What causes a warts on your hands?
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 at
5:20 pm
I had warts on my hands as a child they went away then a couple of years ago one or two back.
Filed under: Wart Causes
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There is a virus that causes them. Believe it or not, DuctTape can get rid of them.
Warts are small, benign growths caused by a viral infection of the skin or mucous membrane. The virus infects the surface layer. The viruses that cause warts are members of the human papilloma virus (HPV) family. Warts are not cancerous but some strains of HPV, usually not associated with warts, have been linked with cancer formation. Warts are contagious from person to person and from one area of the body to another on the same person.
Hand warts
Common hand warts grow around the nails, on the fingers, and on the backs of hands. They appear more frequently where skin is broken, such as in areas where fingernails are bitten or hangnails picked.
Many of the nonprescription wart remedies available at drug stores will remove simple warts from hands and fingers. These medications may be lotions, ointments, or plasters and work by chemically removing the skin that was affected by the wart virus. The chemicals are strong, however, and should be used with care since they can remove healthy as well as infected skin. These solutions should be avoided by diabetics and those with cardiovascular or other circulatory disorders whose skin may be insensitive and not appreciate irritation.
Apply a paste made of vitamin C powder to the wart for one to two weeks.
Place a crushed or sliced garlic clove over the wart for seven consecutive nights while sleeping.
Soak the wart in water, put cross-hatches over it with a sterile needle, and apply drops of thuja (Thuja occidentalis) tincture onto the wart. Repeat the cross-hatching and tincture application until the wart is saturated with the tincture. Repeat several times each day for one to two weeks. (A tincture is an herbal extract made with alcohol.)
Tape a piece of banana peel, latex side down, over the wart and leave it on overnight. Repeat nightly for one to two weeks.
Toads, duh. Stop picking them up. Also, don’t lick them. You may get addicted.
Warts are caused by HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). HPV has many strains, including those that cause regular, those that cause genital warts, and the strain believed to cause cervical cancer. Don’t worry, one strain of HPV cannot turn into another.
As my dermatogist said, warts are basically benign skin tumors- a group of skin cells that won’t stop replicating, forming a tough bump of dead skin cells. The little red or black dots you see in the warts are the blood vessels that feed it. (a tumor by definition is a group of cells that has mutated and are missing the "thing" that tells them to stop duplicating). Getting rid of a wart does not mean that you’ve gotten rid of the virus. They can still come back. Plus, even if you did manage to become resistent to a strain of warts, there are many strains out there and you can easily get another strain of warts.
There are many treatments for warts. The most common are home remedies. These range from the superstitous ones, to applying acidic household food products (apple cider vinegar, raw potato, lemon…), covering the wart with tape (choking off the wart’s oxygen supply). Also very common are OTC (over the counter) wart creams. These are available in any pharmacy. There are doctor’s treatments: freezing the warts with liquid nitrogen, prescription wart creams (stronger than OTC and also contain stuff to make you resistant to whatever strain you have), and minor surgery (cutting it out).
If your warts are minor and you only have one or two, see if they will go away on their own. You can also try the home remedies or OTC drugs first. If nothing works, go to the doctor. If you have a lot of warts or big ones, or ones that haven’t gone away for a long time (months to years) go to a doctor.
By the way, if you use wart creams (the doctor will tell you this) also cover the wart with duct tape after you’ve applied the cream. This will trap moisture in the wart and cause it to soften so the cream will absorb better, and it starves the wart of oxygen.
Most wart treatments will only get rid of the wart, they won’t cure you of the virus- you can still get more warts. My dermatologist told me that the prescription wart cream I used (Aldara) made me resistant/immune to the particular strain I did have, but I could still get another strain.