What are Plantar warts and how do you get them?

What are Plantar warts?  Plantar warts are noncancerous skin growths on the bottoms of your feet caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).  The virus enters your body through tiny cuts and breaks in the skin.  Plantar warts often develop beneath pressure points in the feet, such as the heels or balls of the feet.

How do you get plantar warts?  You acquire warts through direct contact with the HPV.  There are more than 100 types of the human papillomavirus.  Some types of HPV tend to cause warts on your hands, fingers or near your fingernails.  Others cause warts on your feet.

The virus that causes plantar warts is not a highly contagious virus, but it does thrive in warm, moist environments.  These would include shower floors, locker rooms, and public swimming areas.  If you walk barefoot in these types of public places, you do run the risk of contracting this virus.

Like other infectious diseases, HPV can also pass from person to person.  If you have a plantar wart, don't touch or scratch at it.  This can cause the virus to spread to other places on your foot.  The virus can also spread by contact with skin shed or blood from the wart. 

Each person's immune system responds differently to warts.  Not everyone who comes into contact with HPV will develop warts.  Some people are just more susceptible to the wart-causing virus, like some people are more likely to catch a cold.  Children and teenagers tend to be especially vulnerable to warts.

You should see the doctor when

• the warts become painful or change in appearance or color. 
• the warts persist, multiply or recur despite treatment at home.  They can spread before they are treated causing A cluster of warts called mosaic warts.  These can become extremely painful.
• the warts interfere with your activities.  If you have a lot of plantar warts, the pain may make it difficult to walk or run.
• If you are diabetic or have a circulatory disorder, don't try to treat any plantar wart on your own.  It is best to seek advice from your doctor.

If you are unsure whether you have plantar warts or not, you should consult your doctor for a correct diagnosis.  You could possibly have a more serious lesion crop up on your feet including cancerous tumors called carcinomas and melanomas.

If you have stubborn plantar warts and home treatment isn't helping, one of the following courses of treatment your doctor may suggest.  Doctors usually start out with the least painful and least destructive methods, especially with younger patients.

• Freezing.  Your doctor can apply liquid nitrogen with a cotton-tipped applicator to freeze or destroy your wart.  This treatment usually isn't too painful and is often effective.  You may need repeated treatments with freezing.  The chemical does cause a blister to form around your wart, and the dead tissue will shed off within a week or so.  Since freezing therapy may be painful, this isn't typically done on young children.
• Cantharidin.  Your doctor may use cantharidin-a substance extracted from the blister beetle- on your plantar warts.  The extract is typically paired with salicylic acid and applied to the plantar wart.  It is then covered with a bandage.  This application is painless, but the resulting blister can be uncomfortable.  Your doctor will clip away the dead part of the wart in about a week.
• Minor Surgery.  This involves cutting away or destroying the wart by using an electric needle in a process called electrodesiccation and curettage.  This method of treatment is effective, but can leave a scar if not done carefully.  You will receive a local anesthetic on your skin before the treatment.
• Laser surgery.  There are several types of lasers doctors can use to eliminate stubborn warts.  This type of surgery is expensive and painful.  Multiple sessions may be required to treat the warts.
• Immunotherapy.  This is an attempt to harness your body's natural rejection system to remove tough to treat warts.  Your doctor can inject the warts with interferon, a medication that boosts your immune system's instinct to reject warts.  Your doctor may also try an injection  of a foreign substance (antigen) that stimulates your immune system.  Doctors who use this type of treatment generally use mumps antigens since most people are immunized against the mumps.  As a result of this type of treatment, the antigen sets off an immune reaction that may fight off warts.
• Bleomycin.   In severe cases where the warts haven't cleared with other therapies, your doctor may inject each wart with a medication called bleomycin, which kills the virus.  This medication is given systemically in higher doses to treat some kinds of cancer.  The injections can be painful.  They are not used if you are pregnant or breastfeeding or if you have circulation problems.

If you would like to treat the wart at home we recommend using Pendinol Salactic Film-Treatment for Warts.  The salactic film is made with 17% salicylic acid which helps the wart to gradually peel off.  The flexible collodion dries to form a covering over the treated area.  This helps keep the salicylic acid on the area and shield it from possible infection. 

If you have any questions regarding warts or any other foot problem you may have, please contact Dr. Vail at 419-423-1888 or visit us on our website at www.vailfoot.com.