Duct Tape: An Effective Treatment for Warts | University of Utah Health

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Dr. Gellner: You look at your child’s hand and see a bump and you know it is a wart. Do you rush to the doctor or can you treat it at home?

Announcer: Keep your kids healthy and happy. You are now entering The Healthy Kids Zone with Dr. Cindy Gellner on The Scope.

What Are Warts?

Dr. Gellner: So warts are raised, round, rough surface growths on the skin. They occur most often on the hands and they’re not painful unless they’re on the bottom of the foot and that’s called a plantar wart. They can also hurt if you child keeps picking at them and they get infected. Unlike a callus, a wart has brown dots in it and has a clear boundary with normal skin around it.

Warts are caused by papillomavirus and are harmless actually. Most warts disappear without treatment in two or three years and with treatment they’re gone in two to three months. So how can you take care of these unsightly warts?

How to Treat Warts with Duct Tape

First it sounds strange but cover the wart with duct tape. I know, doesn’t it just seem like duct tape fixes everything? You should:

• Cover the wart with a small piece of duct tape just like you would use a band-aid. Warts deprived of air and sun exposure sometimes die without the need for topical treatments.
• Remove the tape once a week, wash the skin, and rub off any dead wart tissue. After it has dried thoroughly overnight, re-apply the duct tape.

The tape treatment may be needed for eight weeks. So find some cool duct tape that your child will like wearing.

Use Duct Tape & Wart Medication for Faster Results

To get faster results with duct tape, use an over-the-counter wart medicine. The best ones contain 17% salicylic acid.

• Put the medicine on the wart once a day enough to cover the entire wart. Be aware, do this in a well ventilated area, because the acid stinks.
• Cover the wart with duct tape after you put the medicine on the wart and the medicine has dried.
• Make sure you don’t get any of this medicine near the eyes or the mouth. The medicine will turn the top of the wart into dead skin and it will all turn white.
• Once or twice a week, remove the dead wart material by rubbing the dead skin off with a pumice stone or washcloth. The dead wart will be softer and easier to remove if you soak the area first in warm water for 10 minutes.

Are Warts Contagious? How to Keep Them from Spreading

Warts are contagious but mainly to the child that has the warts. They aren’t very contagious to other people.

If your child chews or sucks on the wart, cover the area with duct tape and change it as often as necessary. Encourage your child to give up this habit, because chewing on the warts can cause warts on the lips and or the face. If that happens, your child needs a trip to a dermatologist.

Warts can look ugly but we pretty much all have them at some point in our lives. By knowing how to treat them fast and right away, you can make these ugly bumps go away quickly.

Announcer: Have a question about a medical procedure? Want to learn more about a health condition? With over 2,000 interviews with our physicians and specialists, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find what you want to know. Check it out at TheScopeRadio.com.

updated: September 14, 2018
originally published: May 13, 2016

PLANTAR WART TREATMENT | PLANTAR WART DOCTOR IN PLANO

A plantar wart is a hard, grainy growth that usually appears on the bottom of the foot where the most pressure is absorbed. Plantar warts result when the human papillomavirus (HPV) enters the body through small cuts or wounds on the soles of the feet. Warts may spread with treatment but often go away on their own over time. Warts that continue to spread or because pain need treatment as soon as possible.

Plantar warts are the small growth beneath the skin which is caused by human papillomavirus.

SYMPTOMS OF PLANTAR WARTS:

Plantar warts can be very painful. One of the principal side effects, you may see is pain or tenderness when squeezing your foot while walking, standing or running.

When the wart has shaped, you’ll see a roundabout level spot on the skin with a depressed region in the center. The wart may seem yellowed, with a crust, or even have a dark spot in the center.

DIAGNOSIS:

If you feel you have a plantar wart, you should check in with your podiatric physician. It tends to be difficult to tell how much the wart has developed underneath the skin. You should see your podiatrist if the wart is causing you pain or spreading to another area.

Your doctor can assist you with figuring out which treatment is best for you dependent on how deep the wart is. In the event that the wart is recurrent, for instance, your podiatric physician may pick an alternate treatment to guarantee its removal.

Most of the time your podiatrist diagnoses plantar warts with one of these techniques.

• He examines lesion.
• Checking for signs of dark and pinpoint dots. (Tiny blood vessel clots).
• They remove a small section of lesion and send that to a laboratory.

PLANTAR WARTS TREATMENT:

Now and again, a plantar wart will resolve normally. Different cases may require treatment. You can treat a plantar wart a couple of various ways, either by seeing your podiatric physician or treating the wart at home. Medicines include:

• A salicylic acid cream skin cream that can “burn” off the wart.
• Fluid nitrogen, which can be utilized to “freeze” of the wart.
• Curettage, which includes removing the wart.
• Medication applied to the wart.

Home remedies are often ineffective at treating warts, causing them to spread to other areas of the foot. Effective treatment is needed to permanently eliminate them and help reduce the risk of warts spreading.

Most plantar warts are harmless and disappear without treatment, however, it might take a year or two. In the event that your warts are painful or spreading, you might need to have a go at treating them with over-the-counter (nonprescription) drugs or home cures. You may require many repeated medicines before warts disappear, and they may return later.

On the off chance that your self-care approaches haven’t helped, talk with your podiatric physician about these medicines

STRONGER PEELING MEDICINE (SALICYLIC ACID).

Prescription-strength wart meds with salicylic acid work by eliminating layers of a wart a little bit at a time. They may also stimulate your immune system’s capacity to fight the wart.

Your doctor will probably suggest you apply the medication consistently at home, followed by occasional office visits.

FREEZING MEDICINE (CRYOTHERAPY):

Cryotherapy done at a doctor’s office includes applying fluid nitrogen to the wart, either with a spray or a swab. This technique can be painful, so your podiatric physician may numb the region first.

There is also a chemical that can be applied in the office that can form a blister around your wart in order to remove it that is done in conjunction with cryotherapy. You may also need to re-visit the specialist’s office for repeat treatments until the wart vanishes.

PLANTAR WART TREATMENT IN PLANO, TX

If you want to see a doctor in Plano for plantar warts or for any other foot problems, you can visit Dr. Zubeen Mistry. He is specialized in foot problems and  can treat your plantar warts with different new techniques. DFW Foot and Ankle Care offers several treatment options for plantar warts, using the most advanced techniques available. Dr. Zubeen Mistry works with patients to develop a plan of action that meets the patient’s individual needs. To learn more about treatment options for plantar warts or schedule an appointment, contact our office at (469) 551-8595

At DFW Foot Ankle Care, we treat Bunions and Hammertoes, Diabetic Foot Care, Fungal Nails, Heel Pain / Plantar Fasciitis, Ingrown Toenails, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Neuroma, Pediatric Foot Problems, Plantar Wart, Running Injuries and many more foot problems.