health

Warts are small areas of hardened skin that can grow on almost any part
of the body. Human papilloma (pah-pih-LO-mah) viruses, or HPV,
causes warts. More than 100 different kinds, or strains, of HPV exist.
Warts are usually skin-colored and bumpy or rough, but sometimes
they are dark and smooth. The way a wart looks depends on where it is
growing, and different kinds of warts appear on different parts of the
body.
Common warts usually grow on fingers and hands, especially around
fingernails. These warts usually have a rough, bumpy surface with tiny
black dots, which are the blood vessels that feed the wart and allow it
to grow. Flat warts are much smaller than common warts and are very
smooth. This type of wart typically grows in little bunches on the face
and legs; as many as 100 flat warts may grow together in one place.
Common warts and flat warts generally are not painful except under certain
circumstances, such as when the pressure of a pencil pushes against
a wart on the finger while writing. Plantar warts, which grow on the
soles of the feet, can be quite painful as a person walks on them, flattening
them and pushing them back into the skin. Like a common wart,
a plantar wart is covered with black dots marking the place of blood
vessels.
Genital warts are small and pink, and they can grow one at a time or
in bunches that make them look a bit like cauliflower. This type of wart
can grow on the genitals*, the skin around the genitals, the rectum*, the
buttocks, or in the vagina* or cervix*. Although most warts do not cause
major health problems, genital warts may itch or bleed, and the ones
caused by some strains of HPV are known to increase a woman’s chances
of developing cancer of the cervix without causing a wart.