Juvenile warts are also known as "plane warts" or "flat warts". Children and adolescents are particularly frequently affected by these warts. Juvenile warts are often finely dotted and have a blunt appearance. They are flat and have a diameter of around one to five millimetres. As a rule, they are benign growths. Like other warts, they are contagious.
Here you will find further information and selected specialists for the treatment of juvenile warts.
Juvenile warts are benign skin growths.
The medical term for juvenile warts is verrucae planae juveniles. They are also known as flat warts or planar warts. "Juvenile" comes from the Latin and means childlike, youthful. Flat warts occur particularly frequently in children and adolescents. This is where the term "juvenile warts" comes from.
The reason for the frequent infestation in children is that their immune system is usually not yet fully developed. This is why the body is not able to fight off the triggering pathogens so successfully.
The trigger is the human papilloma virus (HPV). It is transmitted by smear infection. This means that the virus can get onto your own skin by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. The virus can then settle in the top layer of skin (epidermis) through small injuries or cracks in the skin.
A juvenile wart is a soft round nodule on the skin. The wart is usually skin-colored to yellow-grey. Rarely, these warts also have a brown color.
Juvenile warts often appear on the face, sometimes also on the hands or shins. If warts form all over the body, doctors speak of "generalized verrucosis".
Human papilloma viruses belong to the group of DNA viruses. Their genetic material therefore consists of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), just like in humans.
If HP viruses enter the skin, a healthy immune system can fight them off. If the immune system is weakened, the viruses can settle in the upper layer of the skin. Here they cause skin cells to multiply rapidly. After several weeks or months (the so-called incubation period), a wart develops on the skin.
The wart is supplied with blood via newly formed blood vessels.
The viruses are transmitted by smear infection. As soon as you touch surfaces that contain viruses, they can be transmitted to you. This also includes using the same towel with an infected person.
This explains why juvenile warts often affect the hands or face: You touch contaminated objects or even people with your hands - and your face with your hands.
Touching warts can also transmit viruses. In this way, HP viruses often spread from one part of the body to another. This means that new warts can appear again and again.
The immune system is of central importance in the infection with HP viruses. People with a weakened immune system are more frequently affected by juvenile warts, or warts in general. These include
Smoking can also have a negative impact on the immune system.
Children are particularly frequently affected by juvenile warts © Irin Fierce | AdobeStock
The diagnosis is usually made by a dermatologist. After a discussion with the patient(medical history), he or she examines the affected area of skin. In most cases, one look is enough to classify the wart and make a diagnosis.
In some cases, the doctor will examine the wart with a magnifying glass, a so-called dermatoscope.
In rare cases, a visual diagnosis is not sufficient. The doctor may then order a histological examination. To do this, he takes a tissue sample which is examined under a microscope in the laboratory. A reliable diagnosis can be made on the basis of these histological findings.
Juvenile warts often disappear on their own. However, this can take weeks, months or even years. Then the warts simply disappear and there is not even a scar. This is often the case with children. Once their immune system has fully developed, it can still successfully fight the viruses that cause them.
During the healing process, the warts often fill with fluid and swell as a result. In technical jargon, this is called "edematous". This is usually a sign of the healing process.
However, if the wart is on the face or hands, it is often a cosmetic blemish. There is also the risk of infection and spreading. This is why adults in particular want to remove warts safely without waiting too long.
Never cut off the wart yourself! This can cause bleeding, viruses can escape and new warts can form.
There are various methods available for the safe removal of warts. Some of them can also be carried out at home. Pharmacies offer various wart-removal products for sale without a prescription.
However, to treat a wart yourself, you must be sure that it is a wart. You should also know the type of wart. Self-treatment is therefore advisable if you have already had experience with this type of wart.
If you are unsure, you should consult a dermatologist. They can rule out other diseases and recommend the best treatment.
You will usually have to pay for the wart treatment yourself. Health insurance companies only cover the costs of medically necessary treatment. Warts are usually only a cosmetic problem.
Apart from treating the wart, you should also strengthen your immune system to prevent further infections.
Surgical wart removal is only rarely advisable. It is used when juvenile warts are located near the eyes. In this case, other methods of wart removal are out of the question.
Unfortunately, surgical wart removal always leaves a small scar. There are also other risks, such as wound healing disorders or infections.
Cryotherapy is a cold burn, so to speak, also known as wart freezing.
The doctor uses a cold probe that has been cooled down to -196 °C with the help of liquid nitrogen. He presses this onto the wart. The cold causes tiny ice crystals to form in the skin cells of the wart, which kill the cells. The wart then falls off on its own after a few days.
Cryotherapy is also possible using cold sprays. You can also use these yourself at home. However, the risk of damaging healthy tissue is quite high. Never use such cold sprays near the eyes or healthy mucous membrane!
Cauterization involves cauterizing the wart. Salicylic acid or lactic acid is used for this purpose.
Corresponding agents are available in pharmacies. When cauterizing a wart, you apply the acidic liquid to the wart once or twice a day. This soaks into the tissue, softens it and kills it. The affected skin layer then turns white and can be peeled off. This causes the wart to shrink with each application.
Acidic plasters are also available. These can simply be stuck onto the wart.
You must be extremely careful when cauterizing. You must not use it to treat warts that are located near the eyes, for example. You must also ensure that the acid does not get onto healthy skin. Otherwise this will also die. You can also apply a fatty ointment to the skin around the wart. This protective layer protects the healthy skin.
When the dead wart layer is removed, healthy skin can also tear open. There is then a risk of viruses escaping and infecting healthy areas of skin.
If necessary, you should ask your doctor or pharmacist about the correct handling.
There are cell-killing antivirals or cytostatics that are applied to the skin. They have a virus-inhibiting effect. However, this method can also fail, meaning that the dermatologist has to find another solution.
The dermatologist can destroy the wart using a laser beam. According to experts, this is the last method generally used to treat warts.
As a rule, juvenile warts are difficult to remove by laser. The method is also painful and can take a long time.
The most important protection against infection with juvenile warts and warts in general is a healthy immune system.
You can strengthen your immune system or that of your child by adopting a healthy lifestyle. This includes
Stress damages the immune system. Unfortunately, it is not easy to do anything about stress. Nevertheless, try to eliminate stress factors in your life.
Alternating showers can also stimulate blood circulation and activate the immune system.
In any case, a strong immune system is also very useful for other illnesses. You can also protect yourself specifically against warts. You should follow these tips for yourself, but also for your child!
