Warts, caused by the human papillomavirus or HPV, are noncancerous skin growths. They form when the virus invades the skin, usually through a tiny cut or scratch. The virus causes rapid growth of cells on the outer layer of skin. Warts are usually skin-colored but can be dark. They can be rough or smooth.

Here are the types of skin warts, known medically as verrucae:

• Common warts are found on the fingers, and the backs of the hands

• Palmer warts are found on the palms, as the name suggests.

• Plantar warts grow on the feet, typically the soles of the feet

• Flat warts are typically smaller and smoother than other warts; they can grow in large numbers, even as much as 20 to 100 at a time. Flat warts on children are typically found on the face.

• Filiform warts look like the kind that cartoon witches get on their chins or noses and stick straight out. They are often found on the face.

• Genital warts don’t typically affect younger children because they are usually sexually transmitted.

Children get a lot of warts. Maybe that’s why folklore attributes warts to touching frogs or toads. Forget that myth. Here are the facts on warts that every parent should know.

• Between 10 to 20 percent of children have common skin warts.

• Girls get more warts than boys.

• Warts are most prevalent in children between the ages of 12 and 16.

• Warts are contagious, but typically harmless.

There is a lot of confusion about warts. Here are some facts and myths to help clear the air:

• Warts dont have roots: Warts never grow into the dermis, they only grow in the top layer of skin (the epidermis) and if they do grow deeper, they simply displace the second layer of skin with their smooth bottoms.

• Warts are contagious: Even a tiny skin abrasion can make an area of skin on your body susceptible to contagion, and you can also transmit the infection to others. Genital warts are particularly contagious.

• You can’t cure warts: The warts virus (HPV) resides in your DNA. You can however treat and remove them..

• Toads can’t give you warts: Toads have warts, but they can’t give you warts. HPV, the warts virus, is the HPV virus, as in the human pappiloma virus and has nothing to do with toads or their warts.

• You can’t tell if someone has genital warts: Only 10 percent of all genital warts are visible. They can be hidden in skin folds, or internal. They are not usually painful, don’t bleed, and you are unlikely to feel them yourself.

• Genital warts can cause cancer: Two types of genital warts HPV (of more than 150 types of HPV) cause 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer. Sexually active women must get regular pap smears.

• You can’t transmit genital warts from your hands to your genitals and vice versa: The types of HPV causing genital warts are different strains from those causing warts on your body elsewhere. If your child has genital warts, he or she has been sexually abused and needs to receive medical attention and counseling immediately.

• You can prevent wart growths: Boost your immune system, stop smoking, cut back on alcohol, exercise, drink water and eat healthy foods.

• Warts won’t keep growing: In fact, in many cases they will disappear naturally after about six months. In some cases, they may grow and multiply. In that case, seek immediate treatment if you have not already done so.

• Wart treatment doesn’t have to be painful: While surgery, electrocautery (burning), acid prescriptions, and freezing (cryosuregery) are painful and have varying levels of success (note the only way to get rid of internal genital warts for a woman is surgery), for external warts there are a range of natural products that offer pain free treatments.

• Warts can grow back: Check with your treatment provider if the warts are likely to grow back or not before embarking on a costly, tedious and disappointing method of treatment.

Home remedies

People try countless home remedies for warts. They rub warts with garlic, or apply a paste made of baking powder and castor oil. They crush vitamin C tablets into a paste to cover the wart. They even soak warts in pineapple juice. How about the one where you rub a pork chop bone over it, then throw the bone away where you’ll never cross over it again?

But one home remedy, duct tape, has some solid research behind it. One study even found it more effective than commonly used freezing therapy. The duct tape is applied over the wart and is believed to cause an irritation, leading the immune system to kick in and clear the wart.

For the duct tape treatment, put a small strip over the wart and leave it in place for about six days. At the end of the sixth day, remove the tape, soak the wart in water and then gently debride it with a pumice stone or emory board.

Leave the tape off overnight, then repeat the process. Be patient. This home remedy may take two months to get rid of the wart.

OTC remedies

Generally, most dermatologists say it’s safe to try drug store wart removers, as long as you’ve confirmed that it’s really a wart. Sometimes calluses or corns are mistaken for warts. If in doubt, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

Many over-the-counter wart treatments contain salicylic acid. The success rate is about 75 percent over six weeks or so. Other treatments work by “freezing” the wart. After two or three treatments, each lasting about 10 days, the success rate is about 75 percent.

Over-the-counter treatments aren’t recommended for common warts on the face or lips, and should not be used on genital warts, which are caused by a different strain of virus. See your doctor about treatments for those warts.

Doctor recommendations

If you go to a doctor, you can choose from many wart treatments. Some focus on destroying the wart and others focus on boosting your immune system so you clear the wart. Among the options:

• Liquid nitrogen to freeze the wart

• Prescription strength salicylic acid, to be applied at home, to get rid of the wart

• Laser or surgery to cut the wart off

• Oral cimetidine (Tagamet), taken for two or three months, to stimulate the immune system, so it can fight the virus that causes warts

• Topical immune system stimulant such squaric acid, applied to the skin for several weeks, to help fight the virus

Immune therapy for warts can take six to 12 weeks to work. Removing warts with a laser or surgery is the fastest treatment, but also the most expensive and invasive.

A wart does not have to be permanent. It just takes a little work to get rid of it.

Sherry Mullenix (J.D., R.N.) co-owns The Pharmacy in Mount Olive with her husband, Steve Mullenix (R.Ph). They can be reached at 631-1201.