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Warts are a common viral infection that can grow in the skin around or under your nails. When warts appear under your fingernails or toenails, they are referred to as subungual warts. Unlike warts found elsewhere on your body, subungual warts may be quite painful and are hard to cure.
Warts can appear on your skin--usually on hands, feet and face--inside the mouth, and in the genital and rectal area. Doctors normally remove common external skin warts by freezing, cutting, burning or lasering them; they can also be slowly dissolved using a topical commercial wart cream. Many people report success with their own homemade versions of wart cream, especially when used consistently over a period of time. Although you can't use a home remedy on genital warts--these must be removed by a doctor--some homemade lotions, faithfully applied, just might banish those annoying skin warts.
Human papilloma virus is an extremely common sexually transmitted virus. It affects the cells that live on the skin and in the vagina, anus and mouth. There are many ways to contract the virus, and it affects 24 million Americans, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (medicalnewstoday.com). It can affect men and women, though women are at particular risk as it may cause cervical cancer. Men often do not present symptoms but sometimes will experience genital warts as a result of HPV. There are ways to protect against the virus, including a vaccine.
Warts are ugly growths on the skin that can cause pain and embarrassment, depending upon where they are located. Caused by a common virus, warts can appear anywhere on the body and are often difficult to remove without medical assistance. While some people are immune to the wart virus, most people will experience these nuisances at some point in their lives.
