A wart on a finger is a benign tumor that has a viral nature. The causative agent that provokes the appearance of such formations is the human papillomavirus. Warts are considered safe formations because. It rarely causes cancer. However, this fact does not mean that treatment is not necessary at all. This article provides detailed information about the etiology of the disease, external signs and modern methods of treatment.
Causes of warts on the finger
Warts are not uncommon because. Human papillomavirus, which causes them to grow, is highly contagious and does not spare either adults or children. The causative agent, when it gets on the skin, enters the tissues with the slightest damage and remains in the body forever. At the same time, different levels of viral load are observed at different times, e. i. The population of the microorganism either increases or decreases. For a long time, the disease can be asymptomatic. The incubation period can vary significantly in each case and ranges from 1-6 months to several years. All this undoubtedly affects the nature of external manifestations. Thus, an increase in the activity of the virus leads to the appearance of the same warts on the fingers, legs, knees and other areas of the skin.
The surest way of infection is direct contact with an already infected person. HPV is often sexually transmitted, so unprotected sex or promiscuous sex is the most likely reason for the increased incidence. However, most often, the growth of warts on the fingers is caused by the contact of the upper extremities with infected surfaces, be it the hands of the virus carrier or the objects that he recently used - a pen, cutlery, etc. Towel, book, etc. Sh. All public facilities are considered places of increased danger, but especially those with increased levels of humidity.
Even the child can be infected from the mother. This happens during childbirth.
Localization of warts on the fingers increases the risk of self-infection, e. i. Rapid spread of infection to the face and other parts of the body. The reason for this is the propensity of the formations to frequent injuries, which leads to the release of a large amount of the pathogen on the surface, and the fact that the fingers are in contact with all other parts of the skin and can transfer the virus. them.
The reality is that the answer to the question of why warts appear on the fingers is quite ambiguous and involves many provocations. First of all, the development of a viral infection is facilitated by a decrease in the immune status of an infected person, when the body cannot withstand the action of the virus, keeping its population at the same level and preventing the uncontrolled growth of the virus. Epithelial cells in the form of a wart on the finger or other parts of the body. Here, too, everything is ambiguous, because the decrease in immunity has many causes. This is an unbalanced diet, drug abuse, bad habits, emotional and physical overload.
What else causes warts on fingers? Various acute and chronic diseases, such as severe colds, diabetes, HIV, venereal diseases, skin pathologies, etc. Sh. , causes activation of the pathogen. Individual characteristics, such as hyperhidrosis or increased sweating, also stimulate the development of pathogenic microflora.
Lack of daily care and lack of personal hygiene also allows HPV to infect more and more areas of the skin. Unwashed hands, untreated injuries, dry and chapped skin, nail biting and calluses can all be the cause of finger warts.
What do finger warts look like?
Most people confuse warts with other skin growths, such as calluses, lichen planus, keratosis, molluscum contagiosum, and often choose the wrong treatment options or completely ignore the external manifestations of the disease, exposing themselves to the risk of spreading the infection. and others at risk of infection.
In order not to make such mistakes, it is better to study in detail what warts on the finger look like, what types they are, and go to the hospital in time to make an accurate diagnosis and determine effective treatment. mode.
Benign epithelial changes caused by HPV have a capillary network that feeds their cells. Because of this, when the integrity of the growth is damaged, very often there is a small amount of bleeding, which increases the risk of spreading the infection and infecting the wound. This is partly the reason why it is so frustrating to try to cut these hardened tissues.
Warts first appear in one quantity - only one or two. But due to problems with the functioning of the immune system, more and more formations may appear. Sometimes they merge, so extensive skin damage is formed.
It should be noted that a rapidly growing focus indicates a strong activity of the pathogen and prompts an urgent visit to the doctor. It is also worth going to the hospital to find out how to treat warts on the fingers in cases where the neoplasm begins to darken or redden, if there is a noticeable change in its structure and there is swelling, pus, or it is arbitrary. Increases removal of pathological fluid from the body.
The color of warts can be yellowish, skin tone, gray-brown. In some cases, black dots are visible on the surface - these are only places where thrombosis of small blood vessels has occurred.
The most common types of finger warts are:
- vulgar warts. The second name is common. They quite often appear not only on the inner side of the palm, but also on the entire surface of the fingers, sometimes they affect the periungual space, where the skin is exposed to tension and pus. Flesh-colored formations are more common, but brownish-yellowish or grayish can be found. The form is nodular or domed. 2-7 mm in diameter. The structure of the building is quite dense and a little rough. It is drier than healthy skin. It can crack and cause pain.
