What are age warts?

In middle age, in addition to age spots, other skin changes such as senile warts (seborrheic keratosis) can also occur. Age warts are dark pigmented skin growths that can occur more frequently on the face or upper body. At first glance, senile warts are often confused with basalioma (white  skin cancer ) or malignant melanoma ( black skin cancer ). However, seborrheic warts are benign skin tumors that are nothing to worry about.

How do age warts form?

Age warts are considered the most common skin growths, but they are neither infectious nor dangerous. A genetic predisposition is suspected to be behind their development. External environmental factors such as chemical irritants or UV radiation, on the other hand, are said to contribute less to the spread of age warts. As a result, anyone can get senile warts, regardless of their lifestyle.

How do you recognize age warts?

Age warts are  benign corneal growths that  occur equally frequently in women and men over the age of 50 and can multiply over time.

This is typical for age warts:

• They occur on the face, head, neck, hands and arms, chest or back.
• Like age spots, age warts are pigmented light brown to dark brown. However, in contrast to 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 encrustations appear in different ways, so that it can often be confused with the malignant tumors of white or black skin cancer. It is therefore advisable to have pigmented skin changes examined more closely by a dermatologist.

treatment of senile warts

From a medical point of view, age warts are harmless. The removal of age warts is therefore a purely cosmetic procedure. For this purpose, dermatology offers three variants of treatment that can be used to  remove age warts  :

1. Freezing  the age wart (cryotherapy): This is a cold  burn  of the affected area of ​​skin. After the treatment, the skin begins to heal and the dead warts fall off.
2. Scraping  out the age wart: For this treatment, the affected skin is first numbed with an ice spray. The age wart is then removed with a scalpel. This method is rarely used due to the long healing phase.
3. Lasern der Alterswarze: Mit der Laser-Methode wird das Gewebe der Alterswarze verdampft. Die Sitzung ist weitestgehend schmerzfrei und bedarf keiner örtlichen Betäubung. Der Heilungsprozess verläuft hier relativ kurz, wobei unauffällige Narben zurückbleiben können.

Nachdem der Dermatologe die Alterswarzen entfernt hat, ist es wichtig, die betroffenen Hautregionen sorgfältig zu pflegen und sie keinesfalls direkter Sonneneinstrahlung auszusetzen bis die Wunden komplett abgeheilt sind.

Kann man Alterswarzen selbst entfernen?

Im Gegensatz zu anderen Warzen wird die Alterswarze nicht durch einen Virus erzeugt. Gängige homöopathische Hausmittel zur Abtötung der Warzenviren, wie beispielsweise Teebaumöl, können hier folglich keine Hilfe sein.

Although there is no danger of spreading the infection when trying to remove the wart yourself, you should never cut or bite the affected area. This causes open wounds, which can lead to heavy bleeding and  inflammation  . It makes more sense to have the age warts examined by a dermatologist and, if necessary, surgically removed.