What should you know about stress warts?

Common warts are usually rough, firm growths on areas such as the hands, fingers, or around the nails. They result from human papillomavirus entering small breaks in the skin. Stress can make picking, biting, or rubbing more likely, and those habits can irritate a lesion or spread virus to nearby skin. A bump that looks like a wart may instead be a corn, callus, molluscum, or another growth.

A clinician can assess an uncertain, changing, bleeding, painful, or unusually located lesion. Diagnosis is especially useful before treating a spot on the face, genitals, or near a nail.

Avoid picking or biting the growth, wash hands after touching it, and do not share towels, nail tools, or razors. Keep the area covered when practical and protect nearby skin from repeated friction. Stress-management habits may reduce picking, but they do not remove the viral growth.

A clinician may discuss [Cryotherapy (Lesion Removal)](/treatments/surgical-dermatology/cryotherapy-lesion-removal/), [Electrosurgery](/treatments/surgical-dermatology/electrosurgery/), [Imiquimod Treatment](/treatments/medical-dermatology/imiquimod-therapy/), or [Wart Removal](/treatments/surgical-dermatology/wart-removal/), depending on the site and diagnosis.

Arrange assessment if the lesion changes quickly, bleeds without clear injury, becomes very painful, interferes with walking or hand use, or fails to improve. Seek earlier advice for diabetes, reduced sensation, poor circulation, or a weakened immune system because self-treatment may injure surrounding skin.

Does this growth look like a wart? Which treatment suits its location? How can I prevent picking or spreading it? What changes should prompt a review?