system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[medicine] how come you can't just cut off a wart?
gpt
HPV causes warts by infecting the cells of stratum basale (Basal layer) of epidermis which is the very bottom layer of skin at the epidermal dermal junction. These basal cells are stem cells that continuously divide and form new keratinocytes (Skin cells) that migrate upwards as new cells are continuously created. When you cut off a wart, you are generally only getting rid of the upper cell layer (Stratum corneum) which consists of dead cells filled with keratin. But the HPV infected basal cells are still intact and are still actively causing epithelial hyperplasia (Increase in the number of cells).