Overview
Plantar warts are benign (noncancerous) growths that occur on the sole (plantar surface), heel, or ball of the foot. Pressure from standing and walking often causes them to grow into deep layers of the skin.
The human papilloma virus (HPV) causes several different types of warts, which are the most common type of skin infection. In some cases, the HPV virus dies within 1 or 2 years, and warts simply disappear. Podiatrists may recommend having plantar warts removed because they often are irritating and painful.
Incidence and Prevalence
Anyone can contract the virus that causes plantar warts. According to the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), plantar warts occur most often in children and young adults between the ages of 12 and 16. Incidence is higher in people who share common bathing areas (e.g., dormitory students, gym members).
Cause and Risk Factors
Plantar warts can occur when HPV invades the body through tiny cuts or breaks in the skin on the bottom of the feet. The virus often is encountered on contaminated surfaces, such as the tile floors of public locker rooms, showers, and swimming pools. Normally, antibodies in the blood destroy HPV, but in some cases, it takes refuge in the skin and causes plantar warts.
Some people are more prone to the virus that causes plantar warts than other people. Risk factors include repeated HPV exposure (e.g., walking barefoot in public locker rooms and common bathing areas) and having a weakened immune system.
Signs and Symptoms
Plantar warts usually are rough and spongy, and most are gray or brown with dark pinpoints (tiny capillaries that supply blood to the wart). Scraping a wart may cause it to bleed.
A plantar wart is similar in structure to an iceberg-the part on the surface of the skin is a small part of the entire anomaly. Often, the portion of the wart under the skin is at least twice as big as the part you can see.
Plantar warts may cause pain on the bottom of the foot. Patients often feel a "lump" on the bottom of the foot when standing, similar to having a stone in the shoe. In many cases, pressure from standing and walking prevents plantar warts from rising above the skin surface.
If left untreated, plantar warts can grow up to 1 inch in circumference and may spread into clusters (called mosaic warts). In severe cases, they cause a change in gait or posture that results in leg or back pain.
Diagnosis
Most plantar warts are diagnosed based on their appearance. In some cases, the podiatrist scrapes a sample of skin cells from the wart and sends the sample to a pathologist for microscopic evaluation.
Treatment
Over-the-counter medications contain chemicals that destroy skin cells (e.g., acid) and may damage healthy tissue surrounding the wart. Self-treatment for plantar warts using an over-the-counter preparation is not recommended.
In some cases, podiatrists apply mild acid (e.g., salicylic acid, cantharidin, dichloroacetic acid) topically to treat plantar warts. This treatment, which often requires multiple applications over the course of several weeks, disintegrates viral cells and allows healthy skin cells to replace them.
Laser treatments (e.g., CO2 laser cautery) can be used to treat plantar warts. Laser treatment is performed in a podiatrist's office or an outpatient surgery facility using local anesthesia. Lasers produce little scarring and are effective in most cases.
Cryotherapy involves freezing warts with a very cold solution (e.g., sodium nitride) that destroys the virus and causes the wart to turn black and fall off within a few days. This treatment is ineffective in some cases when the solution does not penetrate far enough to completely destroy the virus.
http://www.podiatrychannel.com/plantarwarts/
http://www.rdoctor.com
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
http://www.cdc.gov
http://www.kavokin.com
http://www.symptomat.com
http://www.webmd.com
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
Surgical removal (called debridement) usually is not recommended to treat plantar warts because it can cause painful scarring. Generally, this procedure is used to remove several small warts in a limited area. Debridement is performed using anesthesia and can be used with acid to destroy the virus and prevent the warts from regrowing.
Prevention
According to the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), the following may help to prevent plantar warts:
Avoid walking barefoot whenever possible.
Change shoes and socks daily.
Keep feet clean and dry.
Check children's feet periodically.
Avoid direct contact with warts on other persons or on other parts of the body.
Do not ignore growths on, or changes in, your skin.
