Flat warts (also known as juvenile warts) are more common in children and adolescents. There are a number of different methods used to remove a flat wart. Like other warts, the human papilloma virus or HPV causes flat warts. This virus lives in warm and humid conditions and it is commonly found in public locker rooms and the surrounds of swimming pools.

Often, the virus is picked up from walking barefoot in public pools, showers or locker rooms, and this should be avoided if you want to limit your exposure to the virus. The virus usually enters the body through small cuts or breaks in the skin.

The human papilloma virus is contagious and easily transmitted between people. Sometimes a person can be a carrier of the virus for several months or years before a wart appears. Therefore, the exact method and timing of contracting the virus is difficult to determine precisely.

Although flat warts pose very little health risk, they tend to spread and increase in number. Early treatment is therefore recommended.

As these warts often appear on the face, arms, hands and knees, they could seriously undermine the self-confidence of the sufferer. In particular, children may become embarrassed by the fact that their peers see the warts and may not want to mix with others, and may become withdrawn.

There are many options to remove a flat wart. Unfortunately, many of these are not very effective, and some of them you can leave a scar that is as ugly as the wart. Some treatments can help to destroy the wart, but will not always stop warts recurring.

An option to remove a wart surgery is young. There are three types of surgery commonly used to remove a wart; cryosurgery, electro surgery, and laser therapy.

Cryosurgery is a process where the wart is frozen using liquid nitrogen or dry ice.

In electro surgery the wart is removed using a heated needle.

Laser therapy involves using a laser to burn off the wart.

All three of these surgical treatments have serious drawbacks. An anaesthetic is usually given to reduce pain, but this process is generally quite painful. Complete removal of a wart may require several treatments over a number of weeks and usually a scar remains after treatment.

There are several types of home remedies you can try to remove a wart. Some of these work better than others. Ingredients that have always proved to be effective include castor oil, tea tree oil, aloe vera, and garlic. Many over the counter products contain some of these. Recently, new recipes have become available that use constituents widely available in most homes to produce a mixture that is applied to the wart. These are reported to be very effective and are able to remove a wart in just a few days, and there is little or no scarring when the wart has been removed.