How To: Reduce your chances of warts

Though most warts disappear eventually without treatment, it's still useful to know how to prevent these unsightly marks from ever popping up. Watch this video to learn how to reduce your chances of warts.

You Will Need

* An understanding of wart transmission

Step 1. Learn what warts are

Warts are hardened growths that occur on the skin. Warts are caused by some strains of a virus known as the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

The four types are plantar, genital, common, and face. Plantar warts are most commonly found on the bottoms of the feet, genital warts on the genitals, common warts on hands and fingers, and flat warts on the face.

Step 2. Don't touch

Protect yourself by not touching someone else's wart.

You can also contract a wart virus by touching or sharing things that someone with a wart has touched.

Step 3. Wash your hands

Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly. Just as frequent hand-washing prevents the transmission of germs, it can also combat the transmission of the wart virus.

Step 4. Avoid going barefoot

Avoid walking barefoot outside or in common areas like public bathrooms, gym locker rooms, and kitchens. Warts like moisture.

Step 5. You can't always spot a carrier

Be aware that some people who are carrying the wart virus may not have any visible signs, but they can still transmit the virus to you.

FACT: The average life of a wart is three to four months.