We know that warts are growths on the skin that are caused by a virus – the human papilloma virus – but children can be more susceptible to this virus because they are still growing and have limited immunity. When the HPV virus invades the skin, it causes the skin cells to grow rapidly thus forming the wart.
In addition, in children the areas of the body are more prone to minor injury (with their rough and tumble lifestyle) so that there is often a break in the skin. This makes it easy for the virus to enter. Common warts are not usually painful and they appear as small bumps of hardened skin or strange little growths on the fingers, hands, face or feet. Sometimes they grow around or under the nails. When this happens, they can be more difficult to get rid of.
What Do Common Warts Look Like?
The best way to describe common warts is that they look like small cauliflowers. They can vary in color from light grey to yellow to brown or even grey/black. They can be round or irregular in shape and measure anything from 2mm to 10mm across. Sometimes they appear on their own and sometimes in clusters. Although common warts grow quite slowly compared to other warts, it is still wise to treat them as they will disappear much sooner than if they are left alone when they might even increase in number and size or at best take up to a couple of years to go.
The length of time between when someone is exposed to an HPV virus and a wart appearing varies, but warts can grow very slowly and may take many months to develop. Warts are different in different people. In time, many warts disappear on their own. With treatment, warts can usually be removed within a few weeks.
How To Avoid The Spread Of Common Warts
While you are treating them, try to encourage your child not to scratch or pick at the warts as this can spread them through the bloodstream. It is always best to avoid direct skin contact with a wart on someone else and to educate your child to wash his hands and skin regularly and well. If he cuts or scratches his skin, be careful to use soap and water to thoroughly cleanse the area because open wounds are more susceptible to the HPV virus infecting the skin and leading to warts.
Treatment For Common Warts In Children
Although you can treat common and other warts in children with over the counter medications, these tend to be quite harsh, and even painful when applying, so a natural and topical homeopathic product is a safe and gentle alternative for treating your children from the age of 4 years and upwards.
Topical homeopathic products such as H-Warts Formula are specially formulated to reduce the appearance and symptoms of all types of warts including common warts, plantar warts and flat warts. Because such products are gentle, children will not object to the product being applied topically and on a regular basis and because the formula is concentrated with only a few drops needed for each application, parents will find the product very economical to buy and to use, counteracting the symptoms of warts so that they shrink and flake away in a safe, gentle and painless way.
Over-the-counter medications contain acids that are applied to the wart. The acids are peeling agents that remove the dead skin cells of the wart and cause the wart to eventually fall off but such OTC treatments should never be used on the face as they could damage the skin. Cryosurgery is where a doctor freezes the wart with liquid nitrogen. This treatment is usually done in the doctor's office.
Laser Surgery May Be Used For Warts That Are Particularly Stubborn
Within a few days after treatment by a doctor, a small wart will usually fall off, although you may need more than one treatment. Treatment may take longer for larger warts. Over-the-counter skin treatments may take longer than the doctor's office treatments, but can be used as initial treatment on the hands or feet. Your doctor may also tell you to use OTC treatments after you've had a procedure in his office to ward off more warts.
