Why You Shouldn't Ignore Foot Warts: Apple Podiatry Group: Podiatrists (2024)

FAQs

Why You Shouldn't Ignore Foot Warts: Apple Podiatry Group: Podiatrists? ›

Allowing a foot wart to linger untreated means continued discomfort and pain with every step you take. Because foot warts form on the sole of the foot, it's natural to compensate for the pain by walking differently to reduce your discomfort. Another tendency is to reduce activities or exercises that aggravate the pain.

In 65% of cases, warts will clear up on their own and without medical intervention. However, if you ignore a severe plantar wart or a mosaic wart, the following could happen: Prolonged pain and discomfort, resulting in more serious treatment down the track.

Most plantar warts aren't a serious health concern and often go away without treatment, especially in children under 12. To get rid of them sooner, you can try self-care treatments or see your health care provider.

Plantar warts can be easily spread by touching them and then touching another part of your body. You should seek medical care if the warts are painful or showing signs of infection, such as increased swelling, pain, warmth, redness, or pus drainage. Podiatrists use a variety of treatments to remove warts more quickly.

Surgery. If all else fails, the podiatrist may perform minor surgery or an electrodesiccation and curettage, which involves either the cutting away of warts or using an electric needle to destroy them. However, this method may cause scarring.

If you don't treat your warts, they: Might not go away on their own. Might get worse and cause pain. Might spread to other people or other parts of your body.

Conventional treatment focuses on removal, while alternative approaches emphasize gradual remission. Whatever you do, do not try to cut off a plantar wart yourself because you may injure yourself and cuts in your skin allow the warts to spread.

Plantar warts may regress on their own in a few years, but they often stick around for much longer than that, and they tend to grow and multiply. Once they become painful, they may affect your gait, which can lead to pain and discomfort throughout your body, including your legs, hips, and low back.

Most often, warts are harmless growths that go away on their own within 2 years. Periungual or plantar warts are harder to cure than warts in other places. Warts can come back after treatment, even if they appear to go away. Minor scars can form after warts are removed.

How much does it cost to remove a plantar wart? The pricing varies, but usually covered by health care insurance. Cash prices vary from $50 with topical medication, $100 with cryotherapy (liquid nitrogen), to $500 if surgically removed.

What can be mistaken for a plantar wart? ›

Sometimes corns or calluses are mistaken for a palmar or plantar wart. In some warts, little black dots appear, leading people to call them "seed" warts.

Picking, scratching, or even just touching your warts could cause them to spread to your hands, or to other parts of your body that you touch afterward.

Surgical excision allows you to walk immediately following the procedure, although you will be advised and expected to rest for 48-72 hours to reduce complications such as bleeding and increased post-op pain.

Below the surface of the skin, the virus will infect the skin cells, leading to the creation of a wart at the surface. This is why when one removes or pulls a wart out, it typically leaves a large hole in the skin. They can be rather deep depending on how severe the skin infection is.

To freeze plantar warts, your healthcare provider will swab or spray liquid nitrogen onto the wart and a small area surrounding the wart. The liquid nitrogen is extremely cold and burns the skin, killing the virus-infected cells. Freezing plantar warts can be painful and may cause redness and, in some cases, blisters.

When it comes to plantar warts, the virus is often spread in public places where you might go barefoot (think locker rooms and swimming pools). In many cases, your immune system quickly fights off the virus long before outward signs, such as warts develop.

A plantar wart is a harmless skin growth. Plantar warts occur on the bottom of your feet and may be painful when you walk. A virus makes the top layer of skin grow quickly, causing a wart. Warts usually go away on their own in months or years.

People with plantar warts can auto-inoculate HPV and spread infection to other parts of the body. For example, picking at warts with fingernails may result in transference of infection to the hands.

The outlook for people with plantar warts is good. Over-the-counter treatments can get rid of plantar warts as quickly as two weeks. Without treatment, your immune system usually fights off the HPV infection after one to two years. But once you have HPV, there's no sure way to keep plantar warts from returning.