Warts, as you already know, are caused by the human papillomavirus. They can be located in almost any part of the body, often with warts on the hands. When are warts dangerous and require medical attention? How to prevent warts from appearing on your hands? You will find the answers to these questions in the next article.
Warts on the hands
A wart (verruca) is a benign infectious skin lesion that appears as papules or papillomas.
Common and flat warts and genital warts are caused by a common virus - Tumefaciens verrucarum. The incubation period is long (2-5 months). Histologically, depending on the clinical form, there are papillomatosis, acanthosis, hyperkeratosis of different severity; in the cells of the styloid layer - perinuclear vacuums.
The common wart (verruca vulgaris) is a dense, non-inflammatory lump, from needle tip to pea, grayish or yellowish in color, with a rough surface. It is most often localized on the hands. Common warts can appear in large numbers.
The wart is flat or youthful (verruca plana, s. Juvenilis) - flattened papula, slightly protruding above the level of healthy skin, rounded or polygonal outlines, flesh or yellowish-pink in color, with a matte, sometimes glossy surface. Flat warts are usually multiple, spilling on the face and palms in young people, especially in school age.
The plantar wart (verruca plantaris) - a callus-like species of the common wart - is localized in the most pressurized places, mainly on the head of the metatarsal and in the heel area. It hurts the pressure. After scraping the horny masses, papillary growths can be seen from the surface of the wart.
Genital warts (condyloma acuminatum) occur in the form of tiny pink papules and then grow into a papillary shape. When the papules merge, extensive vegetation is formed. It is characterized by a soft consistency with a narrow base in the form of feet. They are more common on the genitals, in the folds between the groin and the vertebrae, with unclean maintenance and maceration of the skin.
Characteristics of warts on the hands and palms
Warts can affect any part of the epidermis of the hands, but most often develop on the back of the hand or in the area of the fingers. Moreover, most of these formations belong to vulgar growth, which are no different in color from healthy skin and their size is relatively small - 0, 1-1 cm.
As for the number of such tumors, there are single skin defects and multiple warts that tend to fuse.
The distinguishing signs of warts on the palm are the following manifestations:
- Lack of pain and itching;
- There is no epidermal sample at the site of the skin defect that usually recovers after wart removal;
- Black dots may appear on the surface of the formation, representing clotted vessels.
Based on all of the above, it can be concluded that warts on the palm are more aesthetic defects, which, however, in the absence of timely treatment can lead to significant tumor proliferation and a high risk of mechanical damage.
How to recognize a wart
The wart looks like a mass of color different from the skin rising above the skin. Most often, multiple warts appear at once. However, the localization can be very varied: from the palm of the hand and the face to the soles (plantar warts). Warts can appear on the palm and even under the nail! The formation is rough to the touch or, conversely, smooth and flat.
The papillomas in the groups are capable of fusion.
Vulgar (common) warts usually appear on the fingers. The vulgar wart appears to grow up to one centimeter in color, with a brownish or gray, dome-shaped color. Black dots are visible inside the formation. Flat small warts often appear on the hands and are characterized by the appearance of groups. They are pink or yellowish in color.
Reasons for appearance
Warts on fingers and other parts of the body are exclusively viral in nature, linked to the penetration of human papillomavirus into a patient’s blood. Based on this, the treatment of warts on the fingers, palms and elbows should be aimed at eliminating the root cause. Unfortunately, to date, no medical technique has been able to completely rid a patient’s blood of the virus, which tends to explain the symptomatic therapy of tumors.
An important accompanying factor that provokes the appearance of warts on the hands is a decrease in the body’s immune response, which can occur in the background of overwork, malnutrition, or the infectious process. Considering the fact that HPV can enter the bloodstream through damage to the epidermis, it is worth noting the role of microtraumas, scratches, and small wounds that are not uncommon on the skin of the hand. Based on the above, you can re-evaluate the importance of adhering to personal hand hygiene.
Despite the above, HPV infection is not critical. Statistics show that about 90% of people are carriers of the virus, which cannot manifest for a long time and is in a latent state in the blood.
As already mentioned, these tumors appear due to the penetration of the HP virus into the body, which has more than a hundred types. This virus is quite common and common warts are found in twenty percent of schoolchildren.
It’s important to note that the attack multiplies quite intensively - by germinating the upper layers, plus the one from whom you caught the "wart" virus may not be the wart itself. HPV is particularly fond of microcracks and microtraumas in the skin, so most of them "bring" people out of public pools and reservoirs.
If you do not take action on the treatment and do not remove such rashes, complications can occur: they can spread throughout the body and, even if they disappear, they can come back again. When removing warts at home, keloid scars can form.
Symptoms of warts on the hands and fingers
Of course, warts, despite all their harmlessness, should not be ignored either, because they can cause quite a lot of trouble. They are also contagious and can be passed on to new and new victims with a simple touch.
Otherwise, the appearance of such rashes should justify their own immunity because people with reduced immunity are at risk. Many stresses weaken our immunity and therefore such people become open to such a virus.
How to recognize a wart? Around the papilla or lump rising above the skin, the skin will be typically light or, conversely, dark. The bulge appears more than once, usually on the forehead, cheeks, arms and legs, small warts appear, dense and fleshy, smooth and flat. Rough growths appear around or under the nail, and such oval or round tumors can be noticed on the legs, which are painful to step on. They are slightly rough to touch or smooth and flat, and may form groups into a neoplasm.
The wart virus can dormant in your body for years and its incubation period can take up to six months, so don’t be surprised if they come on suddenly for no apparent reason.
Warts can be different: there are vulgar or common, flat, plantar, and filiform and genital varieties. Common warts are those that appear on the feet and hands, elbows and knees, and on the fingers and toes. These are small growths of up to centimeters, difficult to feel, brownish or gray in color. Their shape is usually domed.
