As discussed earlier, there are several types of warts that can be classified according to their area of occurrence in the body, shape, or size.
The most common types of warts are:
- Common warts
- Genital warts
- Plantar warts
- Palmar warts
- Flat warts
- Filiform warts
- Periungual warts
Some warts are painful, while some are painless. Let’s discuss them in detail.
Common warts
To keep it simple, common warts occur in the common areas of your body. For example, face, fingers, nails, hands, elbows, feet, or knees. They are flesh-colored, pea-sized growths with a rough, hard, and bumpy texture.
Common warts mostly appear through bitten fingernails or broken and cracked skin. They are 1 mm to 1 cm in size or sometimes larger. These warts are not painful or serious and mostly go away on their own.
The symptoms of common warts include:
- Small, hard, rough, and grainy bumps.
- Small black spots on flesh-colored bumps.
- Spreads to other areas of the body through direct contact.
Genital warts
As the name indicates, genital warts appear on or around the genital area. They can occur if you have sex with someone having warts. Genital warts are common in sexually-active people.
They look like scattered, small, skin-colored bumps or a cluster of bumps resembling a cauliflower. These warts are hard to treat and may require professional therapy.
Plantar warts
These warts appear on the plantar (soles of the feet). As they occur on the soles of the feet, the pressure from walking and standing can make them grow into the skin.
Plantar warts are of two types:
- Myrmecia-type plantar warts
- Mosaic-type plantar warts
Symptoms of Myrmecia-type plantar warts include:
- Tender and deep warts grow inside your skin due to standing or walking.
- Shows black dots
- You will feel like you are walking on pebbles.
- Yellowish skin
- Pain on exerting pressure
Symptoms of Mosaic-type plantar warts include:
- A mosaic pattern of warts appears in clusters.
- Less painful
- Surface-level warts
Palmar warts
Palmar warts occur on the palmar (palms of the hands).
Flat warts
These warts appear in clusters and on the back of the hands, face, or legs. They are also known as juvenile warts. Flat warts are small and smoother than other types of warts, but they grow large in number. Typically 20 to 100 at a time. They can appear on men’s beards, children’s faces, and women’s legs.
Signs and symptoms of flat warts include:
- Flesh-colored spots
- Not painful
- Round, dull, or oval marks on the skin.
Filiform warts
Commonly, filiform warts appear on the lips, eyelids, neck, under the chin, or face. Appearance-wise, filiform warts are thread-like, spiky, or tiny brushes. As they generally grow near the face area, they may be annoying to handle. These warts are contagious but not painful.
Symptoms of filiform warts include:
- Quick growth
- Small growths that extend away from the skin.
- Flesh-colored.
Periungual warts
This type of wart looks like thickened skin that appears under or around the fingernails or toenails. They may be painful and can affect the growth of your nails.
