How to Cure Skin Warts?

Over 60 million people in this world have warts. The common myth that they are caused by handling frogs or toads is, of course, only a myth. Frogs and toads have their own problems. Warts are growths on the skin caused by viruses. They should be destroyed because they are contagious, unsightly, and occasionally painful.

You can pass warts on to others by direct or indirect contact, in such places as locker rooms, public shower stalls, gymnasium mats, and swimming pools. Very often, members of the same household are afflicted with warts. They can also spread on the same person by picking, scratching, shaving, or biting one's nails.

Warts come in many shapes and sizes and can turn up on different parts of the body. The so-called common wart is a raised, rough, grayish-looking, painless growth. It can vary in size from a pinhead to a fairly large mass. While they may occur on any portion of the skin surface and mucous membranes, common warts are usually found on the fingers, hands, and soles of the feet.

Flat warts are smooth, flesh-colored, and slightly-elevated. These matchhead-size growths usually appear on the face and backs of hands of children and young adults. Genital warts are found in the moist areas of the genital and anal regions.

Warts on the sole are called plantar warts. (Not "planter's warts," as some people are fond of saying, as if there were some­ thing agricultural or occupational about them.) These warts are the most stubborn variety and frequently resist all known treat­ments.

That there are dozens of widely proclaimed methods to elim­inate warts attests to the fact that there is no single predictably effective remedy. Ideally, the treatment should be quick, safe, and painless. And it should produce no unsightly or lasting scars.

Some doctors recommend that the best way to manage warts is to let them manage themselves. If left untreated, many warts will disappear by themselves in about two years. This seems to be the natural history of warts. Warty people, however, may not want to wait for any spontaneous cure, and so they seek medical advice.

Methods that physicians use to treat warts are about as varied as warts themselves. The type of treatment your doctor uses will depend upon your age, the location of your warts, and the size and number of warts to be treated.

In electrosurgery the wart is burned off with an electric needle under a local anesthetic. Warts also can be chemically destroyed using various types of acids, plasters, and other chemicals. Other warts can be frozen off using liquid nitrogen at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit. Still other warts succumb to surgical excision (cutting the wart out under local anesthesia). A less widely used method is X-ray therapy carefully administered by a dermatologist. In se­lected cases, such as stubborn plantar warts, this method can produce miracles. Recent concern over the effects of radiation, however, has restricted its use. One of the latest modes of therapy for large or stubborn warts is the argon laser.

Genital and anal warts are usually transmitted by sexual contact and it is essential to treat the patient's sexual partner to prevent recurrences. These venereal-type warts respond to podophyllin-a resinous substances that a physician paints on the warty growths at weekly intervals.

Some doctors (and some grandmothers) charm warts away by suggestive methods. These "witching" methods have worked in many individuals, particularly young, impressionable children, and they leave no scars, no matter how deep or long-standing the warts may have been. Regardless of how bizarre or ludicrous a treatment may sound, if the patient has faith in the "charmer," the warts usually will disappear. (However, I do not recommend stealing a piece of beef or a dishrag!)

A great deal of research is going on to determine why certain people get warts, why others do not, and why warts often disapp­ear spontaneously. In the meantime, if you can't ward off warts, take comfort in knowing that your doctor can help you get rid of them.

Few General Tips That Can Help Prevent Or Control Acne

Here are a few general principles that can help prevent or control acne:

* Wash your face thoroughly at least three times daily.

* Don't pick or squeeze. This may aggravate the condition and lead to infection and scarring.

* Shampoo your hair frequently.

* Keep your hair off your face and don't use hairsprays, mousses, or greasy hair dressings.

* Avoid greasy cosmetics.

* Avoid creamy suntan lotions.

* Facials are not recommended because the creams and lo­tions force more oil into the already clogged pores.

* If you have acne near your mouth, stop your fluoridated toothpaste for a few months and note whether it makes any difference.

* Avoid emotional stress. The chemicals released by your body during anxious and stressful situations stimulate the adre­-nal gland to produce more of the male-type hormone (more so in women!) which, in turn, stimulates the overproduction of skin oil.

* Watch your diet. The role that diet plays in causing acne is controversial and debatable. I recommend that you cut out chocolate, seafood, nuts, and cheeses, and that you limit milk to three glasses a day.

* If your physician has prescribed tetracycline for your acne, do not take multiple-vitamin supplements containing iron. Iron interferes with the absorption of tetracycline.

New lesions can occur despite good management. It can be controlled, however, to lessen its severity and to prevent the scarring that may result. Don't be discouraged if your progress is slow. If you are diligent, conscien­tious, and faithful with your treatment, you will reap the benefit of a clearer complexion.

It is especially important that parents try to understand their teenagers' plight. By offering encouragement and helping your teenager maintain his or her self-esteem, you can help lessen the mental anguish and psychological scars that so often accompany acne.

If your acne is stubborn, persistent, and disfiguring, consult your dermatologist. Waiting to "outgrow" acne can be a serious mistake; permanent scarring can result if acne is left untreated. A dermatologist can prescribe internal and topical medications to eliminate or lighten this cross that almost all teenagers have to bear.

How to Affect Medications on Your Skin?

Taking vitamins, diet pills, and many other medications can change the appearance of your skin, hair, and nails. Very dry skin can result from taking thyroid medication and high doses of vitamin A.

Hives can develop from hundreds of medications, usually aspirin, penicillin, and sulfa. Acne and oily skin are frequent side effects of low-dose birth control pills, anti-epilepsy medication, and cortisone-like drugs. You can develop sun poisoning if you get too much sun while taking sulfa drugs, high blood pressure pills, oral contraceptives, or medicines with tetracycline. A rash that looks a lot like measles can show up if you're taking penicillin, ampicillin, sleeping pills, or Librium. Low-dose birth control pills, thyroid medication, male hormones, and a variety of drugs used to treat cancer, can all cause hair to fall out.

All of these side effects shouldn't discourage you from taking your medicines, but you should know what might happen when you do. If you think you are developing an unusual reaction from some type

Think about Your Skin

What is this bag we call the skin-this fantastic envelope that possesses some of the most extraordinary mechanisms in the entire body? It is an organ of the body-a marvelously efficient apparatus that nourishes, guards, and protects us twenty four hours a day.

When laid out flat, the skin of an average adult would measure some twenty square feet; it would weigh about nine pounds. That's a lot of organ-one of the largest and heaviest of the body. Also the most abused and maligned organ of the body.

Considering those "thousand natural shocks that skin is heir to," its continuing function and lack of complaint is nothing short of amazing.

How do we treat this remarkable mechanism? We dig and rub and scratch it. We expose it to all the elements---extremes of heat and cold, sun, wind, rain, and snow. We cut it, shave it, pick it, squeeze it, pinch it, and twist it. We scrub it, pull it, and bend it. We rub it, slap it, punch it, and knead it.

In the name of Beauty, we paint it and mark it and spray it. In the name of Health, we massage it and scorch it in the steam room and sauna. Name another organ that can stand up to all that! Yet it survives!

We never think of our skin as we do our heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, brain, or any other "important" organ. To many of us, this complex body stocking we wear so casually is just a sac to hold our insides in, a bag containing some watery stuff and bones. But the skin is an important, vital, viable, living mechanism without which the human organism cannot survive.