In middle age, other skin changes, such as age warts (seborrheic keratosis), can occur in addition to age spots. Age warts are dark-pigmented skin growths, which can appear more frequently on the face or upper body. At first glance, age warts are often confused with basaliomas (white skin cancer) or malignant melanomas (black skin cancer). However, seborrheic warts are benign skin tumors, which are no cause for alarm.
How do age warts develop?
Age warts are considered the most common skin growths, but they are neither infectious nor dangerous. A genetic predisposition is thought to be behind their development. External environmental factors such as chemical irritants or UV radiation, on the other hand, are thought to contribute less to the spread of age warts. Consequently, anyone can get age warts, regardless of their lifestyle.
How do you recognize age warts?
Age warts are benign corneal growths that occur with equal frequency in both women and men from about age 50 and can multiply over time.
This is typical of age warts:
- They occur on the face, head, neck, hands and arms, as well as on the chest or back.
- Like age spots, age warts are pigmented light brown to dark brown. However, unlike age spots, age warts show thick encrustations in isolated places.
- As a rule, the skin changes have a diameter of about one to a maximum of two centimeters.
- The affected skin region also feels greasy.
However, there is no uniform picture of age warts. The spots and crusting occur differentiated, so that it can often also be confused with the malignant tumors of white or black skin cancer. That is why it is recommended to have pigmented skin changes examined more closely by a dermatologist.
Treatment of age warts
From a medical point of view, age warts are harmless. Consequently, the removal of age warts is a purely cosmetic procedure. For this, dermatology offers three variants for treatment, through which one can remove age warts:
- Icing of the age wart (cryotherapy): this involves a cold burn of the affected skin area. After the treatment, the healing process of the skin begins, and the dead age warts fall off.
- Scraping out the age wart: For this treatment, the affected skin is first anesthetized with an ice spray. Then the age wart is removed with a scalpel. This method is rarely used because of the long healing phase.
- Laser age wart: the laser method is used to vaporize the tissue of the age wart. The session is largely painless and does not require local anesthesia. The healing process here is relatively short, leaving inconspicuous scars.
After the dermatologist has removed the age warts, it is important to carefully care for the affected skin regions and in no case expose them to direct sunlight until the wounds are completely healed.
Is it possible to remove age warts by yourself?
Unlike other warts, age warts are not produced by a virus. Consequently, common homeopathic home remedies to kill the wart viruses, such as tea tree oil, cannot be of any help here.
Although there is no risk of infectious spread when trying to remove the age wart yourself, you should never cut or bite the affected area. This will cause open wounds, which can lead to severe bleeding and inflammation. It makes more sense to have the age warts examined by a dermatologist and, if necessary, surgically removed.