- Superficial flat warts. Their surface only slightly rises above the skin. The shape is rounded, however, during spreading and fusion, there are protrusions with an uneven contour. The color can be either brown or light yellow. The diameter of one flat wart on a finger is 3 to 4 mm. Their presence on the skin is most often not accompanied by pain.
- Deep flat warts. This type of skin formation often causes pain due to its structure. Outside the skin, the growths look flat with a slight depression in the center, but their root grows deeper into the dermis layers. This, of course, causes significant daily discomfort, which makes a person go to the doctor more often than other reasons. The shape of deep formations is irregular, color and size are usually the same as superficial warts.
- subcutaneous warts. The name was not chosen by chance. Such formations occur exactly in the area under the free edge of the nail plate. The wart on the finger is first flat and has a smooth surface, then it becomes rough and keratinized. With low virus activity, they practically do not give symptoms, but with a significant weakening of health and lack of proper hygienic care, they grow, penetrate the tissues under the nail, provoke the rejection of the plate from the nail bed. . In this case, it is no longer possible to talk about only an aesthetic defect. Pain and pus appear, gradually the formation reaches the matrix and destroys it irreversibly.
Many believe that the treatment of such a disease is not mandatory if you are trying to strengthen the immune system so that the body can cope on its own. However, this opinion is largely wrong. After all, there are many reasons for the need to treat warts on the fingers and other parts of the body. Firstly, such neoplasms are quite contagious, and even a person with one wart can infect several healthy people, in whom the disease can develop in a more serious form. Secondly, many children, adolescents and adults are simply very embarrassed by the presence of such skin growths, which, of course, leads to the desire to find an effective way to remove a wart on the finger. What can we say about pain, susceptibility to trauma and the danger of the oncological process.
Ways to treat warts on the finger
Modern medicine knows many effective ways to remove a wart on the finger. Each of them has both advantages and disadvantages and should be used only with a doctor's prescription and drug therapy, because simple removal of growths by any method does not suppress viral activity and does not guarantee the absence of recurrence. disease in the near future.
Removal of warts on fingers in the clinic
When meeting with a dermatologist, a detailed diagnosis is carried out, the results of which, in addition to basic health indicators, determine the strain of the disease-causing virus, as well as the risk of developing an oncological process. Tests for co-morbidities such as HIV may often be required, which can also cause finger warts and worsen the course of the disease.
As a result, multifaceted treatment is prescribed. It includes excision of formations with one of the modern instrumental methods, including:
- laser removal. The most popular method. Almost all clinics offer it. Special equipment allows you to burn the epithelial tumor almost painlessly, avoiding bleeding. The healing time of the crusts is minimal. After such an impact, the tissues recover quickly, so there are practically no traces left on the skin in the form of scars.
- Removal of radio waves. The method is based on the strength of radio waves, which simply breaks up the formations without bleeding. With the radio knife, you can remove warts on your fingers, practically without touching healthy tissue. The procedure is quite expensive, but it is recognized as highly effective and safe.
- Electrocoagulation. Active power is a current of different frequency. It clears finger wart cells in seconds. At the same time, the vessels are sealed, which prevents bleeding.
- surgical way.It is not performed without local anesthesia, because. Removal is done with a scalpel. It is prescribed less often than other options. The main indication is a large lesion, if it is necessary to take material for histological examination, as well as the presence of deep indentation in the skin and under the nail plate. Healthy tissues are often damaged during the procedure. Scars often remain after healing. The price of surgical intervention is calculated individually in each individual case.
- Cryotherapy. A widely used method. The body of the wart on the finger is removed by exposure to liquid nitrogen at ultra-low temperatures. This option is characterized by good performance, painlessness, without the need for local anesthesia. However, during the recovery period - about 7-10 days - you should follow all the doctor's recommendations so that the treated areas heal quickly and without problems.
- Chemical method. Finger wart removal is performed using aggressive chemicals such as trichloroacetic acid. To avoid burning healthy tissues, it is better to entrust the implementation to a qualified specialist. The impact should be very precise and only on the body of the building. Scars may remain after healing. The cost of the procedure depends on the selected drug and is calculated by the doctor individually.
No method provides a 100% guarantee of effectiveness and the absence of repetition. The result depends not only on the type of wart, its localization, but also on the qualifications of the medical staff and the equipment and drugs used. During the recovery period, the patient himself plays an important role, who must follow all the doctor's instructions: treat the wart removal sites on the fingers daily, avoid trauma, hypothermia of the palms, take the prescribed medications, eliminate bad habits and normalize the condition. diet. Only then you will no longer have to decide how to get rid of a wart on your finger.
