| Warts |
What is a plantar wart and how
does it occur? |
When we walk barefoot where someone else has walked barefoot, we are
sometimes exposed to viruses left on the ground by someone else. Normally,
our skin is a barrier to foreign invaders like the wart virus. However,
because of the trauma (usually incurred by everyday walking) to the
skin of our feet, it is easy to find a “crack in our armor!”
When this happens, the wart virus can gain entry to our normal skin
cells and quickly take over that cells function. Normally, skin is
reproduced every 28 days. When a wart virus enters the skin, reproduction
can be as fast as every 10 days. So, for example, the skin can grow
much faster and bumps begin to appear. |
 |
What are the symptoms? |
You may notice one or many growth(s) on the undersurface of your foot.
It may grow directly into the sole of the foot and then rise above
the surface of the foot. You may have pain when you put weight on
this thickened skin. |
How is it diagnosed? |
This is a simple clinical diagnosis made by us many times each day
simply by looking at the sole of your foot and the wart. |
How is it treated? |
There are various ways to treat plantar warts. However, the warts
are very tough and it is sometimes difficult to treat them so that
they go away completely and don't grow back.
Possible treatments include:
|
• placing medications on top of the
wart to help kill the wart virus and remove the wart tissue
•
freezing the wart
• burning the wart
• injecting
medication into the wart
• surgically removing the wart
• LASERS that do not involve needles, cutting, applying medications
|
| You may get relief from the pain (from
the thick skin that is actually the wart) by wearing a doughnut bandage.
This type of bandage surrounds the wart, leaving a hole directly over
the wart. Do NOT scrape or pick at the wart, as this can cause the
virus to spread. |
What can I do to prevent plantar warts? |
Plantar warts occur more often in people who often walk barefoot.
Wearing shoes or sandals, especially in places like locker rooms,
may help prevent plantar warts.
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