HPV warts are noncancerous skin growths caused by the human papillomavirus, one of the most common viral infections worldwide. The virus triggers rapid overgrowth of skin cells, producing raised, rough, or fleshy bumps that can appear on the hands, feet, genitals, face, or other areas of the body. There are over 100 types of HPV, and different strains cause warts in different locations. Most warts are harmless and caused by low-risk strains that are not linked to cancer.
How HPV Causes Warts
HPV infects the outer layer of skin, called the epithelium. Once inside skin cells, the virus hijacks their normal growth cycle and forces them to multiply faster than usual. This overgrowth creates the visible bump you see on the surface. About 40 HPV types specifically infect mucosal surfaces (the moist linings of the genitals, mouth, and throat), while many others target regular skin on the hands and feet.
The virus spreads through direct skin-to-skin contact. You can pick it up by touching a wart on someone else, sharing towels, or walking barefoot in warm, damp places like pool decks or locker rooms. Genital HPV spreads through sexual contact. After exposure, warts don’t appear right away. The incubation period for genital warts averages two to three months, with a range anywhere from one to 20 months. Some people carry the virus and never develop visible warts at all.
Types of HPV Warts
Common Warts
These are the most familiar type: irregularly surfaced, dome-shaped bumps that feel hard and rough. They range from 1 mm to several centimeters across and show up most often on the fingers, backs of the hands, and around the nails. On areas that receive a lot of friction, like the palms, they tend to be firm and nodular. In moist or covered areas, they become softer and more finger-like in shape. Common warts around the lips and eyelids often grow thin and elongated.
Plantar Warts
Plantar warts grow on the soles of the feet and are often mistaken for calluses because they get pushed flat by the pressure of walking. They tend to grow inward rather than outward, which makes them painful when you stand or press on them. One way to tell a plantar wart from a callus: if you pare down the surface, a wart shows a pattern of tiny pinpoint dots (small blood vessels). Warts also interrupt the natural skin lines on your feet, while calluses and corns do not.
Flat Warts
Flat warts are small, smooth, fleshy bumps measuring 1 to 7 mm. They’re subtler than common warts and easy to miss, but they tend to appear in large numbers, sometimes hundreds at once. They most often cluster on the face, forearms, or legs.
Genital Warts
Genital warts appear on or around the genitals, anus, or groin. They can be flat, raised, or have a cauliflower-like texture. Two HPV strains, types 6 and 11, cause the vast majority of genital warts. These are classified as low-risk strains, meaning they rarely lead to cancer. Genital warts can appear as a single bump or in clusters and range from very small to several centimeters across.
HPV Warts vs. Cancer-Causing HPV
This is one of the most important distinctions to understand. The HPV strains that cause visible warts are almost always different from the strains that cause cancer. There are 12 high-risk HPV types (including types 16 and 18, the most common) that can lead to cervical, anal, throat, penile, vulvar, and vaginal cancers. These high-risk strains typically cause no visible symptoms at all, which is why screening matters.
The low-risk strains behind most warts, particularly types 6 and 11, rarely cause cancer. So having a visible wart does not mean you’re at higher risk for cancer. However, it is possible to be infected with both low-risk and high-risk strains simultaneously, which is why routine screening (like Pap tests or HPV tests) remains important regardless of whether you have visible warts.
How to Tell Warts From Similar Growths
A few other skin conditions can look like warts. Molluscum contagiosum, caused by a different virus entirely, produces smooth, round, firm bumps with a characteristic dimple in the center. HPV warts, by contrast, have an irregular, rough surface without that central indentation. Skin tags are soft, flesh-colored flaps that hang from a thin stalk, typically in skin folds. They’re smooth and painless, unlike the firm, textured surface of a wart.
On the feet, corns and calluses are the most common look-alikes. The key difference is skin lines: a corn or callus preserves the normal fingerprint-like ridges of your skin, while a wart disrupts them. Warts also reveal tiny dark dots when the surface is trimmed, which are clotted blood vessels feeding the growth.
Treatment Options
Many warts clear on their own as the immune system eventually recognizes and fights off the virus. This can take months to years, though, so treatment is common for warts that are painful, spreading, or cosmetically bothersome.
For common and plantar warts, over-the-counter salicylic acid is the most accessible first-line option. It works by gradually dissolving the layers of infected skin. You apply it daily after soaking and filing the wart, and treatment typically takes several weeks of consistent use.
Cryotherapy, or freezing with liquid nitrogen, is the most common in-office treatment. It destroys wart tissue by freezing and killing the cells. A blister forms underneath, and the dead tissue falls off over the following week or two. Multiple sessions are often needed, spaced two to three weeks apart.
For genital warts specifically, prescription creams offer at-home treatment. One type works by boosting the local immune response, stimulating the skin to produce infection-fighting proteins that attack the virus. Another option is a topical solution that stops wart cells from dividing, causing the tissue to break down. No single treatment has been proven superior to the others, and the best approach depends on the size, number, and location of warts.
Recurrence After Treatment
One of the frustrating realities of HPV warts is that they often come back. Treatment removes the visible growth but doesn’t eliminate the virus from surrounding skin. Among patients who experience a recurrence, about 45% see warts return within 12 weeks of treatment, and roughly 70% within six months. Recurrence is most common in the first year, with over 80% of repeat episodes happening within that window.
Recurrence doesn’t mean treatment failed. It means the virus was still active in nearby cells. Over time, the immune system typically gains the upper hand. Most people eventually clear the infection, though this process can take one to two years or longer.
Vaccine Prevention
The HPV vaccine (Gardasil 9) protects against nine HPV types, including the two low-risk strains that cause most genital warts (types 6 and 11) and seven high-risk strains responsible for the majority of HPV-related cancers. Population-level data shows approximately 90% reductions in both HPV 6/11/16/18 infections and genital warts in vaccinated groups.
The vaccine is recommended starting at age 9 and is most effective when given before any exposure to the virus. It’s approved for people up to age 45. The vaccine does not treat existing infections or warts, but it can still protect against strains you haven’t been exposed to yet. It has no effect on common or plantar warts, which are caused by different HPV types not covered by the vaccine.