Warts Specialist

Warts Q & A

What exactly are warts?

Warts are small, rough, raised growths caused by viral infections.

Warts can grow anywhere on your body. When they grow on the bottoms of your feet or your heels, they’re called plantar warts.

What are some signs you might have plantar warts?

If you experience or notice any of the following on your feels or bottoms of your feet, you may have a plantar wart:

Tenderness and pain when walking or standing
Skin callusing and hardening
Small, clotted blood vessels gathered around a raised growth

Because they bear weight, plantar warts sometimes grow inward under calluses. In this case, you’ll notice a small hole in the center of the callus.

Plantar warts can go away on their own but consider medical intervention for a wart if:

Home remedies have had no effect
It’s interfering with your everyday activities
You have diabetes or poor feeling in your feet
You’re immunocompromised
It’s bleeding or changing in color or appearance

You should also consider medical intervention if you’re not sure whether or not your lesion is actually a wart.

How do you get plantar warts?

Plantar warts happen when the human papillomavirus (HPV) infiltrates your skin through tiny cuts, breaks, or weak spots.

The strains of HPV that cause plantar warts aren’t as contagious as other strains of the virus, but they thrive in warm, moist settings. So, you’re more likely to catch these types of HPV by walking barefoot around locker rooms, saunas, or swimming pools.

It’s also easy to spread the virus to different parts of your body if you touch the wart. If you have a wart, you can avoid spreading it by:

Not touching it directly
Washing your hands immediately if you touch it directly
Resisting the urge to pick at or scratch it

Also, if you use nail clippers, emery boards, or pumice stones, make sure to have separate sets for your infected skin.

How do you treat plantar warts?

Eastside Podiatry PLLC treats plantar warts using several different strategies, including:

Surgical excision
Freezing the wart off with liquid nitrogen
Burning and removing the wart with laser surgery

For a less immediate treatment, the practice can also prescribe you topical medications like salicylic acid. These types of medications progressively remove layers of warts.

Warts are a pain, and if you’re ready to get rid of yours, call Eastside Podiatry PLLC or book an appointment online to schedule a consultation today.