Treatment of warts on the fingers with drugs
Competent medical treatment of warts on the fingers involves taking drugs whose action is aimed at suppressing the viral infection, raising the immune status and restoring the balance of minerals, vitamins and other useful compounds.
Types of medical products for the treatment of warts on the fingers:
- Oral preparations. This category includes drugs with a complex effect - antiviral and immunomodulatory. At the moment, there is no drug that can completely kill the human papillomavirus, so one of the tasks of modern medicine is to simulate natural immunity to increase the body's resistance and significantly reduce the viral load, stop the growth of warts. Fingers and other places.
- External use. Some drugs are intended for antiseptic treatment, some accelerate tissue regeneration, some have local antiviral and immunostimulating effects, some nourish skin cells, normalize all metabolic processes.
- causative external agents. They can contain both causative acids and other components that contribute to the destruction of formations. Home use is associated with the risk of burns, so the procedure should be carried out with great care. Some drugs work on the principle of cryodestruction, and others on the principle of chemical destruction.
- Complexes of vitamins and minerals. They are prescribed to prevent nutrient deficiencies in the body, restore metabolism and function of individual organs and systems, including the immune system.
Folk remedies for warts on the finger
The effectiveness of traditional medicine does not resolve disputes. Some argue that it is ineffective and that people are simply wasting valuable time by refusing to see a doctor, while others believe that it is the only correct way to safely cure the majority.
To find the right answer to the question of how to reduce a wart on a finger, it is better to use the golden mean. Consult a doctor and discuss complex therapy options with him, including instrumental removal of growths, taking HPV-specific medications and suitable folk remedies.
Popular folk remedies for treating warts on fingers:
- Plum compresses. Dissolve salt (20 g) in water (150 ml), add vinegar (20 ml), mix and pour one half of a plum into this solution. Infusion time - 2 hours. Remove the plums, grate the pulp. Apply the resulting mass on the warts and fix it with a bandage or plaster for 2-8 hours.
- Castor oil for warts. It is used externally 4-5 times a day. Daily use of this remedy ensures rapid recovery of epithelial cells.
- Tincture of Tui.Thuja leaves (20 g) are poured with vodka (100 ml). Insist for 14 days. Massage the affected areas with warts on your fingers several times for 3 minutes. The procedure is repeated twice a day for 14-20 days.
- Coniferous tincture. Take young coniferous shoots and juniper fruit in equal quantities. Mix and grind all the raw materials. Place the obtained mixture in a glass vessel and pour 200 g of alcohol. Leave for about 3 weeks. Drain and use to lubricate the growths. It is enough to apply it once a day.
- Infusion of lemon peel. Remove the peel from 1-2 lemons and cut them, you can use a knife, you can use a meat grinder. Put the obtained mass in a glass jar and fill it with table vinegar in a volume of 100-150 ml. Close the lid tightly. Leave to insist for a week, do not forget to shake every day. Then remove the cake and treat the warts with the obtained infusion on your fingers, try not to touch the healthy skin.
- Horse chestnut decoction. To prepare, boil 2. 5 liters of water, add horse chestnut leaves (120 g) and boil for 15 minutes on low heat, strain and pour the broth into a pot. When it cools down to 36-40 degrees, dip your palms into it. The duration of such a bath is 20 minutes. It is necessary to carry out 8 procedures within 2. 5 weeks, i. e. i. Repeat every 3 days before going to bed.
- Herbal infusion. Such a tool has a complex effect on the whole body. But its most important feature is to stimulate the immune system to fight the virus. Systematic intake stops the growth of warts on the finger. To prepare, mix and then grind 20g of juniper needles, basil leaves, chicory root and dandelion, birch leaves, as well as 30g of horsetail and nettle. Store in a glass container with a lid. For decoration, take 20 g of the mixture, place it in an enamel pan, pour boiling water (500 ml) and leave for 60 minutes. Filter and take inside before meals, 100-150 ml 3-4 times a day.
Regardless of what caused the weakening of the immune system and the growth of epithelial tumors, warts that appear on fingers and toes, elbows, knees, feet and other places require special attention and proper treatment. Timely admission to the hospital, as well as the selection of adequate methods for the removal of growths and treatment of HPV, will allow you to recover faster and forget about the unpleasant manifestations of the viral disease for a long time.