Warts are small, non- cancerous growths on your skin. They are extremely common and most people at some point in their lives develop them, especially during childhood and teenage years. Warts mainly occur on your hands or feet, but they can appear anywhere on the body. There are many different types of wart, including:

Common Warts

These are the most well known type of wart, they have an uneven, hard surface, and usually appear on the hands or face.

Plantar Warts

These mainly occur on your face or hands and are smaller and flatter than common warts.

Verrucas

These are also known as Plantar warts. They are also flatter than common warts, but this is because the weight of the body flattens the wart and pushes it into the plantar of the foot.

Filiform Warts

Finger like warts that usually occur on the eyelids, armpits or neck.

Mosiac Warts

They grow mainly on your hands and feet and appear in clusters.

Symptoms

Most warts are harmless and painless, although if they start to bleed, change in appearance or begin to spread then it is advisable to seek medical advice. Verrucas can get sore, especially if they are on sensitive areas of your foot.

Causes

Warts are caused by the Human Papilloma Virus, there are many different types of this virus. Warts are very rarely caught by direct contact because, for this to happen, skin-to-skin contact is necessary; the risk of transmission is higher if your skin is damaged. Verrucas are quite often caught in swimming pool changing rooms; the wet and rough floors encourage the spread of the virus.

Reducing the risk

To reduce the risk of passing on warts:

-? When swimming warts and verrucas should be covered with a waterproof plaster or a special sock can be worn over verrucas.

- Do not share towels.

- Flip flops can be worn in swimming pool changing rooms.

- To help stop warts from spreading:

- Do not pick or scratch warts.

- Do not put fingers in your mouth if they have warts on them.

- Avoid making the wart bleed.

Self treatment

Without treatment warts usually clear up on their own, especially in young people, as the immune system fights them off. There are treatments however that may speed up the process, these include:

Salicylic acid

Over the counter treatments containing Salicylic acid come in the form of lotions, gels, paints creams and plasters. These are applied to the wart every day for up to three months. The acid in these treatments burn off the top layer of the wart. The dead skin should then be rubbed off with a pumice stone or emery board. Warts on the face are never treated in this way. If you have poor circulation or diabetes medical advice should be sought before using these treatments.

Duct tape

This involves covering the wart with duct tape for 6 days, then removing the tape and soaking the wart in warm water for a few minutes, drying the wart, then gently rubbing it with a pumice stone or emery board to remove any dead surface tissue. The wart is then left uncovered overnight, but fresh duct tape put on the next day. This process should be continued for about 2 months. More research needs to be done on this method, but there is enough data to suggest that the treatment may be of some help.

Freezing sprays

These do not get as cold as the treatments that professional use, and again more research needs to be done in relation to their effectiveness. Freezing sprays should never be used on your face.

Clinical Treatments

- Laser treatment -? A precise laser beam helps to destroy the wart.

- Electrocautery? -? An electric current burns off the wart.

- Freezing - The health professional uses liquid nitrogen to freeze the wart.

- Seek professional advice from a Podiatrist.

It’s common for people to think that there are just some things in life that do not require instruction manuals. Well, of course many things don’t need instructions. However, hair is unfortunately not one of these things. Just like any art or science, people can improve by following the right steps.

Does Washing Damage Hair?

Washing can cause hair damage, if it’s not done properly. You see, some physical properties of human hair are altered when water is introduced to the equation. Therefore, washing hair improperly in water can cause catastrophic physical damage.

If you want to avoid hair damage while simply washing your beautiful locks, then start with the most basic thing: the temperature of the water. The big question: which is safer with hair, cold water or warm water? The answer is, quite simply, warm water. Wet your hair with water heated to a few degrees above room temperature.

After wetting your hair, learn the right way of applying the shampoo unto your hair. Most folks just squeeze the bottle of shampoo unto the hair and rub vigorously so the shampoo would lather on the scalp. As you may have already noticed, this is approach is a bit too abrasive.

