Wart on a child’s finger: causes and methods of treatment

Why do warts appear on a child's palm?

The only reason why warts can appear on the palm of a child is damage to the body by the human papilloma virus. This is a pathogen that has many strains. Some of them are quite dangerous, as they can provoke the development of cancer. However, there are few such types of virus. As a rule, they do not cause warts on the child's palm, but affect the reproductive system.

Getting infected with HPV is quite simple: it is enough to come into physical contact with an infected person: shake his hand, kiss him, hug him. The virus is also transmitted through the use of other people's personal hygiene items, dishes, toys, and touching various surfaces. Outside the human body, the virus does not live long and is best preserved in a humid environment. Therefore, potentially dangerous from the point of view of HPV infection are common areas with humid air - saunas, swimming pools, locker rooms, gyms.

It is worth remembering that just the fact of infection with papillomavirus is not enough for warts to appear on the palm of a child. The incubation period for HPV can range from several weeks to several years.

There are certain reasons that cause the virus to become active:

Deterioration of the child’s immune system, in addition to the activation of HPV, other infections may appear, as well as chronic diseases against the background of a weakening of the body’s protective functions;
The presence of chronic diseases in the patient's medical history;
Improper lifestyle - poor nutrition, reduced physical activity, disrupted daily routine;
Frequent hypothermia or overheating;
Increased sweating of hands;
Failure to comply with personal hygiene rules;
Hormonal fluctuations during adolescence.

There is also a risk of self-infection with HPV. In this case, if there are warts on one part of the body, for example, on the hand, the virus can spread to other parts of the body.

The virus penetrates most easily through microtraumas of the skin: it penetrates into the layers of the dermis and begins to change the DNA structure of cells. As a result of this effect, pathological growths begin to appear on the surface of the epidermis.

Prevention measures

You can prevent warts from appearing in your child by following the following preventive recommendations:

It is necessary to accustom a child to personal hygiene as early as possible, because careful daily toileting is protection against many diseases;
if there is an infected person in the child’s circle, you must try to limit contact with him and undergo treatment;
it is also necessary to take measures to strengthen the immune system - ensure that the child’s nutrition is adequate, engage in sports and hardening;
promptly treat any infections;
try to avoid injuring the skin of your hands, and if abrasions and cuts appear, treat them with a solution of iodine or brilliant green.

These simple recommendations will help keep your child healthy and avoid lengthy treatment procedures.

Types of warts on the palm of a child

A separate strain of the papilloma virus is responsible for each type of wart on a child’s palm. There are several types of these viral tumors:

Common (vulgar) warts. Can reach 10 mm in size. They look like nodules - dense and painless. The shape is round or oval with relatively clear contours. As a rule, these growths do not differ in color from healthy skin, but sometimes they can become covered with a stratum corneum and become yellowish or brownish. They are usually formed in groups - one large formation and several subsidiary ones nearby.
Juvenile (flat) warts. They appear only in children and adolescents and never occur in adults. This is due to hormonal characteristics at different ages. These growths are prone to spontaneous self-healing. In appearance they resemble small tubercles protruding 1-2 mm above the surface of the skin. Usually blend in color with the epidermis. They often merge into a group, and a so-called “mosaic” wart is formed.

Also, warts on the palm of a child can be in the form of loose papillae on a thin leathery stalk. They are called papillomas, but in fact, they are another type of wart, since these formations have the same viral nature. Only the strains of the pathogen that caused them differ.

There are many cases where warts on a child’s palm went away on their own. This usually happens with flat viral growths, which disappear with the end of adolescence and stabilization of hormonal levels.

In addition, vulgar and flat warts are caused by strains of the virus with low oncogenicity, which means that such neoplasms can extremely rarely develop into malignant tumors. However, the risk of malignancy of the growth increases if the wart is regularly traumatized. This usually happens with formations on the palms and fingers of active children. In addition, damage to the wart can lead to severe bleeding, followed by inflammation and suppuration.

