These small, noncancerous growths appear when your skin is infected with one of the viruses. Warts are growths on the skin caused by infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV). The virus triggers extra cell growth, which makes the outer layer of the skin thick and hard in that spot. While they can grow anywhere on your skin, you're more likely to get one on your hands or feet. The type of wart depends on where it is and what it looks like.

Based on the region of the skin on which they appear, they are classified into four types:

Common warts: They appear on the fingers and are small and grainy.

Plantar warts: They appear on the soles of the feet.

Genital warts: They are a sexually transmitted disease.

Flat warts: They appear in places that are shaved frequently.

Most HPV types cause relatively less harmful conditions, like common warts, but some can cause serious diseases such as cancer of the cervix.

In Ayurveda, warts are classified based on the dominance of the dosha:

Vata-dominated warts: the patient feels a pricking type of pain.

Kapha-dominated warts: appear like nodules without changing the color of the skin.

Pitta-dominated warts: due to the vitiation of Rakta (blood), they appear blackish, dry, oily, and hard.