Anywhere you have skin, from face to feet, you can get warts. WebMD explains what kinds there are, what causes them, who gets them, and what you can do about them. Skip to main content

The outer layer of your skin turns thicker and harder, forming a wart. Warts are more likely to infect moist and soft skin or injured skin. All warts come from HPV, but not all forms of HPV cause warts.

The outer layer of skin turns thicker and harder, forming a raised wart. Wart viruses are mainly spread by direct skin contact, but they may also be spread by touching objects like towels or razors. They are more likely to infect moist and soft or injured skin.

Warts grow in the epidermis, the upper skin layer. A typical wart has a raised, rough surface. (Some, like those on the face, may be smooth and flat.) The center of a wart may be flecked with dark dots; these are capillaries that supply it with blood. What causes skin warts

Changing the tape every few days might peel away layers of the wart. Studies conflict, though, on whether duct tape really gets rid of warts. Many people think certain folk remedies and hypnosis get rid of warts. Since warts may go away without treatment, it's hard to know whether a folk remedy worked or the warts just went away.