Visit a podiatrist as part of your annual health checkup.
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Overview
2006-07-12 19:18:28
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answer #1
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answered by MEdExp,MD 2
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2016-12-25 03:48:37
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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There are 16 remedies give here, best is of course last one, with experience backing it.
1. Go to someone who has never seen their mom or dad and let them rub a penny on it.
2. Cut them and put some of the blood on a penny and leave it face up in the road
3. Make four small cuts in each direction, and rub the small hairs from a pear cactus on the wart
4. Apply castor oil several times a day.
5. Rub them with a dish towel.
6. Take an old dish towel, rub the wart, put it behind a door or under the door and forget about it, they will go away.
7. Rub milk weed juice onto wart.
8. Cut them off.
9. Rub raw chicken skin on wart then bury the skin, When the skin has rotted, the wart will be gone.
10. Steal someone dishtowel, hide it, when the towel rots the wart will be gone.
11. Take a knife and cut the wart and run an onion over it.
12 Burn them off.
13 Rub the wart with the skin of a chicken gizzard, then hide the skin under a rock. The wart will disappear.
14. Wet your fingers and make a cross on the wart.
15 Rub with a penny. Then, take the penny and bury it in the ground. Don’t tell anyone where you bury the penny. Warts will be gone by morning.
16. Cut a potato. Rub cut portion on wart for 5-10 minutes, three times a day
2006-07-06 18:07:42
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answer #3
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answered by shirishbhate 4
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Moles, warts, and skin tickets are typical epidermis wounds that develop naturally. Although they are usually low malignant, they may be uncomfortable if located on a visible part like the face. Epidermis wounds like moles and warts cause self-confidence issues to the sufferers. A person with moles normally becomes a loner because they don't really desire to be observed in public. They think ashamed to be out in public, so despair will normally follow but now you can change all this with this guide from here https://tr.im/KF7MG , Moles, Warts and Skin Tags Removal eBook.
The writer of the eBook, Charles Davidson, is really a practitioner in alternative medicine. He is also a specialist in skin care, applying natural therapies to remedy several types of skin conditions.
Moles, Warts and Skin Tags Removal program is a 100% organic process, proven to get rid of epidermis deformities such as for example skin tickets, moles, and warts, no matter how large or small they are. It is actually safe to make use of on children.
2016-04-28 23:47:56
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answer #4
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answered by laurene 3
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I had one when I was fifteen, a long tiem ago, the doctor burned it off and pulled it out by the root. It was three inches long. I heard you can also freeze them. Plantar warts are much more complicated then regular warts because they can have long roots and you have to make sure you get the whole thing or they can grow back.
2006-07-06 18:34:37
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answer #5
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answered by pixles 5
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First, apply any over-the-counter wart medicine and then put a small strip of duct tape over it....our doctor told us this and our daughter's warts were removed easily after several weeks of this treatment. Replace the tape each morning and night.
2006-07-06 17:47:27
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answer #6
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answered by Lynell S 3
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Take a plain aspirin and melt it with a little water in a spoon to make a paste, place on wart and cover with duct tape, change daily
2006-07-06 17:48:43
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answer #7
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answered by tebone0315 7
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total shock of an answer but here it is: put duct tape on them, yes keep them covered with duct tape. The adhesive in the duct tape somehow is incredibly effective in killing the warts
2006-07-06 17:46:47
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answer #8
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answered by Iamstitch2U 6
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You really need to read "Banish My Bumps" by Angela Steinberg (also available in electronic format here: http://www.banishbumps.com ). It's about how to permanently cure your Keratosis Pilaris naturally. I was able to clear my skin in only 7 days after reading this.
Stop paying paying each month good money on creams. This is exactly what the pharmaceutical industry wants you to do! They want to milk money from you each month.
2014-09-12 06:29:02
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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Cautery with liquid nitrogen, a dermatologist will apply that.
2006-07-06 22:34:02
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answer #10
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answered by Hanan 2
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