How to Prevent & Treat Plantar Warts | Foot Care

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Hi. My name is Dr. John Fritz, and I'm going to talk to you a little bit about warts. Warts are a virus that infects the skin. The virus is typically called the human papilloma virus or HPV. It is contagious and quite difficult to get rid of.

Plantar warts typically occur on the bottom of your feet. Some people confuse them with calluses. The difference is a plantar wart you see no skin lines present. Often, little black dots are present on the inside of the wart. These are often confused for splinters, and I have many patients who have tried to actually remove the splinters only to find them to grow back immediately.

Plantar warts can spread to other areas of your foot, other areas of your body and are best dealt with quickly before this occurs.

There are quite a few homeopathic techniques. I wanted to share a few with you that I've actually seen work. The most popular homeopathic technique for the treatment of plantar warts is Thuja. Thuja is extract of conifer oil, and I actually have seen work quite well. Some other techniques would be apple cider vinegar applied to the wart. The other effective technique that I have seen is tea tree oil.

There are some homeopathic remedies that I have not seen work well. The duct tape technique does not work well and often can lead to serious skin irritation. The banana peel technique, the cashew technique, the oregano oil technique I have not seen great success.

The over-the-counter products available in the drugstore typically are variations in strength of salicylic acid. Salicylic acid does work well, but the wart must be filed adequately before its application.

Typically, in our office, we will use cryotherapy, which is freezing the wart. The idea is to destroy the wart faster than it can grow. I also like to use some prescription strength topical medications in my treatment of warts. Sometimes with resistant warts surgical excision is necessary. Laser therapy, either CO2 or pulsed dye, is also effective in the treatment of warts.

Prevention is the key. Don't touch warts. If you have a wart, wash your hands after you treat it. If you go to a swimming pool, gym, or public area, wear something on top of your feet.