Myths About Warts

Are you familiar with the story of a Frog Prince? Yes, the old bedtime story that our mothers were telling us before going to bed. It is a story about a prince who was turned into a frog by a wicked witch and cursed him that only a girl who’ll love and kiss him could break away the spell. Like this, there are a bunch of fairy tales, legends, folklores and myths that are circulating around and passed from one generation to another. They are very popular among children who are fond of reading and listening from different legendary stories by their parents. Some of the superstitious beliefs that our grandparents believed in came from these tales. Who says that they are just mere tales and are not being practiced? Well, there are various myths from the past that are still alive today, like myths about warts perhaps are one of the most popular that are still being practiced by some.

Warts as known by many today is a skin disorder caused by a virus called Human papilloma virus. But, the past tells us a different version of this skin problem. During the early times, our ancestors believed that warts were caused by dark magic in which they particularly blamed witches from creating it. So when someone had warts they performed different rituals to determine its root cause and tried to remove it.

One of the most popular myths is a belief that warts are growing above the skin because they have roots beneath the skin. But the truth is, they actually do not have roots. Warts just appear on the outer skin called epidermis and do not trespass or reach the bottom called the dermis. There are some instances that there are too many clusters of warts, they just displaced the dermis portion and do not necessarily invade them by its roots.

A belief that warts are not contagious is a big no. There some warts particularly genital warts could be transmitted from one person to another through sexual contact. In addition, ancient people also believed that you can tell easily that a person have genital warts. Of course this is untrue; warts in genital areas are very small and are commonly hidden behind skin folds.

If there is one myth that is very popular to many is a belief that warts are caused by touching a frog. These can’t happen, frogs do not have warts and besides the virus that could cause warts are human pappiloma virus which couldn’t be found in frogs or other animals.

Others may also believed that warts could be treated by rubbing a penny on it and scrubbing the warts with a rag but if you bury it on someone else’s property, they’ll get the warts.

These are all myths that had been part of our culture. At present, science tries to fade these beliefs and practices to introduce new studies and research about warts.

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