If a wart on the palm of a child interferes with the normal functionality of the hand, causes physical discomfort and inconvenience, and is often injured, it is better to remove it. It is also necessary to examine formations that have changed their appearance - they have become darker, inflamed, swollen.

Serious problems with the immune system are indicated by an increase in the number of warts on a child’s palm, as well as an increase in the size of the growths. In this case, a comprehensive blood test and immunogram should be performed.

Features of deliverance

Warts on a child’s face need to be removed, but only after examination. Various types of neoplasms may appear on the child’s body and face. It can be:

Based on the shape of the wart, it is quite difficult to determine what type of virus is developing in the body. To do this, tests are done and the method of treatment is determined.

Wart removal can be done:

cream, ointment;
use of oral medications;
deletion.

The following tools are often used for this:

oxolinic or terbofen ointment;
iodine.

The peculiarity of removing papillomas on the face or body of a child is that it does not leave a scar. The best ones for this are:

Application of laser. Removal occurs painlessly and without anesthesia;
Use of liquid nitrogen. This method allows you to completely remove the wart, and the redness will disappear completely in a few weeks.

In any case, removal must take place in a specialized medical facility. At the same time, all sanitary standards must be observed. Make sure they are cleaned by experienced professionals.

Especially the removal of warts on the face and body in children is that it is a small patient. If the drugs are used incorrectly, healthy skin may burn and the child will be capricious and cry. In this case, the frames and seams may last a lifetime.

The appearance of wart formations may indicate the development of pathology.

Warts can occur not only in adults, but also in children, and the hands and fingers are the most common places where these growths are localized. If the warts do not bother your child, they may go away on their own. Parents often pay attention to formations on their hands when they reach a significant size and cause discomfort, for example, when they come into contact with clothing.

Methods for treating warts on the palm of the hand in children

If you don’t know what to do with a wart on your child’s palm, it is recommended to consult a doctor. Only a dermatologist is able to establish a correct diagnosis and prescribe a course of treatment in accordance with the individual characteristics of the patient. Methods of destructive action on growths demonstrate the greatest effectiveness. However, they can be traumatic and are not always prescribed for the treatment of children. You can also use medications to treat warts. Let's consider the main methods of treatment.

Removing warts on a child's palm

To remove the tumor completely, it is important not only to eliminate the tip of the growth, but also the root, which can lie quite deep in the layers of the epidermis. If this is not done, there is a danger that a relapse will occur and the wart on the child’s palm will appear again.

The following methods of tumor destruction give good results:

Laser coagulation. One of the most common ways to remove benign growths. The wart is burned with a laser beam, and over time it falls off. In this case, noticeable scars rarely remain on the skin, and the recovery process, as a rule, is not complicated.
Cryotherapy. The essence of the technique is to influence the neoplasm with liquid nitrogen. This is a refrigerant that has a temperature of -190 degrees. This temperature is enough to freeze soft tissue several millimeters deep into the dermis. The procedure allows you to remove not only the top part of the wart, but also its root.
Radio wave removal. If you are thinking about how to get rid of a wart on a child’s palm as gently as possible, then you should opt for radio wave destruction. This is the safest and most painless method of exposure. In addition, this is a minimally invasive procedure that leaves no marks on the skin.
Classic surgery. This operation involves excision of a wart on the child's palm with a scalpel. Quite a traumatic method that is rarely used. But in certain cases it is necessary, for example, if the growth is too large or there is a suspicion of malignancy of the tumor.

Also, some clinics may offer a method of removing warts using electric current. This procedure is too traumatic for children's skin, as it causes a deep thermal burn. Therefore, it is not recommended for use in children.

Medicines for warts on the palms of children

If you don’t know what to do with a wart on your child’s palm, consult a doctor who will recommend a course of drug treatment. Drug therapy is necessary, since the nature of the growths is viral, which means it is important to suppress the activity of the pathogen. For this purpose, drugs of two main groups are used: immunomodulatory and antiviral.