Therefore, what you can do is to lather the shampoo on your hands and use your fingers to spread the shampoo unto your scalp. Remember, you’re cleaning both your hair and your scalp. If you leave the scalp out from the equation, more than half of the accumulated dirt would remain on your head.

Things to Avoid!

Some people (women especially) try to make a bun out of their hair when they’re lathering and rinsing it. This is a very bad practice and should be abandoned immediately. You’re running the risk of damaging the hair shafts and needlessly breaking clumps of hair.

Instead of making a bun, why not let your hair hang freely whichever direction it wishes? This is applicable especially to rinsing. Rinsing is the part of a shower when all the shampoo (including the dirt and grime) are washed off and drained. You won’t be able to do this properly if you keep locking most of your hair strands together. Give your hair the breathing space it requires during rinsing.

How to Apply Hair Conditioners?

Some people feel that conditioners are like shampoos: you only need them for a couple of seconds before rinsing them off. This approach is not applicable to conditioners. If you’re using a specialized conditioner, make sure that you let it stay on your hair for at least five minutes.

Sure, your hair might feel softer a few seconds of conditioning, but the process of moisturizing the hair shafts is something else. You need to give your hair and the chemical compounds time. Moisturizing is actually very tricky; but you can overcome this obstacle by leaving your hair in its ‘conditioning’ state while you clean your body.

If you’re finding it hard to wait around for the conditioner to be absorbed, then we suggest that you shampoo first before working your body. That way, you’d be rinsing off your hair the same time you’re rinsing your body.

Are you a stretch mark sufferer? Are you losing your self-esteem because of stretch marks? Are you worried that you will never be able to get rid of those ugly looking stretch marks? If yes then we are here to present you with an ultimate guide for getting rid of stretch marks.

Stretch marks are a form of scar that appears on your skin and are prominently visible because of its off color hues. There are many reasons why stretch marks are formed but some of the most common ones are weight gain due to pregnancy or muscle building and rapid stretching of the skin or rapid growth during pubertal age. Hormonal changes are also somewhat responsible for stretch marks. It is because of this sudden change, the middle layer of your skin tears up. The Collagen and Elastins fibers present in the middle layer of your skin gets ruptured and underground scars develop leading to the formation of stretch marks.

There is a popular saying, “Prevention is better than cure.” This saying is very true in case of stretch marks. It is better to treat your stretch marks at an early stage rather than start with the treatment once they have developed. Once purple or pink lines start to become prominent on your skin you should take some measures for stretch marks.

You should massaging the effective area three to four times a day with a moisturizer that contains Shea butter or cocoa butter as prime ingredients. This is the best way to prevent stretch marks from occurring. It moisturizes your skin making it more elastic. It also improves the collagen and elastins structure.

Many other things are also used for repairing stretch marks. These include wheat gram oil that is very efficient in repairing stretch marks at a very early stage. Regular massage with wheat gram oil at an early stage improves elasticity and prevents the occurrence of stretch marks.

In case you do not like homemade remedies, you can also use commercially available creams and ointments. Out of all the available creams and ointments, Revitol is considered as the best cream for getting rid of stretch marks. Many other creams are also available but none of them is as effective as Revitol.

If homemade remedies and commercial creams did not prove effective on your skin type then the last option is to go for laser treatment. However, a bit expensive but it will surely remove all the stretch marks on your skin.

The complete treatment can cost you somewhere $5000 to $8000. There are many different types of laser treatments available. The most popular ones are vascular lasers, pulsed dye laser therapy, fractional photothermolysis and the excimer laser. The price of each session varies with the type of laser used.

In case even Laser treatment dint work for you then the last option is Microdermabrasion. In this technique, crystals are blown into your skin to polish the skin surface. These crystals simulate the growth of new skin resulting in a clear skin.

I assure you that by following these simple steps you can surely get rid of stretch marks.