If You Get These Skin Growths, You May Be Infected With HPV: What Warts Can Really Tell You
Article description:
Warts are common skin growths caused by certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV). They can appear on the fingers, hands, feet, and other areas of the body and may look very different depending on their location. Although most common warts are harmless, they can spread from person to person and sometimes become painful or persistent. This five-chapter article explains what causes warts, how HPV reaches the skin, the different types of warts, when they should be examined by a healthcare professional, and what treatments are available.
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Chapter 1 — What Are Those Rough Growths on Your Skin?
You may notice a small rough bump on your finger, hand, foot, or another part of your skin and initially assume that it is simply a harmless piece of thickened skin. Sometimes, however, that growth is a wart.
Warts are caused by infection with certain types of human papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV. The virus enters the skin through tiny breaks or damaged areas and causes the outer layer of skin to grow more rapidly than usual. The result can be a small, firm, rough-surfaced growth.
Common warts frequently appear on the hands and fingers. They can have a rough, grainy texture and may contain tiny dark dots. Those dots are sometimes mistaken for trapped dirt, but they can represent small blood vessels within the wart.
Plantar warts develop on the soles of the feet. Because body weight presses them into the skin, they may grow inward rather than outward. This can make them uncomfortable when walking or standing.
Flat warts are generally smoother and smaller and can occur in greater numbers, while other varieties can appear around the nails or on different areas of the body.
The important thing to understand is that not every skin bump is a wart.
Moles, skin tags, corns, calluses, cysts, and other skin conditions can sometimes look similar. Certain skin cancers can also resemble benign growths, particularly when a lesion changes over time.
For that reason, simply seeing a rough bump does not prove that someone has HPV.
If a growth is rapidly changing, bleeding without an obvious reason, repeatedly returning, becoming unusually painful, or developing an unusual color or shape, it is worth having it assessed by a healthcare professional.
For ordinary warts, however, the condition is usually not dangerous. The biggest concerns are generally discomfort, persistence, and transmission to other areas of the body or to other people.
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