Description

Plantar warts are small, rough growths on the feet. They usually appear on the balls and heels of the feet, the areas that support the most pressure. This pressure can also cause warts to grow inward beneath a hard, thick layer of skin (callus).

Plantar warts are caused by HPV. This virus enters through small cuts or breaks in the lower part of the feet.

Most plantar warts aren't a serious health concern and usually go away without treatment, especially in children under the age of 12 years. To get rid of them before, you can try self-care treatments or see your health care provider.

Symptoms

Plantar wart signs and symptoms include:

  • A small, rough growth on the bottom of your foot, usually at the base of the toes or on the ball or heel
  • In brown and Black, the skin, the growth can be more clear that the skin is not affected
  • Hard, thickened skin (callus) over a stain on the skin, where a wart has grown inward
  • Black points, which are small blood clots in the vessels commonly called wart seeds
  • A group of growths on the sole of the foot (mosaic warts)
  • A growth that disrupts the normal lines and ridges in the skin of the feet
  • Sensitivity or pain when walking or standing

When to see a doctor

Consult your health care provider for the growth in the foot if:

  • The growth is bleeding, pain, or changes in the shape or color
  • Have you tried the treatment of the wart, but persists, multiply or comes back after cleaning for a while (repeats)
  • The pain interferes with your activities
  • You also have diabetes or poor sensation in the feet
  • It also has a weak immune system due to immuno-suppression drugs, HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders
  • You are not sure whether the growth of a wart

Causes

Plantar warts are caused by an infection with HPV in the outer layer of the skin on the soles of the feet. Warts develop when the virus enters through tiny cuts, breaks or weak spots on the bottom of the feet. If left untreated, warts can last from a few months to 2 years in children, and several years in adults.

HPV is very common, and more than 100 types of viruses that exist. But only a few of them cause warts on the feet. Other types of HPV are more likely to cause warts on other areas of your skin or the mucous membranes.

The transmission of the virus

Each person's immune system responds differently to HPV. Not everyone who comes in contact with it develops warts. Even people from the same family react to the virus differently.

The HPV strains that cause plantar warts aren't highly contagious. So the virus is not easily spread by direct contact from one person to another. But it grows in warm, moist places, so that you could get the virus by walking barefoot around swimming pools and locker rooms. If the virus spreads from the first site of infection, more warts can grow.

Risk factors

Anyone can develop plantar warts, but this type of wart is more likely to affect:

  • Children and adolescents
  • People with weak immune systems.
  • People that have had plantar warts before
  • People who walk barefoot in areas where a wart-causing virus is common, such as locker rooms and swimming pools

Complications

When plantar warts cause pain, you can alter its normal posture or gait, perhaps without realizing it. Finally, this change in the form of standing, walking or running can cause muscle or joint discomfort.

Prevention

To help prevent plantar warts:

  • Avoid direct contact with warts. This includes your own warts. Wash your hands carefully after touching the wart.
  • Keep your feet clean and dry.
  • Wear sandals or other protection of the feet when walking around the pool, in the locker rooms or showers at the gym.
  • Do not pick at or scratch warts.
  • When using an emery board, pumice stone or a nail clipper in warts, choose one that you do not use into your healthy skin and nails.

Diagnosis

A health care provider it is usually diagnosed with a plantar wart look or a cut in the upper part of the layer with a scalpel and checking points. The points are a small clot in the blood vessels. Or your health care provider may cut off a small section of the growth and send it to a laboratory for analysis.

Treatment

Most plantar warts are harmless and go away without treatment, though it may take a year or two in the children, and even more so in the adult. If you want to get rid of warts afternoon, and self-care approaches have not helped, talk with your health care provider. The use of one or more of the following treatments may help:

  • The freezing of the medicine (cryotherapy).Cryotherapy is performed in a clinic and involves the application of liquid nitrogen to the wart, with either a spray or a cotton swab. This method can be painful, so your health care provider may numb the area. The freezing causes the appearance of blisters that form around the wart, and the dead tissue is a move within a week or so. Cryotherapy can also stimulate your immune system to fight viral warts. You may have to go back to the clinic for repeat treatment every 2 to 3 weeks until the wart disappears. Possible side effects of cryotherapy pain, blisters and permanent changes in skin color (hypopigmentation or hyperpigmentation), particularly in people with brown or Black skin.
  • Stronger peeling medicine (salicylic acid).Prescription-strength wart medications with salicylic acid work by removing a wart one layer at a time. They can also increase the immune system's ability to fight against the wart. Your doctor will probably suggest that you apply the medication on a regular basis in the home, followed by occasional visits to the office. It could take weeks to remove the wart by using this method.

The freezing of the medicine (cryotherapy). Cryotherapy is performed in a clinic and involves the application of liquid nitrogen to the wart, with either a spray or a cotton swab. This method can be painful, so your health care provider may numb the area.

