Warts are benign (not cancerous) skin growths that appear when a virus infects the top layer of the skin. Viruses that cause warts are called human papillomavirus (HPV). You are more likely to get one of these viruses if you cut or damage your skin in some way.
Wart viruses are contagious. Warts can spread by contact with the wart or something that touched the wart.
Warts are often skin-colored and feel rough, but they can be dark (brown or gray-black), flat, and smooth.
There are a few different types of warts. The type is determined by where it grows on the body and what it looks like. The following describes the signs (what a person sees) and symptoms (what a person feels) for some of the different types of warts.
Common warts:
(also called vurruca vulgaris)
If you see a wart on your child’s face, check your child’s hands for warts. The virus that causes warts can spread from the hands to the face through touch or nail biting.
Common warts have these traits:
- Grow most often on the fingers, around the nails, and on the backs of the hands.
- Are more common where skin was broken, such as from biting fingernails or picking at hangnails.
- Can have black dots that look like seeds (often called “seed” warts).
- Most often feel like rough bumps.
Foot warts
(also called plantar warts)
- Grow most often on the soles (plantar surface) of the feet.
- Can grow in clusters (mosaic warts).
- Often are flat or grow inward (walking creates pressure, which causes the warts to grow inward).
- Can hurt, feels like you have pebbles in your shoe.
- Can have black dots.
Flat warts
- Can occur anywhere. Children usually get them on the face. Men get these most often in the beard area, and women tend to get them on their legs.
- Are smaller and smoother than other warts.
- Tend to grow in large numbers — 20 to 100 at a time.
Filiform warts:
- Looks like long threads or thin fingers that stick out.
- Often grows on the face: around the mouth, eyes, and nose.
- Often grow quickly.
HIV weakens the immune system, so the body often cannot fight the virus that causes the warts.