The surface of the ordinary or vulgar can be rough, reminiscent of cauliflower in appearance, and black dots can be distinguished inside. The flat type includes those with a smooth flat surface up to five millimeters in size and pink, yellowish or light brown in color. Typically, these growths appear on the face, but can grow in curls of the hands or knees.
The most unpleasant are plantar warts: they cause a lot of trouble while walking, causing you to feel as if a pebble has gotten into your shoes. They are usually quite hard, dirty gray in color. The filiform type grows on the face - around the nose, around the neck, around the mouth. They are elongated and resemble a finger in shape and color.
Warts also include genital warts, also called genital: they develop on the genitals as well as the groin and buttocks and are a direct consequence of an unclean attitude towards your body. They look like pink lumps on the outside, they often merge, and their feet have a visible base.
When to see a doctor
- if the wart rapidly changes shape, color, or all together;
- if the color of the wart is uneven;
- if the boundaries of the wart are blurred (in this case, most likely not a wart);
- if the wart hurts or is permanently damaged (this increases the risk of something becoming more serious);
- if the number of warts gradually increases;
- if the wart is bleeding or itching;
How to get rid of papilloma on your hands
Warts cause us a lot of discomfort in our daily lives. They are not aesthetically pleasing in conspicuous places; in the case of uncomfortable localization, they are quickly injured and cause pain. Therefore, very often people go to a dermatologist when warts appear. Because of the possibility of their malignancy, oncologists are also involved in warts.
Because the appearance of warts is provocative, treatment is often supplemented by the addition of vitamin-mineral complexes, sedatives, and immune-boosting agents. Otherwise, mechanical removal of the papillomas may not give the desired result and they will start to grow again after a while.
The desire to get rid of warts on its own sometimes leads to bad consequences. The various folk remedies offered by different counselors not only do not remove the wart but also contribute to the malignancy. You have to be extremely careful here. Treatment of warts at home should not involve the use of traditional medicine, but the use of special medications purchased at the pharmacy.
It is even easier to trust the professionals of private clinics. Or make an appointment with a dermatologist or oncology outpatient clinic.
Papilloma removal methods
Today, private and public clinics can offer a fairly wide range of methods to eliminate warts. Listen to your doctor's recommendations before choosing a removal technique. Based on your individual characteristics, your doctor will advise you on the most appropriate intervention. These are in particular:
- Cryodestruction. . . It assumes the use of liquid nitrogen to kill the papilloma. Nitrogen is applied to the wart, usually with an applicator, and the formation is frozen for fifteen to twenty seconds. To date, applicators have been developed that are easy to use at home. They can be purchased at pharmacies at affordable prices.
- Electrocoagulation.Cutting the papilloma with a thin metal loop under high frequency current. Local anesthesia is performed before surgery. Complete recovery occurs in a week.
- Laser coagulation. . . Similar to electrocoagulation, only a laser is used instead of current.
- Surgical intervention. . . Under local anesthesia, the wart is cut out with a scalpel, and the site of the surgical wound is sutured with a cosmetic suture. It is only used to remove large papillomas.
- Chemical methods. . . They are used extremely rarely because the risk of damage to nearby tissues is too high.
What to do to dissolve the warts on your hands
A woman’s son was only four years old when warts began to appear on her arms. There were so many that they asked the mother in kindergarten not to even take her there. And what they just didn’t do with this misfortune! Doctors have recommended that the warts be burned with acid. But the woman still decided to turn to folk remedies to treat the warts.
Cut a branch of a thuja (palm) into pieces 3 to 7 mm long. Place in a glass jar, such as hydrogen peroxide, pour alcohol. Close with a stopper and allow to cook for 12 days, shaking occasionally. After 12 days, open and keep the bottle open for 1-2 days. The tincture is then ready for use.
You should dip a match in cotton and smear the warts several times a day. It is recommended to lubricate up to six times a day. And after such treatment, the warts finally began to disappear from the boy's skin without a trace. However, do not expect immediate results. So, since the process of treatment was quite long for the boy. And otherwise the tincture can be stored for a very long time.
Propolis for warts on the fingers
For a very long time — more than six years — a woman could not get rid of a wart on her finger. He tried to burn it with liquid nitrogen, but the wart continued to grow. He even went to the oncologist because he was already starting to think it was a malignancy.
But in the hospital, her fears were not substantiated, and the doctor advised her to take a wart-sized piece of propolis, put it in her mouth, and soften it with saliva. Then, in slightly warm water - clean, without additives - keep your finger with a wart for 30-40 minutes to soften it. You should then wipe your finger and apply propolis to the wart that has just softened in your mouth.
It should be fixed with adhesive tape for three or four days. The lunar calendar wrote that it is best to continue removing warts during the full moon and until the new moon.
On the day before the new moon, remove all bandages and stop treatment until the full moon and start again on the full moon.
With this folk method of warts, he got rid of this unpleasant misfortune painlessly. If you have smaller warts, you may get rid of the warts during the full moon until the new moon is treated.
Wart prevention
It is well known that it is easier to prevent the disease than to cure it later. This fully applies to warts. First, you must follow the basic rules of personal hygiene.
Do not go barefoot in common areas, especially wet rooms - such as showers, changing rooms, swimming pools; do not abuse shoes in which the feet are constantly sweating, or at least find an opportunity for quality drying; do not unnecessarily touch your own or others ’warts or objects that the patient has touched.
You need to pay attention to your general health and especially your immune system - eat a balanced diet and lead a healthy lifestyle.
It would also be good to learn how to rest and avoid stress - this is guaranteed to get rid of not only the possible appearance of warts, but also a lot of possible diseases.