Warts are a virus, the most common type of plantar warts are caused by the human papillomavirus. It has been implicated as the cause of warts and has 46 distinct types, each resulting in a slightly different type of wart.
The virus is contagious and is often transmitted in areas of public use, bathrooms, swimming pools, locker rooms, etc. It enters the skin in areas of mechanical abrasion or trauma and works its way to the base of the skin. Some warts spontaneously resolve while others are very reisstant to treatment and last a long time.
Plantar warts can be singular or mosaic (alot close together) on the bottom of the foot. They are very painful if they are in an area weight bearing. Plantar warts have a “cauliflower” appearance when you look at them are usually very focal and black spots in the wart which is blood that has clotted in the capillaries. To diagnose a wart the doctor will use a scalpel to shave the top of the wart if there is pinpoint bleeding that is usually diagnostic of a wart. Another way to diagnose them is to push directly on the wart which is usually not too painful, however when you squeeze the wart from side to side the pain is excruciating.
Plantar warts can be singular or mosaic (alot close together) on the bottom of the foot. They are very painful if they are in an area weight bearing. Plantar warts have a “cauliflower” appearance when you look at them are usually very focal and black spots in the wart which is blood that has clotted in the capillaries. To diagnose a wart the doctor will use a scalpel to shave the top of the wart if there is pinpoint bleeding that is usually diagnostic of a wart. Another way to diagnose them is to push directly on the wart which is usually not too painful, however when you squeeze the wart from side to side the pain is excruciating.
Treatment for warts historically is actually a little humerous. Some of the suggested treatments in the past include posthypnotic suggestion, tracing the body part on paper and drawing n the wart the paper is then thrown away, burned or buried. Everyone has heardof putting duct tape on over a wart and telling the patient not to look at the wart for 2-3 weeks. Other treatments methods involve taping either a copper penny, an eye of a potato or a piece of banana skin over the wart for 1-2 weeks. Interestingly is the fact that freezing a plantar wart does not usually work because the warts are too deep and it is difficult to get a deep enough freeze to kill the wart.
Treatments that do work include canthacur which is a blistering solution which causes redness, swelling and fluid accumulation under the wart. When this blister forms it pulls the wart off the deep layer of the skin. The top of the blister is then removed in about 2 weeks which ususally has the wart attached to it.
For younger patients there is a pill that can be taken based on the childs age that boosts the bodies immune response to a virus and causes the warts to dry up in about a month.
If these measures fail there are several other treatments that can be used to get rid of the warts.