Plantar warts are a common skin infection on the bottom
(plantar) side of your foot. About 10 percent of teenagers have
plantar warts. Using a public shower or walking around the
locker room in your bare feet after a workout increases your
risk for developing plantar warts.
Cause and symptoms
Contrary to the old folk tale, you cannot get warts from
touching a toad. A virus that enters the body through a break in
the skin causes plantar warts. The virus develops in moist
environments, warm, such as those created in your shoes when
your feet perspire and the moisture is decoyed. Plantar warts
often spread to other areas of the foot, increase in size, and
have "babies," resulting in a cluster that resembles a mosaic.
Plantar warts can erupt anywhere on the sole of the foot. They
may be difficult to differentiate from calluses. However, you
may be able to see tiny blackish spots on the surface layer of a
plantar wart. These are the ends of capillary blood vessels.
Calluses have no blood vessels; they generally look like
yellowish candle wax and are located only over weight bearing
areas.
Plantar warts can be tender and very painful. Standing and
walking push the warts flat. Plantar warts grow up into the
skin, making it feel like there is a stone in your shoe.
Treatment
Although plantar warts may incidentally disappear by themselves,
you should seek treatment if they are painful. Your doctor will
cautiously trim the plantar warts and apply a chemically treated
dressing. The physician will also give you instructions for
self-care. Salicylic acid patches, applied on a daily basis, and
good foot hygiene, including regular use of a pumice stone, are
often all that is needed. However, it may take several weeks for
the plantar wart to disappear completely.
If the plantar wart is resistant to treatment, your physician
may recommend an office procedure to remove it. After a local
anesthetic is applied, the physician may use liquid nitrogen to
freeze the plantar wart and dissolve it. To avoid damaging or
scarring other tissues, this technique removes only the top
portion of the plantar wart. The treatment must be reiterated
regularly until the entire plantar wart is cured. Alternatively,
the physician can cut out (excise) the plantar warts.
For more information, visit
www.WartsInfoCenter.com
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