The freezing causes the appearance of blisters that form around the wart, and the dead tissue is a move within a week or so. Cryotherapy can also stimulate your immune system to fight viral warts. You may have to go back to the clinic for repeat treatment every 2 to 3 weeks until the wart disappears.

Possible side effects of cryotherapy pain, blisters and permanent changes in skin color (hypopigmentation or hyperpigmentation), particularly in people with brown or Black skin.

Stronger peeling medicine (salicylic acid). Prescription-strength wart medications with salicylic acid work by removing a wart one layer at a time. They can also increase the immune system's ability to fight against the wart.

Your doctor will probably suggest that you apply the medication on a regular basis in the home, followed by occasional visits to the office. It could take weeks to remove the wart by using this method.

Surgical or other procedures

If the salicylic acid and the freezing of the medicine does not work, your doctor may recommend one or more of the following treatments:

  • Minor surgery. Your health care provider cuts away the wart or destroyed by the use of an electric needle (electrodesiccation and curettage). This method can be painful, so your health care provider will numb the skin first. Because the surgery has a risk of scarring, is not often used to treat plantar warts, to less than other treatment options have failed. A scar on the sole of the foot can be painful for years.
  • Ampoules of medicine. Your health care provider applies the cantharidin, which causes a blister underneath the wart. You may have to go back to the clinic in about a week to have the dead wart cropped.
  • The immune therapy. This method uses drugs or solutions to stimulate your immune system to fight viral warts. Your health care provider may inject your warts with a foreign substance (antigen) or to apply a solution or cream to the genital warts.
  • The laser treatment. Pulsed dye laser treatment of burns closed (cauterizes) small blood vessels. Infected tissue dies, and the wart will fall off. This method needs to be repeated every 2 to 4 weeks. Your health care provider will likely numb the skin first.
  • Of the vaccine. The HPV vaccine has been used successfully to treat warts although this vaccine is not specifically targeted towards the wart virus that causes plantar warts.

If a plantar wart goes away after treatment and another wart grows, it could be due to that the area was exposed again to HPV.

Lifestyle and home remedies

Many people have removed the warts with these self-care tips:

  • Peeling medicine (salicylic acid). - Counter wart removal products are sold as a patch, gel, or liquid. It'll most likely be instructed to wash the site, to soak in warm water, and gently remove the top layer of smoothing the skin with a pumice stone or emery board. Then, after the skin has dried, apply the solution or patch. The patches are often changed every 24 to 48 hours. The liquid products are used daily. It could take weeks to remove the wart by using this method.
  • The freezing of the medicine (cryotherapy). - The-counter medicines that freezes the wart, which include Compound W freeze off, and Dr. Scholl's Freeze Away. The Food and Drug Administration warns that some of wart removers are flammable and should not be used around heat, flame, sources of heat (such as curling irons) and cigarettes.
  • The adhesive tape. The use of adhesive tape to remove warts is harmless, but it is not proven approach. To try it, cover the wart with duct tape silver, changing every few days. Among the applications, soak the wart and gently remove the dead tissue with a pumice stone or emery board. After leaving the wart is open to the air to dry for a couple of hours before covering it with tape again.

In general, no matter which treatment you try, do these two things:

  • Cover the wart to help prevent it from spreading to other parts of the body or to other people.
  • Wash your hands after touching the wart.

If a plantar wart goes away after treatment and another wart grows, it could be due to that the area was exposed again to HPV.

Preparing for your appointment

It is likely to start by seeing your primary care provider, who may refer you to a specialist in skin disorders (dermatologist) or feet (podiatrist). The following tips can help you prepare for your appointment.

What you can do

Bring a list of all the medications that you take regularly — including over the counter drugs and dietary supplements and the daily dosage of each one.

You may also want to a list of questions to ask your health care provider, such as:

  • If I have a plantar wart, I can start with the in-home care?
  • If I use a treatment in the home, under what conditions should I call you?
  • If the first treatment does not work, what are we going to do next?
  • If the growth is not a plantar wart, what test do you need to do?
  • How long does it take to get results?
  • How can I prevent warts?

What to expect from your doctor

Your health care provider will ask questions such as:

  • When did you first notice the wart?
  • Has changed in size, color or shape?
  • Is your painful condition?
  • Has had warts before?
  • Do you have diabetes or poor sensation in their feet?
  • Do you have any condition or taking any medication that has weakened its ability to fight disease (immune response)?
  • Have you tried any home remedies? If so, how long have you used, and have helped?
  • Does the use of a swimming pool or in the locker room — places that can accommodate wart-causing viruses?

What you can do in the meantime

If you are sure that you have a plantar wart, you can try the-counter remedies or alternative medicine approaches. But talk with your health care provider before you attempt to self-treatments for the care of if you have:

  • Diabetes
  • Low sensation in the feet
  • The weakening of the immune system

If the pressure on the wart causes pain, try using the well-cushioned shoes, such as athletic shoes that evenly support of the sole and relieve some of the pressure. Avoid wearing uncomfortable shoes.

The symptoms and treatment of Plantar warts