BEFORE AFTER
WHO GETS THEM?
In this blog and video we will be talking about warts, plantar warts other wise known as verruca pedis or papillomas of the foot. Warts are a very common condition that can happen to anyone at any age, but they are more common in children and those with the lowered immune system.
WHERE DO THEY COME FROM?
What causes a wart is actually a virus; not many people realise this, it is known as HPV or the Human Papilloma Virus. You can contract the virus from anywhere, it could be a pool or a public place, it could have been on your skin all the time and eventually, maybe when your immune system is lowered due to some other illness it gets into your bloodstream and it tends to pop up on your hands, and even more often at the bottom of the feet.
WHAT DO THEY LOOK AND FEEL LIKE?
Some people might confuse this with a corn; a little trick that we like to do in clinic is to see if it hurts when you directly push on it, or squeeze it. The general idea is if you squeeze and it hurts then it could be a wart, and if you push on it, it’s more likely to be a corn. But you know what, really either way can hurt either thing, both wart and corn.
Lookwise you might notice that other than there being just a growth of tissue at certain parts of the foot, there might be a little cauliflower like center to the body or that the striations of the skin, like those on your finger print tend to just disappear. This is also the very good indicator, visually that a wart exist in addition to little dry blood spots in the center of the lesion.
TOP 3 TREATMENTS FOR ELIMINATING WARTS
- Number one; whether it’s a corn or a wart we are going to bring it down with scalpel debridement. We need to remove dead skin and get lesion off your foot. Ideally even get a bit of the bodies immune system going if we get closer to the skin.
- Another way that we get the wart to come to the surface and the lesion to come down, is to use Salicylic Acid. As Podiatrists we have a much higher percentage of this than that is available over the counter at your chemist and we can apply this at a controlled environment.
- The third common way is what we call a caustic or burning agent; like silvet nitrated
Everything that we are doing is to trying to stimulate the body to realise there’s something wrong here and we need to get to the bottom of it.
AT HOME TIPS
- Keep your feet as dry as possible.
- Reduce moisture with breathable socks and
- Try to wear thongs if you can to prevent spreading the infection to your other foot, other parts of your foot and to those around you.
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO GO AWAY?
- With treatment in clinic we can expect to see resolution within three to five visits on average.
- Sometimes it’s a little as two, sometimes it can be many more depending on the severity.
- If you leave it alone you could be looking at a few months or few years, or who knows how long until your body eventually fights it off.
If you think you might have a wart contact your Podiatrist and hopefully your local Podiatrist will be us at Holistic Foot Clinic.And to find out more watch our video below or book online: www.holisticfootclinic.com.au/booking/
Caelin Ling
Podiatrist
• Podiatrist Taylors Hill • Podiatrist Caroline Springs • Podiatrist Burwood
