If you’ve ever had warts, you know how embarrassing they can be. And if you’ve had one on the bottom of your foot, you’ve likely experienced pain or irritation. These are known as plantar warts.
If you or someone you care about is dealing with plantar warts, you’re probably wondering how to get rid of them. Today I’m going to be talking about what causes plantar warts, what they look like, how they’re treated, and ways to prevent them.
What Are Plantar Warts?
Plantar warts, also known as verrucas, are skin lesions that typically appear on the soles of your feet—which is why the word "plantar” is in the description. However, they can also be found on the top of your feet or even on your toes. The pressure from walking or standing on them can cause thick, hard skin to grow over the wart. That can make it easy to mistake them for corns or calluses. While warts are generally harmless, they can be quite painful.
What Causes Plantar Warts?
The culprit is the Human Papilloma Virus, or HPV. This virus thrives in warm, moist environments, making our shoes, public pools, and locker rooms great breeding grounds for warts. Places where people often go barefoot, such as yoga studios, gymnastics centers, and martial arts studios, are also hotspots for spreading the virus.
Plantar warts also spread through direct contact—whether that's touching or by sharing personal items like towels, razors, or nail implements. You can even spread them to other parts of your body.
Who's At Risk for Plantar Warts?
However, not everyone who encounters the virus will develop warts. Those most at risk include children, the elderly, and individuals with weakened immune systems, such as people with diabetes. If you have recurring cuts, cracks, or scrapes on your feet, you're also more likely to become infected because the virus needs a way to get into your body.
How Do Plantar Warts Appear and What Are Their Symptoms?
How do you know if you have a plantar wart? After being exposed to the virus, it can take months before a wart appears. If you have plantar warts on weight-bearing areas like your heel or the ball of your foot you can experience sharp, burning pain. You may feel this pain when standing, walking, or when pressing on the side of the wart. The more warts you have—or the larger they are—the more pain you may experience.
Plantar warts can vary in appearance. From fleshy, rough, and grainy lesions to those that are hard and flat with a rough surface and well-defined edges. Others may appear gray or brown with tiny black dots in the center.
To diagnose plantar warts, your doctor will do an exam, gently shave the surface, and use a magnifying glass to help distinguish a wart from a corn or other skin growth.
How Are Warts Treated?
Home Treatments
You can try the home treatments for plantar warts first. But make sure you have a healthy immune system. If you have diabetes, cancer, or any other condition that weakens your immune system, it's best to avoid these remedies.
While treating warts at home might seem convenient, warts can be resistant to these treatments and often recur. Many home treatments require daily, messy applications, and they can sometimes damage healthy skin. Instead of self-diagnosing and treating warts on your own, consider visiting a podiatrist who can properly diagnose the skin growth and establish the best treatment plan for you.
Traditional In-Office Treatments
In-office treatments for plantar warts have evolved over the years. Traditionally, chemical treatments, cryotherapy (freezing), or surgical removal were used. While our office still uses chemicals and surgery, we also have a new treatment many of our patients have tried with great success.
Swift Immune Therapy
It’s called Swift Immune Therapy. Unlike other treatments, Swift attacks the virus that causes warts instead of destroying tissue, It's quick and causes only brief discomfort. Unlike more traditional methods, you can resume your usual activities immediately since no healing time is required,
Once the virus is gone the wart fades away. Because Swift stimulates your body's immune system to attack the virus instead of the wart it has a much lower recurrence rate than other treatment methods.
Prevention of Plantar Warts
Like any contagious condition, it’s best to avoid situations that put you at risk. Here are steps you can take to reduce your chances of getting warts.
- Avoid direct contact with others who have the condition. And avoid touching other parts of your body as warts can spread this way as well.
- Don’t share foot care tools like clippers unless they’ve been sterilized with alcohol.
- Avoid walking barefoot, except on sandy beaches.
- Change your shoes and socks daily and keep your feet clean and dry.
- Wear flip-flops in locker rooms and public showers.
- If you or your child attends gymnastics, martial arts, or yoga classes make sure the mats are regularly disinfected or bring a mat with you.
- Wear socks when traveling through airports.
In conclusion, getting rid of embarrassing warts doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. And using newer methods can reduce the chance of a recurrence. By following these prevention tips, you can reduce your exposure to a new plantar wart infection.
