Plantar Wart Removal 

What causes plantar warts? People catch warts through direct contact with HPV, of which there are many different types. The type that causes plantar warts likes to stay in damp, warm environments - the kind that raises your suspicion anyway, like public showers, swimming pools, changing rooms, shower mat of your roommates, or communal shoes ( if you're sharing shoes with people, you should inspect their feet first). If you walk barefoot through these areas, you can get plantar warts.

Contact between people can also spread plantar warts. If you sleep with someone, remember that plantar warts never sleep! The virus can pass from one foot to the other, or the sheets to your foot.

How can I tell if I have plantar warts? You should consult a doctor to confirm a diagnosis of plantar warts, since in some cases the uncomfortable growth on your foot is something entirely different (possibly a clogged sweat gland or even a tumor).

Plantar warts often appear near the fingers or around the heel (essentially, the places most likely to have had contact with the virus in the first place). You can feel the lump of a plantar wart as you walk, but when you look at it, the wart appears surprisingly smooth. Because of its location in the body, plantar warts grow inward instead of out. As a result, the wart will not look like a wart on someone's face. A plantar wart feels like a callus because it's covered in callus tissue due to frequent pressure of walking. Often a plantar wart will appear darkly discolored, sometimes with the appearance of a small black core (which is a blood clot, not a physical embodiment any of the virus itself).

Getting rid of plantar warts. Several methods exist for removing these disgusting plantar warts.

Salicylic Acid. Using salicylic acid, a treatment for plantar wart that you can buy at your local pharmacy, you can usually remove a plantar wart in about four weeks. The process requires the daily application of acid to the wart, as well as cleaning of dead skin warts. The acid can be applied both in solution as the adhesive, and in some cases you must apply it twice a day. You can use a nail file or pumice stone to remove dead skin from the plantar wart every day. It's nice that a medicinal substance as old is still recognized as an excellent treatment; salicylic acid was known throughout the ancient world to exist in willow bark. Just try to prevent him from contact with normal skin, which will cause irritation.

Cryotherapy. This sounds like what they did to Ted Williams, and does involve freezing. In this case, doctors use liquid nitrogen to "freeze" your wart. They apply the liquid nitrogen directly into the plantar wart using a spray applicator tip or cotton. If you've never experienced cryotherapy before, you may be impressed by the science fiction image of vapors rising from the nitrogen tank.For children, this method can be painful and scary too, and anyway, it does not guarantee neither more nor less successful than treatment with electrical tape or acid. If successful, however, you will get rid of that plantar wart faster.

Electrical tape. The treatment of plantar warts tape has more in common with the acid treatment than with cryotherapy. Apply the tape on your wart and leave it there for six days, after which you can wash the affected area and, once dry, scrub to clean the dead skin of the wart with that nail file or pumice stone again. The method of tape usually takes something like six weeks, but can take up to eight so you remove the plantar wart. For more information, check out the article on how to remove warts with duct tape.

More severe responses. You can also check the surgical removal with laser their plantar warts, though this procedure is expensive and in many cases painful. Another surgical option, the electrodessication, is quite effective but leaves a noticeable scar on your foot. Non-surgical options include the use of prescription drugs antiverrugas (officially for use against genital warts, but also effective in treating plantar warts) or immunotherapy, in which doctors inject antigens directly into the wart in an attempt to activate the natural response of your immune system against his wart.

How can I reduce my chances of getting plantar warts? Use bath slippers in public areas to reduce your potential contact with HPV. Dry your feet thoroughly after showering and swimming. And if you have a plantar wart, consider treatment a matter of urgency. The sooner you treat the plantar wart, the better! Late treatments mean a great opportunity for the plantar wart to spread its virus to other local areas of your foot. You get rid of a plantar wart that a "mosaic" whole lot easier (one of the most unpleasant cases of life imitating art). To reduce the likelihood of the wart multiplying, do not touch or scratch the plantar wart. Keep your hands away!

If you have a plantar wart, take the first step toward treatment today! Do not hesitate to make an appointment with your doctor to ensure that your problem is plantar warts. In the meantime, it will not hurt to apply duct tape or salicylic acid. Be aggressive. Do not let those warts walk all over you, even when you are walking through them.