Immunomodulators help increase the functional effectiveness of the child’s antiviral immunity. They are divided into two categories: interferons and immunotropic agents. The use of interferons reduces the amount of viral DNA. They are used topically (ointments, creams, gels) or systemically (injections, suppositories). To treat warts on the palm of a child, it is preferable to use recombinant rather than human interferons. It is worth noting that drugs in this group should be used only after examining the child’s immune status. Self-medication with these drugs is strictly not recommended.

It is also possible to influence the antiviral immunity of children through inducers of endogenous interferon, as well as other activators of the body’s protective functions.

Before getting rid of a wart on a child’s palm, you should consult a doctor about the advisability of prescribing additional antiviral treatment. There is a group of drugs that have a detrimental effect on the virus - they reduce the titers of the pathogen in cell culture and suppress its activity.

It is worth noting that doctors do not recommend using necrotizing or keratolytic chemicals to remove warts on a child’s palm. These are concentrated acids and alkalis, the effect of which is to cauterize soft tissue. Children's skin is very thin, and it is easy to make a mistake with the dosage of the drug. This will lead to extensive damage to the epidermis, which can lead to severe chemical burns and subsequent scar formation.

Stages of wart development

Convex, often dark-colored warts on the hands, as seen in the photo below, are not uncommon in children. But those neoplasms that are clearly visible are the final stage of their development.

Prevention of warts on the palm of a child

In the modern world, it is quite difficult to protect a child from infection with papillomavirus. Therefore, preventive measures that will help prevent the appearance of warts on the palm of a child should be aimed at strengthening the child’s immune system.

The main “enemies” of immunity are: physical inactivity, poor nutrition, lack of walks in the fresh air, and frequent stress. Try to diversify your baby's menu, and in the winter season, add more vegetables and fruits to the diet, and add multivitamins.

It is also important to teach your child to observe basic rules of personal hygiene: do not use other people’s things and shared utensils, wash your hands regularly after visiting children’s groups and public places, wear replacement shoes in the gym, shared shower or locker room.

If infection has already occurred, then strengthening the body’s protective functions will help avoid external manifestations of HPV or relapses.

Photos of warts on a child’s palm can be found on the Internet. But you shouldn’t make a diagnosis yourself based on this alone. It is advisable to consult a dermatologist to rule out the possibility of other skin diseases and not to start treating the disease with unsafe means. Often warts in children go away on their own, and therefore the decision about the advisability of therapy should be made by a doctor.

Diagnostics

The diagnosis is made on the basis of external signs, this should only be done by a dermatologist, otherwise other skin diseases, for example, lichen and even cutaneous tuberculosis, can be mistaken for warts

Before removing warts in children, an accurate diagnosis must be made. This is done based on an external examination. The diagnosis is made either by a pediatrician or a dermatologist. The doctor examines the skin and performs dermatoscopy. The whole procedure takes just a few minutes.

In cases where there are many tumors on the skin, it is necessary to take a blood test for PCR. This examination allows you to determine the strain of the HPV virus and the degree of its activity. Treatment for warts in young children usually involves removing them. This can be done at home or professionally.

Folk recipes

It is necessary to use traditional medicine to get rid of warts in a child only in consultation with the attending physician. In addition, in most cases, such drugs are prescribed only as part of complex therapy, and not as the only treatment. There are the following possible options for removing warts using folk recipes:

Garlic compress. A small clove of garlic must be crushed to a paste and applied to the wart, securing the compress with a bandage or plaster. It is advisable to carry out this procedure before bedtime so that the child does not damage the compress during the night.
Celandine juice. This plant has long been used to remove tumors. It is necessary to break a freshly picked stem of celandine and treat the wart with the released juice. The procedure must be repeated until the problem is completely eliminated.
Potato compress. It is necessary to grate a small piece of raw potato, wrap the resulting mass in gauze and secure it on the wart with a bandage or plaster overnight. Instead of grated potatoes, you can use a piece of cut peel, which also needs to be secured to the growth overnight.
Aloe or Kalanchoe. It is necessary to pick a fresh leaf of the plant and apply it to the wart, securing it with a plaster or bandage. In addition to this method, you can make a compress from the leaf of the selected plant crushed into pulp.

