Warts, as you already know, are caused by the human papillomavirus. They can be located almost anywhere on the body, warts often appear on the hands. When are warts dangerous and require medical attention? How to prevent the appearance of warts on your hands? You will find the answers to these questions in the next article.
Warts on the hands
A wart (wart) is a benign contagious skin lesion that looks like a papule or papilloma.
Common, flat warts and genital warts are caused by a common virus for them: Tumefaciens verrucarum. The incubation period is long (2-5 months). Histologically, depending on the clinical form, there is different severity of papillomatosis, acanthosis, hyperkeratosis; in the cells of the styloid layer - perinuclear vacuoles.
The common wart (verruca vulgaris) is a dense, non-inflammatory nodule, from the head of a pin to a pea, grayish or yellowish in color, with a rough surface. Most of the time it is located in the hands. Common warts can appear in large numbers.
The wart is flat or juvenile (flat wart, s. Juvenilis): a flattened papule, slightly protruding above the level of healthy skin, rounded or polygonal outlines, pulp or yellowish-pink in color, with a dull surface, sometimes sparkly. Flat warts are usually multiple, spilled on the face, the back of the hands in young people, mainly of school age.
The plantar wart (verruca plantaris), a callus-like variety of a common wart, is located in the places of greatest pressure, mainly on the head of the metatarsal bone and in the heel area. Painful on pressure. After scraping the horny masses from the surface of the wart, the papillary growths are exposed.
Genital warts (condylomata acuminata) appear as a tiny pink papule, then grow into a papillary shape. When the papules merge, extensive vegetation forms. Characterized by a smooth consistency, a narrow leg-shaped base. Most often they develop on the genitals, in the inguinal and intergluteal folds with dirty maintenance and maceration of the skin.
Characteristics of warts on the hands and palms.
Warts can affect absolutely any part of the epidermis of the hands, but most often they form on the back of the hand or in the area of the fingers. Also, most of these formations belong to vulgar growths that do not differ in color from healthy skin and are relatively small in size - 0. 1-1 cm.
Regarding the number of such neoplasms, there are single skin defects and multiple warts that are prone to fusion.
The distinctive signs of warts on the palms are the following manifestations:
- Lack of pain and itching;
- The skin defect site does not have an epidermal pattern, which is usually restored after wart removal;
- Black dots may appear on the surface of the formation, representing coagulated vessels.
Based on all the above, we can conclude that warts on the palms are more of an aesthetic defect, which, however, in the absence of timely treatment, can lead to a significant proliferation of neoplasms and a high risk of mechanical damage.
How to recognize a wart
The wart looks like a mass that rises above the skin, different in color from the skin. Very often, several warts appear at once. At the same time, the location can be very diverse: from the palms of the hands and the face to the soles of the feet (plantar warts). A wart can appear on the palm and even under the nail! The formation is rough to the touch, or vice versa, smooth and flat.
Papillomas that appear in groups are capable of merging.
Common (common) warts usually appear on the fingers. A common wart looks like a growth no more than one centimeter in size, is brown or gray in color, and is dome-shaped. Black dots can be seen within the formation. Small flat warts often appear on the hands and are characterized by the appearance of clumps. Its color is pink or yellowish.
Reasons for the appearance
Warts on the fingers and other parts of the body are exclusively viral in nature, which is associated with the penetration of the human papillomavirus into the patient's blood. Based on this, the treatment of warts on the fingers, palms and elbows should aim to eliminate the underlying cause. Unfortunately, to date, no medical technique is able to completely rid the patient's blood of the virus, which rather explains the symptomatic therapy of neoplasms.
An important concomitant factor that causes the appearance of warts on the hands is a decrease in the body's immune response, which can occur against the background of overwork, malnutrition or an 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, which are not uncommon for the skin of the hands. Based on all of the above, you can once again appreciate the importance of maintaining personal hand hygiene.
Despite all of the above, HPV infection is not critical. Statistical data states that about 90% of all people are carriers of the virus, which may not manifest itself for a long time, being in the blood in a latent state.
As already mentioned, these neoplasms 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 school children.
It is important to remember that the attack multiplies quite intensely, through the germination of the upper layers. Also, the person you got the "wart" virus from may not have the warts themselves. HPV is especially fond of microcracks in the skin and microtrauma, which is why most of them "bring" from swimming pools and public reservoirs.
If you do not take measures for treatment and do not eliminate such rashes, complications can arise: they can spread throughout the body, and even if they disappear, they can return again. When removing warts at home, keloid scars can form.
Symptoms of warts on hands and fingers.
Of course, warts, despite their harmlessness, should not be ignored as they can cause a lot of problems. In addition, they are contagious and can be transmitted to new and new victims with a simple touch.
By the way, the appearance of such rashes should be a reason to think about your own immunity, because it is people with reduced immunity who are at risk. Numerous stresses weaken our immunity and therefore these people also become open to this type of virus.
How to recognize a wart? Around the papilla or nodule that rises above the skin, the skin will be characteristically light or, conversely, dark. The lump appears more than one, usually on the forehead, cheeks, arms and legs, small warts appear, dense and fleshy, smooth and flat. Rough growths appear around the nails or under the nails, and neoplasms that are oval or round in shape and that are painful to step on may also be noted on the legs. To the touch, they are a little rough or smooth and flat, they can merge into groups into a neoplasm.
The wart virus can lie dormant in your body for years, and its incubation period can last up to six months, so don't be surprised if they appeared suddenly for no apparent reason.
