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The warts look like small grayish growths and have a rough surface. Sometimes they appear singly, sometimes in small groups. But there is always one to blame – the HPV virus. This virus has many varieties, each causing a different type of wart.
Kurzajka – why does it appear?
The same virus is responsible for the formation of warts as for the genital warts (HPV or Human Papilloma Virus). It has a lot of varieties (over a hundred have been counted so far!), And each of them causes a different type of wart. Some of them are located on the skin of the genital organs, and others on the skin of other parts of the body – just like in the case of warts.
Although warts do not look very aesthetic and sometimes persistently refuse to disappear or are located in painful places, they have one important positive aspect – they do not tend to become malignant – and you must know that HPV is sometimes responsible for some cancers. Kurzajka resembles a smooth or rough lump, which can be brown or in the natural color of our skin. They usually appear in immunocompromised people.
For wart infection, a simple handshake with an infected person is enough, because HPV is transmitted through direct contact with an infected person. Virus or damp environment: wet towels, swimming pools or saunas. Therefore, when visiting, e.g. at the swimming pool, remember to wear flip-flops.
Kurzajki – infection and symptoms
Kurzajki, like other viral diseases – are contagious. You can get infected with them from a person who has them, you can also transfer them from one place on the skin to another – so if a wart appears on our skin, we should not scratch it! Often there is a situation where a person bites their nails and has warts on the skin of their fingers and thus transfers them to their mouth. We become infected with warts by using the same towel as the infected person or by touching the same items as the infected person. It is easy to “catch” warts in the swimming pool, as well as during a visit to a beautician who performs manicures and pedicures.
Unfortunately, you can “get” the virus from an infected person even when he shakes your hand. The more so because warts are most often located on the hands and feet. The skin lesions on the feet are much more troublesome because they are accompanied by pain. They are often placed next to the nails, lifting their plate, which causes an unpleasant feeling. In addition, if they find a place on the sole of the foot, they are injured and kneaded when taking the smallest step. It can also be painful – sometimes people describe the feeling of teasing a wart as if a nail is digging into the sole with every step.
Kurzajki appearing on the feet are often confused with corns – the more so because they cause similar symptoms. As a result, we often start treating them the way corns should be treated – and with increasing weariness, we see the treatment failing to achieve the desired results.
Wart resistance
Why do some people have warts and others don’t? The situation is similar to that of the herpes virus – although many people have been in contact with the virus, not everyone will have eruptions. It all depends on the work of the immune system – the formation of warts is favored by a decrease in immunity. It may be a temporary immune disorder, such as in a woman before menstruation, but warts and immune disorders are also associated with systemic diseases, cancer and its therapy, and long-term use of steroids.
Children and the elderly also have worse immunity, which is why warts appear most often in them. For this reason, warts are different – sometimes no treatment helps for many weeks, and then within a few days they just disappear on their own. This is a sign that the immune system has strengthened and has gone to work.
Home methods of wart treatment – celandine juice
This does not mean that instead of effectively treating warts, we should wait for them to resolve spontaneously. It happens that if left untreated, they last for months or even years, growing deeper into the skin and causing pain and inflammation. Besides, the palms strewn with warts, after all, one of our showpieces, look very unsightly and often cause complexes.
One of the oldest methods of treatment, dating back to the times of our great-grandmothers, is application of celandine, also called swallow weed. This plant exudes a characteristic yellow-orange juice which the warts were smeared with for several days. Kurzajki often disappear after such treatment. However, beware: celandine juice has a strong allergenic effect, so sufferers of various allergies should avoid it. You also can’t rub your eyes with it, because we might be in trouble.
Another home treatment for warts is application textile tape. It consists in sticking a tape on the wart (for about 10 days) and then removing the skin lesion with a pumice stone. It is recommended to repeat this treatment for the next 3 to 6 weeks. Some consider it an effective method nail polish. Painting the bloom with varnish every day cuts off the access of oxygen to the dust, which makes it fall off after a few days.
See also: Calluses are unsightly corns. The best home remedies for calluses
Wart treatment – ointments, CO2 laser, cryotherapy
Today’s medicine offers us several methods of fighting warts. When they are still young and small, it is often enough to treat them with keratolytic and antiproliferative substances, mainly salicylic acid, urea and lactic acid. Their task is to “eat” the wart. These preparations, used in the form of ointments or gels, are available at a pharmacy without a prescription. Treatment with such agents is generally safe and gentle, although long-term, and may last up to two months.
A faster method of removing warts is a CO2 laser treatment – wart is burned out with a concentrated beam of light. Before performing the procedure, the skin should be well anesthetized. A scar may appear after the procedure, as it is quite a radical way of removing fragments of our tissue. Sometimes it also applies electrocoagulation, that is therapy with the use of high-frequency current. However, this method is slowly being abandoned because it is quite painful and leads to scarring, and the area after wart removal does not always heal well. In addition, the eruptions tend to recur.
Currently, the most common method is freezing, i.e. cryotherapy. They are made by spraying or using applicators. Then, with the help of a special cotton stick surrounded by cotton wool, a minimal amount of liquid nitrogen is applied to the wart in order to freeze the resulting lesion. This method is most often used when there are more warts on the skin or they are large due to its gentleness and safety. Try Help4Skin warts and warts – an aerosol that will help you get rid of warts quickly and safely.
Another method is curettage. It is used to remove common warts and warts on the foot. Although a small scar remains after the procedure, this method is very effective. Sometimes keratolytic methods are also used, which consist in scraping the skin eruptions with retinol preparations. This method helps to remove, for example, warts from the face.
Kurzajki – liquid nitrogen therapy
This method is painless. Sometimes it may sting, sting or ache (similar to a burn). However, after a few hours, the discomfort wears off. However, you need to be careful with the place after freezing – on the skin treated with liquid nitrogen, a bubble will first appear, which will dry after two or three days. Then there will be a scab that will come off after a week or two.
It is enough to cover the wound with a plaster with a dressing, but you have to make sure that it is clean, otherwise it may become re-infected. On the day of the procedure, we also avoid washing or soaking the treated area, then it can be treated normally.
Most often, one or two warts are removed at a time, even if there are more. The others must wait their turn.
Although warts in themselves are not life-threatening, they are unsightly and often cause complexes. Certain methods of removing these lesions take a very long time, because the patient develops self-infection, as a result of which new lesions appear in the place of the removed wart or on other parts of the body. Kurzajki placed on a finger can interfere with many everyday activities, and also attract the eyes of other people.
Text: Hanna Mądra