Warts are small, rough bumps on the skin that can be skin-colored, brown, grey, or black. Most feel grainy or bumpy to the touch and may have tiny black or brownish dots that look like seeds. But warts don’t all look the same. Their appearance changes depending on the type and where they grow on your body.
Common Warts on Hands and Fingers
Common warts are the type most people picture. They show up most often on your hands and fingers as firm, raised bumps with a rough, grainy surface. They can be skin-colored, grey, or brown, and they often have a bumpy, cauliflower-like texture when they grow larger. The size ranges from a pinhead to a pencil eraser, though some grow bigger over time.
The most distinctive feature is the tiny black or brownish dots scattered across the surface. These are often called “wart seeds,” but they aren’t seeds at all. They’re tiny blood vessels that have clotted inside the wart. If you look closely at a common wart, you’ll almost always spot a few of these dots, which is one of the easiest ways to tell a wart from other skin bumps.
Plantar Warts on the Feet
Plantar warts grow on the soles of your feet, and they look quite different from common warts because the pressure of walking pushes them inward. Instead of rising above the skin, a plantar wart often grows beneath a hard, thick layer of callused skin. What you see on the surface is a patch of thickened skin with a rough center, sometimes with those same black dots visible.
One reliable visual clue: plantar warts interrupt the normal lines and ridges on the bottom of your foot. If you look at the skin lines on your sole, they flow around or stop at the edges of the wart rather than continuing through it. A callus, by contrast, keeps those skin lines intact. Calluses also tend to have a translucent central core and lack the black dots and lobular, honeycomb-like structure that warts develop. If you squeeze a plantar wart from the sides, it typically hurts, while pressing directly on a callus is what causes pain.
Flat Warts
Flat warts are the easiest to miss. They’re very small, between 1 and 5 millimeters across (no bigger than a pinhead), and only slightly raised above the skin surface. Sometimes they’re barely noticeable at all. Their color tends to be yellow, brown, or pinkish, blending in with surrounding skin.
What makes flat warts distinctive is that they rarely appear alone. They tend to cluster in groups of dozens or even hundreds, often on the face, forehead, or backs of the hands. Children and teenagers get them more frequently. Because they’re so smooth and flat compared to other warts, people sometimes mistake them for a rash or minor skin irritation.
Filiform Warts on the Face
Filiform warts look nothing like other warts. They grow as long, narrow, finger-like projections that stick out a few millimeters from the skin. Think of tiny spikes or bristles rather than a bump. They tend to appear on the face, especially around the eyelids, lips, nose, and chin, as well as the neck and beard area.
Because of their shape and location, filiform warts are usually easy to identify. They’re skin-colored and grow quickly, but they’re also among the most cosmetically bothersome types since they’re hard to hide on the face.
Genital Warts
Genital warts appear in the moist tissues of the genital area as small, soft, skin-colored swellings. When several cluster together, they can take on a cauliflower-like shape. They may also appear as flat or slightly raised growths on the genital mucosa. About 90% of genital warts are caused by two specific strains of HPV (types 6 and 11), which are different from the strains that cause most common warts.
Some genital warts are so small and flat that you can’t see them with the naked eye. In rare cases, particularly in people with weakened immune systems, they can multiply into large clusters. They’re usually painless but can occasionally itch depending on their size and location.
How Warts Differ From Skin Tags
Warts and skin tags can both appear as small growths on the skin, but they feel and look quite different up close. A wart is firm and grainy with a rough surface and may have those characteristic black dots. A skin tag is soft, smooth, and often hangs from the skin on a thin stalk. Skin tags match your skin color or may be slightly darker or pinkish, and they don’t have the bumpy texture or dotted pattern of a wart. If a growth feels rough and sits firmly against the skin, it’s more likely a wart. If it’s soft and dangles, it’s more likely a skin tag.
When a Growth May Not Be a Wart
Most warts are harmless, but certain skin cancers can resemble warts in their early stages. Squamous cell carcinoma, for instance, can appear as a rough, scaly, crusted bump that looks a lot like a wart. The key differences are that these growths tend to be reddish or brownish, may ooze or bleed easily, and can feel tender or painful. They may also keep growing steadily rather than staying the same size.
Basal cell carcinoma can show up as a raised, shiny, pearly bump that bleeds after minor injury. Some appear as flat, pale, or pink patches with visible blood vessels. Melanoma is usually brown or black with irregular borders, uneven color, and asymmetry (one half doesn’t match the other). Some melanomas appear under a fingernail or toenail as a dark streak.
The general rule: if a bump on your skin is new, changing in size or color, bleeding without healing, or looks different from anything else on your body, it’s worth having a professional look at it. A standard wart is rough, stable in color, and doesn’t bleed on its own.