There’s no need to worry though because a wart is a benign tumor, which means that it is not cancer. It is just a harmless clump of skin cells growing a bit abnormally on your skin.

A very, very small (so small no one can see it without a special type of microscope) unusual creature called a virus is the cause of warts. A wart remover is needed that is able to get to the virus.

Viral infections may be very harmful or they may be pretty much harmless. Viruses come in over 5,000 different types. Wart causing viruses are very closely related to the HPV virus (Human Papilloma Virus). This virus is also known to cause cervical cancer.

Warts do not actually have roots. So, don’t worry about a wart remover that gets to the root. They only grow into the top layer of skin, known as the epidermis and the bottom of warts is smooth rather than root-like such as you would find in a plant in the ground.

Warts will grow as cylindrical columns, out of the skin. When the skin is thin, like on your face or genitals, the columns don’t intermingle and grow together like they do on thicker skin areas. When the skin is thick, these columns will grow together, or fuse, like branches in a tree. Upon viewing, they look and feel very rough, uneven and bumpy, like a mosaic pattern.

The black spots you may see in some warts are actually tiny blood vessels growing into a wart. In most cases these blood vessels have only clotted blood in them and are no longer active.

Most warts are found in adolescents, young people and children but no one is invulnerable to them. Not any age group, any ethnicity nor any other singular type of human being. All kinds of people get warts. However, a good wart remover will effect just about anyone.

Warts are spread by direct contact.
Most of the time warts will spontaneously disappear. Some will just take weeks or months but there are also some that may last for years.

Susceptibility and length of time to resolution is determined by each individual’s immune system. Your immune system is the most effective wart remover. Immune system related diseases may cause many more warts to occur and it may make warts hang around a lot longer.

Some warts are susceptible to over-the-counter wart remedies but there are resistant forms of warts that are not effected by these types of treatments. When these “tough” warts are encountered, other measures must be used.

A decent OTC wart remover remedy that can be used is salicylic acid (a type of aspirin in liquid form). But if you want to make sure this treatment is more effective, you should pare the wart prior to applying the solution. You can do this by lightly cutting or scraping the surface of the wart with a sharp blade, sandpaper, a pumice stone or rough cloth. After paring, apply the solution. This treatment will require frequent application on a daily basis.

You can usually protect the surrounding skin by applying some petroleum jelly. It’s also a good idea to occlude the wart that has been treated with a small piece of tape or even a band aid. This will improve the absorption of the acid solution.

An effective wart remover treatment used by many practitioners is that of cryotherapy or “freezing” of the wart cells. The provider applies either a spray or cotton tipped form of liquid nitrogen to the wart. When this solution touches the wart it kills the skin cells. The underlying connective tissue or basal cells are not harmed. Only the wart cells are destroyed.

The resulting lesion, from this type of cryotherapy, is usually not long lasting so there is little chance of a significant scarring. Keep in mind that cryotherapy does not kill the HPV virus. The virus is disappated into the surrounding tissue where it is immediately attacked and killed by the normal immune system. Cryotherapy is not usually used to treat plantar warts because the resulting crusted over blister is almost impossible to walk on due to the pain.

Treatments that should only be performed by trained health care providers include injections with such things as cantharidin, formalin, lactic acid or podophyllin.

There exists a newly discovered technique that uses the body’s own natural immune system to resolve warts, moles and skin tags, which is highly unusual because it usually takes three different types of treatments to resolve each of these lesions separately. This technique is finding a tremendous amount of support and is said to be highly effective, especially for warts, moles or skin tags that have proven to be difficult to get rid of. It uses no chemicals or solutions and must be implemented by the individual. No doctors or OTC preparations are needed. This is very promising.