Warts can be different: there are common or common varieties, flat, plantar, as well as filiform and genitalia. Common warts are those that appear on the feet and hands, on the elbows and knees, and on the fingers and toes. These are small growths, no more than one centimeter, hard to the touch, brownish or gray in color. Its shape is usually domed.
The surface of the common or vulgar may be rough, cauliflower-like in appearance, and black spots can be distinguished on the inside. The flat type includes those that, with sizes up to five millimeters, are distinguished by a smooth flat surface, as well as pink, yellowish or light brown in color. These growths usually appear on the face, but they can grow in clumps on the hands or knees.
The most unpleasant are plantar warts: they cause many problems when walking, causing sensations as if a pebble had gotten into a shoe. They are usually quite resistant, dirty gray in color. The threadlike 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, which are also called genitalia: they develop on the genitals, as well as the groin and buttocks, and are a direct consequence of an impure attitude towards your body. Outwardly, they look like pink nodules, they often merge, they have a base that looks like a leg.
When to see a doctor
- if the wart rapidly changes shape, color, or all together;
- if the wart has an uneven color;
- if the boundaries of the wart are vague (in this case, most likely it is not a wart);
- if the wart is constantly painful or injured (this increases the risk that it will develop into something more serious);
- if the number of warts gradually increases;
- if the wart bleeds or itches;
How to get rid of papilloma on your hands
Warts cause us a lot of discomfort in everyday life. In conspicuous places, they don't look aesthetically pleasing; with an inconvenient localization, they are quickly injured and cause pain. Therefore, very often people go to a dermatologist when warts appear. Due to the possibility of its malignancy, oncologists are also involved in warts.
Since the appearance of warts is associated with provoking factors, the treatment is often supplemented with the intake of vitamin-mineral complexes, sedatives and agents that enhance immunity. Otherwise, mechanical removal of the 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 your own sometimes leads to bad consequences. Various home remedies offered by various advisers may not only fail to remove the wart, but also contribute to its malignancy. You must be very careful here. Treatment of warts at home should not involve the use of traditional medicine, but the use of special drugs purchased at the pharmacy.
It's even easier to trust the professionals in private clinics. Or make an appointment with a doctor from the skin clinic, an oncology dispensary.
Papilloma removal methods
Today, public and private clinics can offer a fairly wide range of wart removal methods. Before choosing a removal technique, listen to your doctor's recommendations. Your doctor will advise you on the most appropriate intervention based on your individual characteristics. In particular, these are:
- Cryodestruction. . . It involves the use of liquid nitrogen to destroy the papilloma. Nitrogen is applied to the wart, usually with an applicator, and the formation freezes for fifteen to twenty seconds. To date, applicators have been developed that are easy to use at home. They can be purchased for a reasonable price in pharmacies.
- Electrocoagulation.Cut the papilloma with a thin metal loop under high-frequency current. Local anesthesia is done before the operation. Complete healing occurs in a week.
- Laser coagulation. . . It is similar to electrocoagulation, only a laser is used instead of current.
- Surgical intervention. . . Under local anesthesia, the wart is removed with a scalpel, the surgical wound site is sutured with a cosmetic suture. It is used only to remove large papillomas.
- Chemical methods. . . They are used very rarely, since the risk of damaging nearby tissues is too great.
What to do to dissolve warts on your hands.
A woman's son was only four years old when warts began to appear on his arms. There were so many that in kindergarten they asked the mother not to even take him there. And what they just didn't do with this disgrace! Doctors recommended burning the warts with acid. But the woman still decided to turn to home remedies for the treatment of warts.
Cut a branch of thuja (the size of a palm) into pieces 3 to 7 mm long. Put in a glass vial, for example, hydrogen peroxide, pour alcohol. Close with a stopper and leave to stand for 12 days, shaking from time to time. After 12 days, open and keep the bottle open for 1 to 2 days. After that, the tincture is ready to use.
You need to dip a cotton ball in a match and lubricate 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 child's skin without a trace. However, don't expect immediate results. So, as the course of treatment for the child was quite long. And by the way, the tincture can be stored for a long time.
Propolis for warts on the fingers.
For a long time, more than six years, a woman could not get rid of a wart on her finger. She tried to burn it with liquid nitrogen, but the wart kept growing. She even went to the oncologist, because she had already started to think that it was a malignancy.
But at the hospital, her fears were not confirmed, and the doctor suggested that she take a wart-sized piece of propolis, put it in her mouth, and soften it with saliva. At this time, in slightly warm, clean water without additives, hold a finger with a wart for 30 to 40 minutes so that it also softens. Then you need to clean your finger and apply propolis to the wart, which has just softened in your mouth.
It should be secured with duct tape for three to four days. In the lunar calendar it was written that it is better to start removing warts during the full moon and continue until the new moon.
The day before the new moon, remove all bandages and stop treatment until the full moon, and start again at the full moon.
It was with such a popular method of treating warts that he painlessly got rid of this unpleasant misfortune. If you have smaller warts, you may be able to get rid of warts in a treatment from full moon to new moon.
Wart prevention
It is known that it is easier to prevent a disease than to cure it later. This fully applies to warts. First of all, you need to follow the basic rules of personal hygiene.
You should not walk barefoot in common areas, especially humid ones, such as showers, changing rooms, swimming pools; do not abuse those shoes in which the feet are constantly sweating, or at least find an opportunity to qualitatively dry them; Do not unnecessarily touch your own warts or objects or those of other people that the patient has touched with you.
You should also pay attention to your general health and especially the immune system: eat a balanced diet and lead a healthy lifestyle.
It would also be good to learn to relax and avoid stress; By doing this, you are guaranteed to get rid of not only the possible appearance of warts, but also a ton of possible diseases.