Plantar warts (also known as verucca / verrucae pedis) are a common benign viral skin infection, affecting around 7 to 12% of the population at any one given time. These lesions are caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) – most commonly HPV 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 27 and 57.
They can present as a single lesion or in clusters. They may be present on the sole of the foot, the top of the foot, on the toes, between the toes or even underneath toenails. Warts are quite contagious and can be acquired from direct contact, which may be from person-to-person or from a typically warm and moist environment (e.g. showers and swimming pools), infection and skin penetration of the virus increases if the skin is broken or wet.
Warts are often mistaken for corns, however, when you look at a wart closely it has a ‘cauliflower-like’ appearance and skin lines (striae) are interrupted by the lesion, compared to corns where skin lines are not interrupted. This is sometimes hard to see as warts tend to develop overlying hard callus – particularly when they are on the bottom of your feet. This needs to be debrided carefully before any treatment can be effective. It is important not to pick at warts or touch them with your hands, as it will tend to;
1. make the lesion more painful,
2. make them worsen,
3. cause them to spread over your feet, hands, other areas of your body or even under the finger or toenails.
A Podiatrist can diagnose and treat warts/verrucas. There are multiple
treatment modalities available which your Podiatrist can discuss with you.
These include freezing, acid application, needling of the lesion, padding and
offloading the wart and simple removal of the hard skin overlying the wart.
These lesions can be quite stubborn to cure and may require multiple or
repeated treatments.
If you would like to know more about wart treatment, please give us a call and see one of our Podiatrists.
