plantar warts

Warts are a skin condition very commonly seen on the feet. More commonly known as a plantar wart (plantar, meaning bottom of foot) these growths are viral in nature. They are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). The virus is everywhere which may explain why warts affect about 9 million Americans every year. They are considered benign tumors. The lesions generally occur spontaneously, but many times can be seen in areas of trauma such as after stepping on something that penetrates the skin thus creating an opening for the virus to manifest itself. Depending on where they are located on the foot, they can be painful. More often than not if left untreated they will spread, but they are also known to spontaneously disappear as well.

A Wart can present as a solitary lesion or they can appear in clusters more commonly known as a mosaic wart. Many times they are more painful when squeezed compared to direct pressure applied to them. Warts contain their own blood supply which is represented by the black dots that you may see within them. That is also the reason they bleed so readily when they are scraped.

Below is a drawing of a plantar wart.

Over the years I have seen many doctors who do not specialize in foot problems, misdiagnose warts. Many times they are misdiagnosed as calluses (or calluses are mistakenly called warts). Other conditions such as porokeratosis, or plugged sweat glands are erroneously called warts.

Below is a picture of multiple plantar warts, also known as mosaic warts.

The picture below that is a solitary wart located on the bottom of the foot just behind the third toe.

Does a wart need to be treated? One or two solitary lesions that do not hurt can be left alone and watched in the hopes that they may spontaneously disappear. However, should one notice that the warts are beginning to spread treatment is highly recommended; the logic being that if ignored the wart will continue to spread, possibly become painful, and that the more warts one has, the harder it will be to eradicate all of them.Treatment depends on their location and the number of warts present. A Wart over a bony prominence such as the ball of the foot should never be surgically removed because if a scar develops it may be as painful as the original wart. There are a million wart medications on the market, most of which are not strong enough for plantar warts (because the wart is beneath the skin). However, a foot specialist has available stronger medications which in conjunction with regular paring of the wart will eradicate most cases of warts. The upside to this treatment is that it is a reasonably painless experience and there should be no limitation on activity. The downside is that it can sometimes take a long time to eventually get rid of the wart.

For those who have many warts numbering in the dozens if not hundreds, simple acids or surgery will not work due to the large amount of warts that need to be treated.

In these cases cimetidine (Tagamet, used for stomach ulcers) has been shown to be effective in eliminating cutaneous lesions such as warts. The usual dose is 300-400mg twice a day for about eight weeks. The drug may also be used in children in smaller doses. It works by enhancing the body's immune system.

Vitamin A in large oral doses, by prescription only, has also been shown to be effective in eliminating large areas of wart.

Laser surgery is also a popular method for wart removal. Because the laser beam cauterizes the wound as it destroys the wart, healing is usually quicker than conventional excision of a wart. This is usually done in an outpatient setting which of course, adds additional expense and will require anesthesia.

As stated earlier there is a high recurrence rate with warts. If you have warts on other parts of your body, they too have to be treated at the same time as the plantar warts otherwise you will not get rid of the warts on your feet.

It should be mentioned that any wart that seems to keep recurring should be biopsied to make sure it is not something other than a wart.

Have you tried or heard about a home remedy for removing warts. We sure would like to hear about it.

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Tape!  Not rated yet
I had 2 common warts on my knee, and I read in some magazine that plain old duct tape would suffocate them to death. It worked! I just waited until they ...

The magic of duck tape  Not rated yet
My daughters and I suffered from plantar warts. We tried everything... I mean everything. Nothing was working it kept coming back or did nothing at all....