What Causes Warts?

Warts are common benign skin growths that develop when a virus infects the skin. Warts can range a great deal in color, size, and appearance. Some are small, flat, and skin-colored, others are raised and dark. Warts can be flat and smooth, thick and bumpy, or project off the skin. They can also develop anywhere although they are most common on the hands, face, and feet. Don't believe the myth warts come from touching toads and frogs. This is not true and likely got started because children get warts more often than adults. Here's what really causes warts.

Exposure To Wart-Causing Viruses

Common warts are the result of a viral infection in the outer layer of the skin. Warts are caused by exposure to wart-causing viruses in the human papillomavirus (HPV) family. When these viruses invade the skin through a small scratch, cut, or damage, they cause rapid growth of skin cells on the outer layer that creates the wart. There are more than one hundred types of HPV, and they are found everywhere. Most individuals come in contact with HPV before they reach adulthood and most have at least one wart in their life. Warts are usually on the hands as the virus is acquired by touching contaminated items.

Because warts are the result of a viral infection of the skin, they are contagious. A wart can be spread by contact with the wart itself or something that has touched the wart.

Get to know the next cause of warts by reading more now.

Cuts From Shaving

The virus that causes a wart typically needs to enter the skin to cause a wart. The most common way for this to happen is through a small cut or nick. Cuts from shaving are a common means for causing an infection. This is why men tend to develop warts around the beard area while women are more likely to develop warts on their legs.

Keeping your skin as nick- and cut-free as possible is one of the best ways to prevent warts, although this can certainly be a challenge. Always use a sharp, new razor when shaving to reduce the risk of nicks. If you develop a wart in an area where you shave, shaving over the wart can easily spread the virus to the razor and other regions of the body. Suffocate the wart with tape or nail polish to contain it and keep it from spreading and shave around the wart until it goes away.

Continue reading now to learn more about the causes of warts.