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Best way to get rid of plantar warts on foot: Plantar warts – Diagnosis and treatment

How to Get Rid of Plantar Warts for Good

Skip the home remedies for wart removal. Proper treatment of plantar warts requires the expertise of your healthcare provider.

Posted
by The Iowa Clinic on Tuesday, August 18, 2020




Nose, fingers, toes and everywhere in between, warts can show up anywhere on your skin. They are one of the most common skin conditions. They’re also quite contagious.


Warts are more than an abnormal growth. They’re the result of an infection, specifically a virus more often associated with cervical cancer than a bump on the skin: human papillomavirus (HPV).


HPV enters your body through a cut or break in your skin. Then, it forms that ugly, rough bump. Since warts are caused by a viral infection, they are easily spread through contact. Anything that has had contact with a wart — your hand, a towel, a sock, the floor — can spread it.


And when warts show up on your feet, they can be as painful as they are unsightly.


What makes a wart on your foot worse than a wart somewhere else?


Pain.


Warts don’t usually present problems. They are on your skin until they go away on their own or by removal. Warts on the bottom of your feet, known as plantar warts, are the most likely type to give you any other trouble or symptoms.


Because of their location — the soles, heels, toes and balls of your feet — plantar warts send you a painful reminder of their presence with every single step. It feels like you’re walking with a rock in your shoe. Even if you’re barefoot.


Plantar warts are most common on the parts of the foot that receive the most pressure when you’re standing or walking. Since those are two things you can’t avoid, additional standing and walking increase the pressure on the wart and send it further inward, deep into your skin.


All that pressure also flattens the plantar wart. It ends up looking less like a wart and more like a callus. If you can’t tell the difference by looking at it, give it the squeeze test. A plantar wart is painful when squeezed; a callus is not.


It’s an important test. Many people rub calluses with abrasive objects like pumice stones, nail files and emery boards to remove the thick, rough skin. And that is not recommended for removal of plantar warts.


Painful plantar warts? Get help. 

Self-care of plantar warts can make things worse. Put your feet in the hands of experts.

Find a doctor