What Causes Warts?

Warts are common benign skin growths that develop when a virus infects the skin. Warts can range a great deal in color, size, and appearance. Some are small, flat, and skin-colored, others are raised and dark. Warts can be flat and smooth, thick and bumpy, or project off the skin. They can also develop anywhere although they are most common on the hands, face, and feet. Don't believe the myth warts come from touching toads and frogs. This is not true and likely got started because children get warts more often than adults. Here's what really causes warts.

Exposure To Wart-Causing Viruses

Common warts are the result of a viral infection in the outer layer of the skin. Warts are caused by exposure to wart-causing viruses in the human papillomavirus (HPV) family. When these viruses invade the skin through a small scratch, cut, or damage, they cause rapid growth of skin cells on the outer layer that creates the wart. There are more than one hundred types of HPV, and they are found everywhere. Most individuals come in contact with HPV before they reach adulthood and most have at least one wart in their life. Warts are usually on the hands as the virus is acquired by touching contaminated items.

Because warts are the result of a viral infection of the skin, they are contagious. A wart can be spread by contact with the wart itself or something that has touched the wart.

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