What is a Seed Wart?

Fleshy growths or lesions which appear on the skin are called warts. The highly contagious HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) is the cause of this annoying skin issue.

There are many types of warts covering different parts of the body. Depending on what part of the body the wart is found, and what its special characteristics are, you can identify the different types.

For example, plantar warts can be found on the bottom of one’s feet, while genital warts are obviously in the genital regions. Common warts usually appear on the fingers and hands and seed warts are generally around the fingernails. Therefore, there are different treatments for different types of warts. https://www.warts.org/types

Seed warts normally grow on the skin that surrounds your fingernails, on your fingers and/or on the back portion of the hands. They would appear as black spots due to the blood vessels around them. On the contrary, plantar warts are impossible to see using your bare eyes but can be visible with the help of a Colposcopy.

Despite there being many different types of warts, one thing that they almost always have in common is that they come from an HPV infection. Having seed warts may seem small but can possibly be severe and, in most cases, those who are infected do not provide care and attention to such. Currently, there are no definite ways to cure and treat to be able to monitor the growth of HPV. However, seed warts have various ways to be treated.

Common ways for you to be infected with seed warts are either by direct skin contact with the person who is also infected or if your immune system is particularly weak. For people who have fair skin and who spend a lot of time in the sun, seed warts can be more common. It’s because that’s the kind of activity that stimulates the growth of warts at a much faster rate than normal. You can know if you may be infected with seed warts when you show common symptoms such as inflammation, pain, red and protruding skin.

Seed Wart Removal

(How to remove a Seed Wart)

Suggested ways to remove seed warts are as follows:

• The usage of Imiquimod and Bleomycin can help cure tropical seed warts. In cases when seed warts are uncontrollable and are spreading wildly all over the area, these treatments have been recommended by professionals. Be that as it may, the use of Imiquimod is not advised for use by pregnant women even if they have seed warts.
• The use of duct tape is a way to remove seed warts. The process is started by placing a strip of duct tape on the wart as if placing a bandage. When warts are totally covered (no exposure to air and sunlight), they die without the use of topical treatments. Once every week, remove the tape then wash and remove the dead wart tissue. Leave it uncovered overnight to dry up. Once it’s dried, place another piece of duct tape on it to continue. Repeat the process for eight weeks. For a faster healing process, you may do a combination of the duct tape and wart medication. The best wart medications contain about 17% Salicylic Acid.
• Cryotherapy, or also known as ice treatment, is an effective method for seed wart removal. From the term itself, ice treatment, this form of therapy freezes warts with the aid of liquid nitrogen and warts can then be extracted through excision. This form of remedy is advised by professional doctors whenever the condition of the seed warts is extreme. Going through this therapy may leave scars on treated areas.
• The usage of Cantharidin is another way to remove seed warts. Cantharidin is a chemical that can demobilize epidermal cells. This is placed on the wart and a bandage is placed to cover the affected area. You may feel slight to moderate pain within three to eight hours after the chemical is applied to the seed warts.
• Another way is through surgical treatment where a surgeon cuts the seed wart and removes them with the use of a sharp surgical tool. This is considered as one of the quickest ways to seed wart removal but is definitely painful. On the contrary, this method is discouraged as there are huge chances for seed warts to persist.
• One of the most effective ways in seed wart removal is through laser surgery. However, compared to other methods and treatments, this is way more expensive. The method uses a laser beam to remove the seed wart. Depending on how big the area is or the number of warts, local anesthesia is used to ease possible pain.
  

  Lasers are an effective method to remove Seed Warts

How to Avoid Seed Warts

Having a visible seed wart isn’t just bad from the point of having a physical infection. It is also considered a sort of infection to one’s social life. It can greatly affect a person’s self-esteem. It is really true that keeping yourself protected from infection is better than treating it, particularly seed warts. Listed below are some of the ways you may follow as precautions to keep yourself protected.

• Keep yourself from having direct skin contact with a person who’s infected. Given the fact that the HPV is exceptionally infectious and can undoubtedly transfer with just a simple direct skin contact between the infected and non-infected. In addition, make sure that the places you go to are clean.
• If you are initially seeing symptoms of seed warts, make sure to avoid scratching the affected area as it may worsen the condition. Instead, use a disinfectant to clean the affected area.
• If you see initial symptoms of seed warts, keep yourself from touching other parts of your body as direct contact with other body parts may aid in spreading seed wart in other areas.
• You can never go wrong with sticking to one person. Being faithful to your partner doesn’t only make your relationship healthy but also keeps yourself from highly infectious diseases like seed warts. Remember that the major gateway for many kinds of warts (not seed warts since it’s on the hands and nails usually) is transmitted through sexual intercourse.

Depending on how strong our immune system is, sooner or later a seed wart will go away by itself. You may not give it attention for quite a while when it’s still mild but when you start to feel pain in the affected areas, it’s telling you to take action and provide the right remedy because the infection has already developed. Seed warts may also be known as tumors on the epidermis but are not really that dangerous. Nonetheless, constant pain is felt in affected areas of the body.

Seed Corn vs Wart

A lot of patients normally complain about having warts on their hands and that it wouldn’t disappear. They have tried different methods of wart removal but would just keep on recurring. There are huge differences between seed corns and seed warts. Many people have mistaken corns for warts or vice versa and would treat it with aggressive treatments like Cryotherapy or freezing warts with liquid nitrogen and this could leave more serious skin problems like leaving scar tissue on the vibrant skin. Basically, seed corns are non-contagious not like plantar warts which are highly contagious. Seed corns are caused by pressure under the feet and sometimes caused by tight fitted and lack of cushion shoes while plantar warts are caused by HPV.

Warts

For more information about warts, you can refer to our home page where we discuss all the various kinds.

You can also obviously find a lot of info (not as much as we have!) about warts on the wiki page.