Warts - how Tea Tree Essential Oil can help

A wart is a lump on the skin produced by a virus. The virus invades the skin cells and causes them to multiply rapidly. Wart viruses are spread by touch or by contact with the shed skin of a wart.

There are several different types of wart. A common wart (known as a verruca when it develops on the sole of the foot) is a small, hard, horny, whitish or flesh-coloured lump, often with a cauliflower-like surface. Inside are small clotted blood vessels that form black dots. The common wart can grow anywhere on your body but is most likely to develop on your hands. On the soles of the feet and palms of the hands, it tends to become pushed in so that its surface is level with the rest of the skin. Several warts may appear next to one another on your foot, forming a mosaic-like area that sometimes reaches 25mm (1inch) or more across.
Common warts are usually painless. However, a wart on the underside of your foot presses into your foot as you walk and may be quite painful.

Among the other, less common types of wart are: plane warts, small brown smooth lumps that occur most often in children; anal warts; genital warts; and vulvar warts. These last three types are known as anogenital warts and may be caused by different strains of wart virus to those that cause common warts. Anogenital warts are sometimes sexually transmitted. People who have had anogenital warts in the past have an increased risk of developing cancers of the structures affected – cancer of the cervix, of the penis and of the anus. These cancers are all easily treatable if detected at an early stage and anyone who has had anogenital warts should have regular screening for cancer.

Molluscum contagiosum is a wart-like infection that produces tiny white pearly lumps, each with a central depression. These lumps are also most common in children.

How common is the problem?

Warts are common in teenagers and children but less so in adults. Roughly 1 schoolchild in 20 has one or more warts at any one time.

What should be done?

Warts are harmless and disappear naturally with time. If you consider your warts unsightly, you can, in certain cases, remove them using the self-help measures described. However, you must consult your doctor if you have anogenital warts or if you think you or your child has molluscum contagiosum. You should also see the doctor if you develop any sort of wart and you are over the age of 45 years, since a seemingly harmless wart may be a more serious skin condition.

What is the treatment?

Self-help If the wart is not seriously established then use tea tree applied neat four times daily. If it is established then apply an over-the-counter wart paint, which may destroy the infected tissue. You will usually need to paint the wart daily for several weeks, avoiding the surrounding healthy skin. Between applications, carefully remove the loosened horny skin. Do not treat warts on your face or genitals with wart paint because these areas are very sensitive. If you have an unsightly wart that does not respond to wart paint, see your doctor.

Professional help

Your doctor may prescribe a different kind of wart paint or alternatively remove the wart by freezing it with liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide slush. A wart can also be burned off (diathermy) or scraped off (curettage) after the area is numbed with a local anaesthetic. Most warts eventually respond to treatment, and usually do not leave a scar.