Contents
The different types of warts
Plantar warts, on the feet
They develop, as their name suggests, on the sole of the foot. They can be unique, circumscribed by a ring of harder flesh, painful on the support or multiple and more superficial, mosaic-shaped; they are then painless.
Flat warts, on the hands, fingers, face
Buff-colored, their surface is smooth. They are hardly visible on the hands, fingers or face.
Common warts
They are unusual; they more readily colonize the backs of the hands and fingers, near the fingernails. These yellowish gray growths are bristling with small protrusions that make them rough. They grow singly or in bands, but they are not the most contagious.
Where do warts come from?
Warts belong to viruses from the papillomavirus family (of which more than 70 types have been identified!). They penetrate the epidermis through a breach (produced, for example, by the rough coating of a swimming pool which also retains the infected scales of other bathers!). Another favorable circumstance: a transient immune deficiency which may be linked to a recent infection, eczema or stress.
Once in the skin, the virus causes cells to proliferate, which results in these small growths of varying size. They can grow on the hands and fingers (in this case, they are called common warts) or under the soles of the feet (these are the famous plantar warts that all mothers of little swimmers know well!).
Warts in children: how to prevent them?
To prevent infection and therefore the wart, we avoid walking barefoot in the swimming pool (in the gym, etc.), we dry feet and hands thoroughly, we regularly disinfect the bathroom floor if one of the children of the family is infected. And we treat the wart (s) to interrupt the chain of transmission.
Warts in babies or children: what treatments?
Warts
These solutions in local application can be bought in pharmacies for superficial warts. They are placed directly on the wart for at least 6 weeks.
Based on acids (salicylic acid, a cousin of aspirin, and lactic acid in particular), they strip the hypertrophied stratum corneum (Coricide Le Diable, from Sodia or Kérafilm, from Ducray), all the better as it is Encloses it under a bandage and files the “cap” of the wart as the treatment progresses.
You can also try a home application of nitrogen with a device (CryoVerrues, from Persee Médica, to come). Non-painful and very practical, a tip allows you to propel cold and dry gas only on the wart. It is called cryotherapy, or cold therapy. But these treatments are more or less painful and are not always supported by children.
Nitrogen in the dermatologist
It is used if the wart is obviously impermeable to the products or deep as on the sole of the foot. The dermatologist then applies nitrogen which burns the wart, sometimes in several sessions, depending on its thickness. A ‘not very pleasant’ treatment which must be combined with applications of acid keratolytics in the evening, at home. Laser and electric scalpel are, however, not recommended for children.
Homeopathy, natural remedies: the other solutions
Less conventional, but, it seems, often effective, include alternative medicines such as homeopathy (granules of Thuja and Antimonium crudum, in particular), aromatherapy, herbal medicine (celandine) or hypnosis ( by direct suggestion, amazing in children). Finally, some recommend the application of an adhesive canvas tape. And perhaps more wacky, a clove of raw garlic, protecting healthy skin with olive oil. Whoever tries nothing has nothing, as they say.
Warts: your questions, our answers
- My son scratched his wart, is he likely to have more?
Yes, the virus that causes this cell proliferation is nestled in the small scales that come off on scratching and all parts of skin then in contact can become infected.
- Do you know a trick to apply verrucide only on the wart and not on healthy skin?
The applicator or brush should be fine on aim. But for more safety, one can put, around the wart, nail varnish or an Elastoplast bandage perforated in its center which one covers with another closed Elastoplast, for more effectiveness.