Warts: Signs and symptoms

Where do warts appear on the skin?

Warts develop when skin becomes infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV can infect skin anywhere on your body. However, most warts appear in one of the following areas:

• Hands, especially on the knuckles or around a nail

• Feet, usually on the bottom

• Elbows

• Knees

• Skin that you shave

• Face

• Genitals

How do you identify a wart?

When you first get a wart, you usually don’t have any symptoms and probably won’t notice it. Warts develop gradually as the virus that causes them infects the skin. It can take weeks or months before a wart becomes noticeable.

Over time, you’ll notice one or more growths on your skin. What you see will vary with the type of wart you have. Here are the common features of different types of warts:

• Shape and texture: A wart can be round, flat, rough, smooth, or cauliflower shaped. Filiform warts look like tentacles or threads sticking out of the skin.

• Color: A wart may be the same color as your skin, or it may be brown, gray, black, pale yellow, white, or pink.

• Black dots that look like seeds: You’ll see this in some warts. The dots are blood vessels.

• One, a few, or many growths: Some people have a single wart. Others see a few. Occasionally, people develop many or hundreds of warts.

If you’re unsure whether a growth on your skin is a wart, see a board-certified dermatologist.

Another skin condition, such as seborrheic keratoses (A) or skin cancer (B) can look like a wart.

If you’re not 100% certain that you have a wart, don’t try at-home treatments. Seborrheic keratoses are harmless growths that can look like warts. They usually develop in people who are middle-aged or older. If you treat a seborrheic keratosis with an at-home wart treatment, you can irritate or damage your skin.

Some skin cancers can look like a wart. Treating skin cancer with an at-home wart treatment gives the cancer time to grow. Found early, skin cancer is highly treatable. Treatment becomes more difficult with time, as the cancer grows.

What are the types of warts?

There are a few different types of warts. The type is determined by where it grows on the body and what it looks like. The following describes the different types of warts.

Common wart (verruca vulgaris)

A common wart often looks like a round or oval, rough bump. You may see black dots in the wart that look like seeds; these dots are blood vessels.

Common warts can develop almost anywhere on your skin. You find them where you have injured your skin. The virus enters your body through skin that’s been injured, such as where you have a hangnail or cut.

While common warts can develop almost anywhere, you’ll often find them on fingers, around a nail, the backs of the hands, elbows, or knees.

Plantar warts (verruca plantaris)

These warts often look like rough, thickened growths that often contain small, black dots. The dots are blood vessels.

Plantar warts are a type of common wart that develops only on the soles of your feet. They are called plantar warts because “plantar” is the medical term for the bottom of the foot.

Mosaic warts

When warts meld together, they are called mosaic warts. This is common with plantar warts (warts that develop on the bottom of the foot). Mosaic warts can spread and cover large areas.

Flat warts (verruca plana)

These warts are smaller than common warts and have a smooth, flat surface. You’ll find them in clusters, which makes them more noticeable.

Flat warts can develop anywhere on the skin but are common on the face. The small, round bumps may be skin-colored, pink, brown, or purplish.

Children often develop flat warts on their cheeks or forehead. Adults usually develop these warts in areas where they remove hair. Shaving and other methods of hair removal can cause these warts to spread, so dozens or even hundreds of flat warts are sometimes seen on the neck, legs, or in the beard area.

Filiform wart (verruca filiformis)

This wart doesn’t look like other warts. Rather than being hard and round, these warts look like they have tentacles or threads sticking out of them. Color varies with a person’s skin tone and can be the same color as your skin, yellow, pink, white, gray, or brown.

Unlike other warts, filiform warts don’t form clusters. They tend to grow quickly and are often found on the face, which is why they are also called “facial warts.” You may see them around the mouth, eyes, or nose.

Genital warts (anogenital wart)

Genital warts are flesh-colored, pink, gray, or brown. They may feel rough or smooth, and they can be large or small. Some people get a single wart, while others get clusters of warts that look like cauliflower.

You get genital warts through sexual contact. These warts usually develop on the vagina, penis, or anus. However, the virus that causes them can infect any skin touched during sex, including the skin surrounding the genitals, abdomen, buttocks, fingers, or mouth.

Other symptoms of warts

Most warts don’t cause any symptoms, such as itch or pain. However, some people do experience one or more of the following symptoms:

Feeling self-conscious or anxious: Some patients say they feel self-conscious or embarrassed by their warts. Warts can also cause some people to feel anxious.

Pain, itching, burning, or bleeding: If a wart causes any of these symptoms, see a dermatologist for treatment.

Some people are more likely to develop warts. To find out if you have a greater likelihood of developing a wart, go to: Warts: Causes

Images


• Images 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10: Produced with permission from ©DermNet 2025.

• Images 2, 3, 11: Used with permission of the American Academy of Dermatology’s Clinical Image Collection.

• Images 7, 8: Used with permission of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

  • J Am Acad Dermatol. 2023 May 3;36:60-2.

References
Goldstein BG, Goldstein AO, et al. (section editors: Dellavalle RP, Levy ML, et al.). “Cutaneous warts (common, plantar, and flat warts)” UpToDate. Last updated: January 2, 2025. Last accessed: March 27, 2025.

Habif TP, Campbell JL, et al. In: Dermatology DDxDeck. Mosby Elsevier, China, 2006:

• “Warts” Card 59

• “Flat warts.” Card 60

Sterling JC. “Human papillomavirus infections.” In: Kang S, Amagai M, et al. Fitzpatrick’s Dermatology (ninth edition). McGraw Hill Education, New York, 2019: 3097 - 3102.

Shone E, Friedman AJ, et al. “Poster 34963: Psychosocial burden of verruca vulgaris: A cross-sectional survey.” J Am Acad Dermatol 2022;87(3) suppl: AB97. Commercial support: None identified.

Written by:
Paula Ludmann, MS

Reviewed by:
Laurel Geraghty, MD, FAAD
Carrie L. Kovarik, MD, FAAD
William Warren Kwan, MD, FAAD
Morgan Murphrey, MD, FAAD
Sanna Ronkainen, MD, FAAD

Last updated: 5/8/25