform and genital varieties. Common warts are those that occur on the feet and hands, on the elbows and knees, and on the fingers and toes. It is small, no more than a centimeter in growth, hard to the touch, brownish or gray in color. Their shape is usually dome-shaped.
The surface of the common or vulgar can be rough, resembling cauliflower in appearance, and black dots can be distinguished inside. The flat type includes those which stand out on a flat surface up to five millimeters in size, as well as pink, yellowish or light brown in color. These growths usually occur on the face, but can grow in groups on the hands or knees.
The most unpleasant are the warts on the soles: they cause a lot of trouble while walking, cause sensations as if a pebble had entered the shoe. They are usually quite hard, dirty gray. The filiform type grows on the face - around the nose, on the neck, around the mouth. They are elongated and resemble a finger in shape and color.
Warts also include genital warts, also called genitals: they develop on the genitals as well as the groin and buttocks and are a direct consequence of a dirty approach to your body. Externally, they look like pink nodules, often merge, have a base that looks like a foot.
When to see a doctor
- if the wart rapidly changes shape, color, or all at once;
- if the color of the warts is uneven;
- if the boundaries of the wart are unclear (in this case it is probably not a wart);
- if the wart hurts or is permanently injured (this increases the risk that it will become something more serious);
- if the warts gradually increase;
- if the wart bleeds or itches;
How to get rid of papillomas on the hands
Warts cause us a lot of discomfort in our daily lives. In visible places, they do not look aesthetically pleasing; when awkwardly localized, they quickly become injured and cause pain. Therefore, very often people consult a dermatologist when warts appear. Because of their potential for malignancy, oncologists are also involved in warts.
Because the development of warts is associated with provocative factors, treatment is often supplemented by the use of vitamin-mineral complexes, sedatives and immune-boosting agents. Otherwise, mechanical removal of papillomas may not give the desired results, and after a while they will start to grow again.
The desire to get rid of warts on its own sometimes has bad consequences. The various folk remedies offered by various advisors can not only not remove the wart but also contribute to its malignancy. You should be very careful here. Treatment of warts at home should not include traditional medicine, but special medicines purchased at a pharmacy.
It is even easier to trust the specialists of private clinics. Or talk to your dermatologist, oncology dispensary.
Papilloma removal methods
Today, private and public clinics can offer a fairly wide range of wart removal methods. Listen to your doctor's recommendations before choosing a removal method. Your doctor will advise you on the most appropriate intervention based on your individual characteristics. In particular, these are:
- Cryodestruction. . . Liquid nitrogen is thought to be used for additional destruction. Nitrogen is applied to the warts, usually with an applicator, and the formation is frozen for fifteen to twenty seconds. So far, applicators have been developed that are easy to use at home. They can be purchased at pharmacies at a reasonable price.
- Electrocoagulation.Papilloma cut in a thin metal loop under high frequency current. Local anesthesia is performed before surgery. Complete healing occurs within a week.
- Laser coagulation. . . This is similar to electrocoagulation, using only a laser instead of a current.
- Surgical intervention. . . Under local anesthesia, the wart is cut out with a scalpel, and the surgical wound is sutured with a cosmetic suture. It is only used to remove large papillomas.
- Chemical methods. . . They are used very rarely because the risk of damaging nearby tissues is too high.
What to do to dissolve the warts on the hands
One woman's son was only four years old when warts began to appear on his hands. There were so many of them that my mother asked me not to even take her to kindergarten. And what they just didn’t do with this disaster! Doctors recommended burning the warts with acid. However, the woman still decided to turn to folk remedies for the treatment of warts.
Cut the thuja branch (palm-sized) into pieces 3-7 mm long. Put in a glass bottle such as hydrogen peroxide, pour alcohol. Close with a stopper and allow to simmer for 12 days, shaking occasionally. After 12 days, open the bottle and keep it open for 1-2 days. The tincture is then ready for use.
Dip a cotton ball into the match and lubricate the warts several times a day. It is recommended to apply up to six times a day. And after such treatment, the warts finally began to disappear from the boy's skin without a trace. But don’t expect quick results. So because the course of treatment for the boy was quite long. And, by the way, the tincture can be stored for a very long time.
Propolis warts on the fingers
For a very long time - six years - one woman could not get rid of a wart on her finger. She tried to burn it with liquid nitrogen, but the wart continued to grow. She even went to an oncologist because she was already starting to think it was a malignancy.
However, at the hospital, her fears did not materialize, and the doctor suggested she take a wart-sized piece of propolis, put it in her mouth, and soften it with saliva. At this point, keep your finger with the wart in the slightly warm water - clean, without any additives - for 30 to 40 minutes to soften it as well. Then you need to wipe your finger and apply propolis to the warts that have just softened in your mouth.
It must be taped for three or four days. It was written on the lunar calendar that the wart is best to begin to remove during the full moon and continue until adolescence.
The day before the young man, remove all bandages and stop treatment until fullness and start fullness again.
It was with this folk wart treatment method that she got rid of this unpleasant disaster painlessly. If you have smaller warts, you can get rid of the warts in one full moon and start treating the young.
Wart prevention
It is known that it is easier to prevent the disease than to cure it later. This completely applies to warts. You must first follow the basic rules of personal hygiene.
You should not walk barefoot in common areas, especially in damp areas such as showers, changing rooms, swimming pools; do not abuse shoes where the feet are constantly sweating, or at least find a way to dry them qualitatively; do not unnecessarily touch your own or other people’s warts or objects that the patient has touched with you.
You should also pay attention to your general health and especially the immune system - eating a balanced diet and leading a healthy lifestyle.
It would also be nice to learn how to relax and avoid stress - by doing so, you are guaranteed to get rid of not only the possible appearance of warts, but also many possible diseases.