Warts have plagued humanity for centuries and there have been many theories about what causes them. The Latin name for a wart is Verrucae vulgaris and describes them well because they actually do look ‘vulgar’. This term has been used mainly when referring to warts appearing under the sole of your foot or anywhere on your toes.

The most common location for a wart to appear is on your fingers or toes. It starts out as a tiny growth on your skin and then over time it can turn into a larger, rough tumor-like growth – and the larger ones can even take on cauliflower-like appearances. But what causes warts and how do we get them?

Warts are caused by a slow growing virus called the Human Papilloma Virus or HPV and we get them when we have close skin contact with another infected person. So they are contagious through touch but not highly contagious. Another way to get infected is to use the bath towels of someone who already has warts. Warts can disappear spontaneously after a few months or weeks, probably due to our own immune systems killing them off. Or they can hang around for years and often spread and multiply.

There are many types of warts and sometimes trying to classify them can get a bit confusing. They are often classified by their appearances, where they occur on the body or which subtype or strain of HPV they are caused by. Best known is the common wart or Verruca vulgaris which occurs anywhere on the body but is seen mostly on hands. It has a raised appearance with a rough surface.

Next is the Verruca plana or flat wart which is flesh colored, mostly flat and small and often you will find them in large numbers grouped together on the neck, wrists, knees, hands and face. Another common type is the plantar wart also called Verruca pedis which only occurs under the soles of feet, can feel hard to the touch and some have a small indent in the centre with a black spot in it. They grow mostly inwards into the sole of your foot.

A strange wart is the finger-like digitate wart – these filiform warts are found mostly on the facial areas like the eyelid or the lips of victims. Then there is a type of wart that grows mainly around the nail-beds and is known as a periungual wart. They often occur in clusters  that have a cauliflower type of appearance.

And let’s not forget the mosaic warts that appear to be tightly clustered and occur mainly on the hands or foot soles and can have a plantar-like appearance. Lastly we will mention the most demonized wart of them all, the genital wart which, as the name suggests, occurs mostly on the genitalia. This type of wart is also known as a Condyloma acuminata or a Condylomata lata, but most folks just refer to them as venereal warts.

So now that you know more about where warts come from and what causes them, you can browse around our site for more good info on how to treat these stubborn skin growths. We can recommend a good product like Wartrol so go and check it out.