Help! My Teen Has Warts

When you see warts on your teen’s skin, your first instinct is probably to jump into action to get rid of them. Although warts are mostly harmless, they’re contagious and can be embarrassing. 

At Orlando Dermatology Center in Oviedo, Orlando, Lake Mary, and Casselberry, Florida, board-certified dermatologist Vitaly Blatnoy, MD, and his team of expert dermatologists frequently treat warts in adolescents and adults. 

Warts tend to go away on their own, but this process can take some time. Many prefer to treat warts so they go away faster. Here’s everything you should know about your teen’s warts and their treatment options. 

How teens get warts

Adolescents are often prone to warts because of where they spend their time. Places like the gym, locker room, and the local swimming pool are hotbeds of viruses that thrive in damp environments, including the human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes warts. 

Even if your teen doesn’t spend much time in these places, they might develop warts because of how contagious HPV is. While you may have raised your teen to kindly share with others, sharing personal items like towels, razors, and nail clippers can spread warts among teens. 

What warts look like

Not all warts look the same, but they can have many common features. In some cases, they can cause discomfort. 

Your teen’s wart might:

• Be raised or flat against the skin
• Be brown, gray, black, or beige
• Have black or brown speckles
• Appear rough or smooth

Most of the time, warts appear on the hands and fingers (verruca vulgaris) or feet (plantar warts). But warts can appear anywhere, so don’t write off a possible wart just because it’s in an odd location. 

Treatment options for warts

Orlando Dermatology Center specializes in treatments that can help warts disappear faster than they would otherwise.

If you’ve already tried over-the-counter wart treatments without much luck, your teen’s dermatologist might first recommend prescription-strength salicylic acid products. 

Other options include cryotherapy (freezing the wart), electrosurgery (burning the wart), and laser therapy (using a laser to kill the wart). These options aim to destroy the wart and cause it to eventually fall off (usually within a week). 

If a wart on your teen’s skin is particularly hard to treat, excision surgery is a minor surgery that can remove it. 

Preventing future warts

You can’t always prevent warts. Many teens spend lots of time in environments that harbor HPV, and of course, cannot detect where the virus may be because it’s invisible to the human eye. But they can take a few precautions. 

Consider advising your teenager to:

• Wash their hands and feet regularly
• Avoid touching other people’s warts
• Avoid touching their own existing warts
• Wear flip-flops in damp public areas, like the locker room or poolside
• Avoid sharing personal items like razors, towels, and nail clippers

It’s important to note that a person with a wart can spread it to themself. If your teen has a wart and touches it, they can develop another wart. 

Get in touch

Have you noticed a possible wart or several on your teen’s hands or feet? Don’t wait to get treatment and stop the spread. Call your nearest Orlando Dermatology Center or book an appointment online today.