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Plantar wart treatment
Plantar wart are symptoms of a viral infection affecting skin on the plantar surface or sole of the foot. While potentially painful, most plantar wart are harmless.
Plantar wart are caused by distinct strains of Human Papilloma virus or HPV. Other strains of hpv cause common warts found on hands and venereal or genital warts. These strains are different. In other words someone with plantar wart can spread plantar wart, but NOT venereal warts.
Plantar warts symptoms
plantar warts present as hard, flat discolored areas of skin on the bottom of the foot. They may range in color from gray to brown to yellow, with black dots in the center.These dots visually differentiate plantar warts form other foot problems like calluses and corns. While these conditions result from excessive friction rather than a virus, they are often mistaken for plantar warts, and vice versa. If left untreated plantar warts can reach half and inch or so in diameter or replicate into several warts in close proximity. It is possible for plantar warts to disappear and reappear periodically on their own.
Plantar warts can be quite painful if they develop on the ball or heel of the foot,
where the infection will be subjected to the individual’s body weight bearing down on a regular basis.
Contracting plantar warts
hpv is highly contagious and thrives in moist, warm environments . It is therefore easily passed from individual to individual via communal pools or bathing facilities where people are likely to be barefoot. The virus can also be spread by direct contact, touching or scratching, or from skin cells shed from a wart. The virus most easily enters a new host through broken skin, so special care should be taken when cuts or other wounds are present in the skin.
As with any virus, a compromised immune system increases the likelihood of contracting plantar warts upon exposure. Conversely, some individuals seem to be immune to the virus regardless of exposure.
Treatment for plantar warts
It is important to note that the plantar wart virus will remain present in tissues surround-ing the warts even when the warts are treated or disappear on their own, and that warts can return at any time.
Wart treatments include but are not limited to:
Acids
Acids such as salicyclic acid will eat away skin layers and reduce the depth the
wart encroaches into the foot, ideally until it is eliminated entirely. These acids can be purchased over the counter but should be used with great care so as not to harm healthy skin adjacent to warts. Acids are also used by podiatrists in a clinical setting to treat plantar warts.
Chemicals
Like acids, chemicals are available both over the counter and through a physician, and will reduce the hardened tissue created by the viral infection.
Surgery
A simple out-patient procedure can be performed using local anesthetic.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy consists of boosting or using the infected individual’s own immune system to reject the virus and the warts.
Prevention
Precautionary steps such as the following can greatly reduce the possibility of contracting plantar warts:
-Avoid going barefoot in public places or in areas used by infected family members.
-Keep feet clean and dry by changing shoes and socks as necessary.
-Avoid direct contact with warts on others
-Avoid spreading warts from one area to another by limiting contact with the area of the warts and washing hands frequently.
