Warts are common and harmless skin lesions that are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). There are different kinds of warts, including common, plantar, mosaic, flat, filiform, genital, Butcher’s or Heck’s disease.

Types of Warts

• Common warts—These most often appear on the hands and feel rough to the touch. They may also have black dots in the middle of them.
• Plantar warts—These most often appear on the feet and often look flat. They can also have black dots on them.
• Mosaic warts—These most often appear on the feet or toes. They are white and flat in appearance.
• Flat warts—These can appear anywhere on the body and are smaller and smoother in appearance. Many flat warts often grow in clusters.
• Filiform warts—These most often appear on the face and are finger-like in appearance.
• Genital warts—These most often appear on the genitals and rectum. They are small and hard in appearance.
• Butcher’s warts—These most often appear on the hands (specifically in butchers or people who handle raw meat). They are typically bumpy in appearance and tend to appear in large numbers.
• Focal epithelial hyperplasia (Heck’s disease)- These most often appear in the mouth and are usually soft and white in appearance.

What Causes Warts?

Warts are caused by the HPV virus. This virus can enter the skin if you are cut or exposed to someone who is infected. Warts are very contagious because of the virus that causes them. If you come into direct contact with someone who has a wart, you may be at risk of getting warts.

Wart Treatment

Treatment for warts can vary. Some warts may go away on their own over time, while others may need to be surgically removed. It is generally recommended to treat warts rather than let them go away on their own in order to reduce the risk of the virus spreading.

There are some at-home treatments that you can try to get rid of warts. Some of these wart treatments include:

• Using concentrated salicylic acid, which can be bought over the counter.
• Covering the wart with duct tape to deprive it of oxygen, preventing its growth.
• Freezing the wart. This is usually done by a health care provider using liquid nitrogen.
• Topical ointments.
• Wart removal surgery uses cautery to burn the wart off. A health care provider does this with a cauterizing tool.

Your primary care provider can likely give you some topical ointments and creams to try at home before needing to take the next steps of seeing a dermatologist. If you are looking for a specialized wart removal doctor near you, get started with Wellmed’s network. A dermatologist can perform wart removal surgery and provide other services like skin cancer screening.

Frequently Asked Questions About Warts