Warts

When you walk, does it often feel like you have a small pebble stuck in your shoe? If so, you may have a plantar wart. Nrupa Shah, DPM, and the team at Prime Foot and Ankle Care treat viral warts at their office in South Brunswick, New Jersey. They use a combination of medications that can painlessly remove your wart without surgery. To learn more, call the office or schedule an appointment online today.

What are warts?

Warts are small growths that can appear anywhere on your skin, most commonly on your hands, elbows, knees, and feet. Plantar warts specifically affect the feet and develop in areas where you typically bear weight, such as your heels.

What makes plantar warts unique is that you might not even know you have one. Because they grow in areas that incur pressure, the skin on top of plantar warts is often hard and callused. This callused skin makes it difficult to remove a plantar wart on your own with over-the-counter treatments.

What are the signs of a plantar wart?

Plantar warts don’t always look like the types of warts you see on your hands or knees. The most common signs of plantar warts include:

• Foot pain when walking or standing
• Hard, thickened skin in one spot
• A tiny, grainy growth
• Discomfort during physical activity

Another common sign of a plantar wart is small black pinpoints toward the center of the lesion. These are small blood vessels that appear black to the naked eye.

What causes plantar warts?

The human papillomavirus (HPV) causes plantar warts. HPV is very common, with more than 100 different strains of the virus. It typically enters your body through small cuts or breaks in the skin on the bottom of your feet.

While you can spread HPV through sexual contact, the types that cause plantar warts don’t easily spread through human contact. Instead, this virus thrives in warm, moist environments. They’re most common in children and teenagers, as well as those who walk around barefoot in locker rooms and other moist areas.

You’re more likely to get a plantar wart if you’ve had a wart before or you have a weakened immune system due to an autoimmune disease or other chronic illness.

How can I treat a plantar wart?

While surgery is an option to expose and treat a plantar wart underneath your callused skin, Dr. Shah uses a special combination of medications to remove the warts without pain.

She applies these medications directly to the lesion, padding them in a particular way. The wart gradually softens over the course of a few visits before painlessly falling off on its own.

Unlike surgery, the team’s painless technique doesn’t require anesthesia or needles and never leaves a scar.

To learn more about your plantar wart removal options, call Prime Foot and Ankle Care or schedule an appointment online today.