A wart is a small, rough growth resembling a cauliflower or a solid blister. It typically occurs on human’s hands or feet but often in other locations. Warts are caused by a viral infection, specifically by one of the many types of human papillomavirus (HPV). There are as many as 10 varieties of warts, the most common considered to be mostly harmless. It is possible to get warts from others; they are contagious and usually enter the body in an area of broken skin. Warts are usually asymptomatic except when they occur on weight-bearing areas.
HPV infects the top layer of skin, usually entering the body in an area of broken skin. The virus causes the top layer of skin to grow rapidly, forming a wart. Most warts go away on their own within months or years.
Types of Warts
Warts
Plantar warts: This type of wart usually appears as flesh-colored or light brown lumps that are flecked with small clotted blood vessels that appear as tiny black dots. Plantar warts appear on the soles of the feet.
Genital warts: Genital warts can appear in the pubic area, on the genitals, in or around the anus, and/or in the vagina. They look like small flesh-colored, pink, or red growths. The warts may look similar to the small parts of a cauliflower or they may be very tiny and difficult to see. They often appear in clusters of three or four, and may grow and spread rapidly. They usually are not painful, although they may cause mild pain, bleeding, and itching. HPV infection is the most common sexually transmitted disease in North America and certain forms of the virus can cause cervical cancer.
Flat warts: This type of wart is more common in teens and children than in adults. Flat warts are smoother, flatter, and smaller than other warts and they generally occur on the face. Flat warts also can appear on the legs, especially among females.
Warts are caused through direct contact with HPV, which is contagious. HPV may spread by person-to-person contact or through direct contact with an object used by a person with the virus. The virus that causes warts also can spread to other places on the body of the person with warts.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
Warts come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. A wart may be a bump with a rough surface, or it may be flat and smooth. Tiny blood vessels grow into the core of the wart to supply it with blood. In both common and plantar warts, these blood vessels may look like dark dots in the wart’s center.
Warts are usually painless. But a wart that grows in a spot where you put pressure, such as on a finger or on the bottom of the foot, can be painful.
Homoeopathic Approach:
Homeopathy treats the person as a whole. It means that homeopathic treatment focuses on the patient as a person, as well as his pathological condition. The homeopathic medicines are selected after a full individualizing examination and case-analysis, which includes the medical history of the patient, physical and mental constitution etc. A miasmatic tendency (predisposition/susceptibility) is also often taken into account for the treatment of chronic conditions. The homeopathic remedies for warts given below indicate the therapeutic affinity but this is not a complete and definite guide to the treatment of this condition. The symptoms listed against each homeopathic remedy may not be directly related to this disease because in homeopathy general symptoms and constitutional indications are also taken into account for selecting a remedy.
Antimonium crudum (Ant-c.): Hard, smooth warts that often appear in groups. Irritability and a thickly coated white tongue also suggest the need for this remedy. The person may also overeat and have various digestive complaints.
Calcarea carbonica (Calc.): Round, hard, solitary warts. Often useful for endophytic warts that have a horny wall surrounding a central depression. Indicated in people with clammy hands and feet who prefer routine and the familiar rather than change and the unknown.
Causticum (Caust.): Old, large warts on the face (especially the nose), under the fingernails, or warts on fingertips that bleed easily suggest the need for this remedy. The warts also tend to be hard, inflamed, and painful and sit on whitish-yellow, dirty looking skin. People who benefit from this remedy tend fear that something awful will happen and feel intensely sympathetic about the hardship of others.
Cinnabaris (Cinnb.): A common remedy for molluscum contagiosum that has a reddish periphery and senile keratosis (thick, crusty and scaly skin growths of the aged). People needing this remedy may also be prone to sinusitis.
Dulcamara (Dulc.): Flat warts located on backs of hands and face and soft brownish to black seborrheic warts found on the back. Indicated in people with rheumatic complaints that are worse in cold, damp weather or humidity.