Alien Invaders: Plantar Warts
Web Feet is a quarterly blog posted by Registered Chiropodist David Murphy. Dave has ten years’ experience in his field and works at Kawartha Total Foot Care Centre’s main clinic in Bobcaygeon, Ontario as well as the practice’s sites at Lakefield Physiotherapy & Foot Health Clinic and the Curve Lake First Nation Health Centre.
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One day you’re taking your socks off and quite accidentally you notice a raised, hard, and rough area on the sole of your left foot. You wonder if you might be developing a corn or a callus. A few days after that you check again and ask yourself, “Is it getting bigger?” Several days later you swear that you see black dots forming under the skin. You begin to wonder. A little more time passes, and with some trepidation you inspect your foot once more only to find that the area is definitely getting larger, and it’s even beginning to take on the appearance of… cauliflower! To make matters worse, there appears to be another one beginning to form on your heel that’s really beginning to hurt. And wait! What’s this on the ball of your right foot?
Fearing that your feet have become the stuff of a science fiction-like alien invasion, you fumble nervously through the phone book to find the number of your nearest Chiropodist to book an appointment to either solve this mystery or send a sample off to NASA for further investigation.
On inspection of your feet, your Chiropodist reassures you that there’s no need to call in NASA, but that you’re not far off the mark suggesting an alien invasion. The unwelcome invader’s name is the papilloma virus. Diagnosis? A case of plantar warts.
Papilloma thrives in warm, moist places (like shoes and socks, swimming pools, locker rooms, public showers, and hotel bathrooms and carpets). People with diabetes or diseases that compromise their immune systems are particularly susceptible to developing warts. Once established, plantar warts can be very stubborn invaders, and, yes, if left untreated they are liable to spread on one or both feet, to other parts of the body, or to other people.
Ways to Prevent Plantar Warts
As with most health problems, prevention is the best medicine. Thorough washing with soap and drying of feet along with good cleaning and sanitization practices on surfaces prone to hold the virus will help prevent infection and re-infection. Never share someone else’s footwear. Even more importantly, always wear protective shoes, sandals, or slippers in public areas such as public swimming pools, locker rooms, and hotel rooms that are at high risk of holding the virus.
Treating Plantar Warts
Although many people try off-the-shelf remedies first, it’s best to see your chiropodist for a proper diagnosis. Warts, corns, and other skin lesions are often confused, and we recently saw a patient at the clinic who had been treating a foreign body lodged in the foot for years with an off-the-shelf wart treatment. Your chiropodist is better equipped to diagnose and treat plantar warts most effectively using a range of approaches that will vary depending on the location, severity, and duration of infection. Importantly, people with diabetes should never use off-the-shelf wart remedies since the the caustic chemical damages tissues and can lead to serious complications like ulcers and bacterial infections. Some plantar warts can be painful, and so your Chiropodist may also provide temporary cushioning devices to “offload” pressure areas of your foot until treatment is complete.
During and after treatment for plantar warts it is important to always wear clean, dry shoes, socks, panty hose, and the like. Also remember that old footwear items must either be thoroughly sanitized or discarded or else re-infection is likely to occur.
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Tags: chiropodist, kawartha total foot care centre, plantar warts, planter's warts, podiatrist, treating plantar warts, treating planter's warts, treating warts, wart remedies, warts, warts and diabetes, warts on feet
March 5th, 2012 at 8:27 pm
Really interesting a bit of fun this one. Have suffered on an off for years with plantar warts and have tried many things to treat them.
March 20th, 2012 at 9:28 am
nice blog. lot of interesting info.. thanks
March 20th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Hey, thanks for the compliment. We’re new to blogging, but we plan to keep posting as much valuable information as possible.
April 1st, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was searching for!
April 2nd, 2012 at 7:46 pm
I adored your insightful article. great work. I hope you produce others. I will continue watching
April 3rd, 2012 at 11:53 pm
well ive had mine for a few months now and ive used the Compound W and band-aids lol .and my nregfis and a nail filer lol so what i did was follow the instructions on the box, dry them, use the nail filer to rough it up that means to expose the wart, then you want to put the product onto (all) the wart(s) and then put a band-aid over it yes it burns your skin; all of the products do haha now wait for a few hours, (6 or more) then repeat! i hope this helps XD
April 4th, 2012 at 1:06 am
the idea is to suffocate the wart, it needs egyxon to survive. But here is a treatment I used and it worked on a stubborn quarter sized plantar I had for 5+ years. Soak wart in apple cider vinegar for 1 hour every 3 days, dry area, using a disposable razor shave the area flat and throw razor out. The apply nail polish and cover wart completely to suffocate it. Let the polish dry completely before wearing socks or shoes. In 8 weeks my wart was gone. The nail clipper is contaminated:a no no
April 5th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Tommy, OTC remedies use a caustic chemical and you’ll notice that they warn specifically against using them for “months.” Also, that nail filer is an infection waiting to happen. You should consult your chiropodist/podiatrist for more effective remedies.
Also, anyone with diabetes should NEVER use OTC wart remedies. The damage to the skin they cause can lead to foot ulcers and serious infections.
April 5th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Jonas, the idea of suffocating the wart has merit in some cases — it’s the same idea as using duct tape and it works SOMETIMES. But, these are typically for a mild infection. Deeper warts or broad infections require a more aggressive approach that should be treated by your chiropodist/podiatrist. Also, we don’t recommend that anyone use a razor or any other kind of device to self-treat by cutting the skin. This is very risky. Diabetics, in particular, must never do this since they risk serious infections or causing a skin ulcer.
April 7th, 2012 at 1:19 am
afraid not.I’ve had plantars warts seaervl times over the years and i use Salicylic acid-based treatment and it’s the only thing that worked.With the acid treatment, the wart would get puffy and the skin died and sometimes even peeled off like a water blister. When or if that happened, i stopped the treatment temporarily, because i didn’t want to put acid on my raw skin.If the wart was still there, i would repeat the treatment once it healed (7 days or so later). This always worked within a total of 12 weeks or less for me Slow, but effectiveSometimes, the warts will go away by themselves. Usually they callused over and just faded away. They never got bigger, or deeper, or showed a big gaping hole when they were dying. I think yours is festering or getting worse.
April 11th, 2012 at 4:35 am
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May 9th, 2012 at 8:17 am
Keeping your antibodies strong can also help to prevent plantar warts. Anyway, I really like the idea of using duct tape to treat the warts, it sound like a less-expensive and painless kind of treatment.
August 9th, 2012 at 11:49 am
you mentioned sterilizing the shoes after getting rid of or treating plantar warts; with what do you sterilize the shoes?
August 12th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Mary, you can use an antimicrobial spray specially designed for footwear. We sell one at our clinic. You can also wash the shoes in the washing machine using bleach. However, many shoes will not stand up to the spin cycle, which makes the antimicrobial spray a great choice… especially considering the cost of footwear these days!