In addition to external treatment of the disease, the doctor may also prescribe remedies for internal use. These can be harmless herbal decoctions or pharmacy vitamin complexes, which will help improve the child’s immunity and prevent further spread of the virus in the body. It is also necessary to explain to the child that warts are not something shameful, and that they are easy to cure, since often those with tumors can be subject to ridicule from their peers.

Stages of wart development

Convex, often dark-colored warts on the hands, as seen in the photo below, are not uncommon in children. But those neoplasms that are clearly visible are the final stage of their development.

Drug treatment

What external preparations can be used when a wart is detected:

Oxolinic ointment

Tebrofen ointment

Oxolinic ointment

15–20

Tebrofen ointment

up to 2 times a day

Oxolinic ointment should be in every mother's first aid kit. It relieves inflammation very well.

In addition to these medications, you need to take antiviral drugs. These can be “ Groprinozin ” tablets, “ Aflubin Viburkol suppositories .

And doctors also recommend taking a vitamin complex in order to boost immunity.

If the child is over 5 years old, the dermatologist may suggest the following medications:

Collomak solution . The product is applied directly to the growth using the brush that comes with the kit. The procedure must be carried out daily, and it is better to steam the wart. Course of application – 7–10 days . If everything was done correctly, the wart will dry out and fall off.
Freezing agent " Cryopharma ". Essentially, this is freezing a tumor at home. When applying the product, the child may feel itching and burning. Course – 7–10 days .
Feresol solution . Apply point-by-point (can be several times a day). After this, the wart dies, dries up and falls off on its own.

Advice! The above remedies are quite aggressive. Children are strictly prohibited from using them. Improper application may cause harm to healthy tissue. Permitted for use only after consultation with a doctor.

How to recognize a wart?

In order to make a decision to remove a wart, it is necessary, first of all, to make sure that we are talking about a benign neoplasm on a child’s body.

In order to make a diagnosis of a wart, this formation must be similar in appearance to the following characteristics:

a dome-shaped nodule or papilla that rises above the skin, gray or brownish in color;
the color of the hand in the areas around the formation will be significantly lighter or darker than usual;
the wart has a dense and fleshy structure, which is more reminiscent of cauliflower;
the formation under the nails looks like a rough growth;
when pressing and walking, the defect causes pain;
such a wart can be compared to a rough, round or oval formation of a dirty gray color;
There are black dots inside the growth.

Causes of warts

Why do children get warts? The reason for their appearance on the baby’s body is the human papillomavirus. There are several types of it in nature. It enters the child's body through skin damage - cuts, wounds. Infection often occurs in public places (for example, when swimming in a pool or water park, in a bathhouse, sauna), due to non-compliance with hygiene rules or direct contact with a carrier of the disease.

Most often, infection occurs at the age of 3-5 years, when the child is actively exploring the world. However, this does not mean that a one-year-old baby cannot get the papilloma virus - sometimes he gets it from his mother when passing through the birth canal.

The incubation period can last a very long time, even decades. Active reproduction of the virus in the body and the appearance of skin signs are promoted by:

constant lack of sleep, fatigue, overwork, lack of vitamins and frequent stress;
Often viral warts in children occur due to excessive sweating - this is a favorable condition for the development of a viral infection;
the period during and after the illness, especially if the baby was treated with antibiotics;
habit of biting nails;
wearing someone else's swimming pool accessories - slippers, caps, glasses;
hormonal changes during adolescence;
scratching the skin after insect bites;
refusal to wear gloves or mittens during the cold season;
the causes of papillomas according to their location: they appear on the soles due to wearing uncomfortable tight shoes, on the neck - due to a tight chafing collar or scarf.

The main condition for the appearance of warts is decreased immunity. Having discovered a tumor on the baby’s body, parents need to seriously think about the state of the child’s body’s defenses.