Warts
Plantar Warts. "Plantar" is the medical term for the sole of your foot, and that’s where these flat-surfaced warts grow. They usually start on the weight-bearing foot areas like the ball, heel, and bottom of the big toe. Commonly passed on surfaces at public swimming pools and showers, they have nothing to do with "planting" crops in bare feet like many people think. Another myth is that the black spots deep inside plantar warts are "roots" or "seeds;" they are actually just dried up capillary blood vessels.
Common Warts. These can appear anywhere on the body, but most often infect your hands. Often in groups, these hard, round or oval, raised warts have a rough, cauliflower- like surface.
Flat Warts. Usually seen in young kids, these soft warts are slightly darker than the surrounding flesh and look like tiny mesas on the your skin --- hence the name flat warts (verruca plana).
Corns
Corns only occur on the feet, usually where a prominent bone presses against the inside of your shoe (tops of toes, pressure points of the sole, and between the toes). Pressure causes your skin to thicken at that point, creating the hard surface and core of the corn. They are like calluses penetrating deep instead of spreading wide. Once they form, they become cone-shaped with the point facing inward. That presses on the nerves deep in your skin, and is like having a pebble in your shoe all the time. They aren’t contagious like warts; only constant pressure on the skin can create them.
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Warts
Wart viruses are everywhere. Avoiding any contact that might expose you to HPV would mean total isolation. Thus, most authorities recommend the reasonable precautions below to minimize contact with potential carriers or contaminated objects. If you currently have warts, follow these measures to reduce the spread of the virus to other parts of your own body and to other people.
- Warts should be covered at all times, even while under treatment.
- Don’t share towels or washcloths, even with family members.
- Cover your feet with thongs or other footwear at public pools when not swimming.
- Always use thongs in locker rooms and public showers.
- Treat warts quickly to minimize spread to yourself and others.
Corns
Since corns are a skin response to pressure, relieving pressure on high-risk areas of your feet stops corns from forming (or recurring). Some people have underlying growths or enlargements of their foot bones that create pressure points, but for most, this is a footwear problem. Poor-fitting shoes commonly squeeze the toes together (especially women’s shoes), thus the tops and sides of the toes are the most common sites for corns.
Footwear Tips To Prevent Corns
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Warts and corns can be treated similarly. You want to remove thickened, diseased skin without damaging surrounding healthy tissue. Salicylic acid is the only OTC medicine considered safe and effective to remove warts and corns. It comes in different strengths and forms, but the best products are the pad or disc types, orflexible collodion (a liquid that dries to a long-acting film). Both allow the salicylic acid to act longer and penetrate deeper (See Recommended Products section for details).
Below are some tips for getting the best results with salicylic acid treatment.
- Use a nail file or pumice stone to remove dead skin every two days. This speeds up destruction of the wart or corn.
- If surrounding skin becomes inflamed or injured, protect it with a thin layer of petrolatum before applying salicylic acid.
- Adhesive foot pads with a hole for the corn or plantar wart relieve pressure and pain. The wart/corn also tends to protrude through the hole after you stand on the pad all day. This outward bulging makes applying medicine or scraping them much easier.
- Corns and common warts may take a few weeks to resolve with salicylic acid treatment; plantar warts may take up to 12 weeks! You must be very patient and persistent.
- Dermisil is an all-natural wart treatment that is extremely effective. Dermisil works to counteract the HPV virus and eliminate warts gently and effectively. Other treatments include:
- Wart-Off (17% salicylic acid, flexible collodion). As stated in Treatment, this form of salicylic acid sticks to the application area and doesn’t easily rub off.
- Dr. Scholl’s Corn Pads/Dr. Scholl’s Callus Pads. These immediately relieve soreness from direct pressure on corns/calluses due to standing or walking.
There are certain types of warts that should never be self-treated:
- Plantar warts in large clusters, or single warts more than half an inch wide.
- Venereal (genital) warts.
- Facial warts.
- Flat warts (they are too easily confused with other skin conditions, and usually go away completely by themselves after a few months).
If self-treatment of common warts is ineffective after four weeks, or plantar wart treatment ineffective after 12 weeks, a physician should be consulted. Corns need only to be evaluated by a physician if they are particularly persistent and very painful. Custom orthotic inserts may be considered.
Those with diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, or immune suppression (long term steroid use, other immunosupressive drugs, or HIV) should never self-treat warts because of the possibility of secondary infection. Of course, if during treatment any sign of infection such as redness, swelling, tenderness, or pus occurs, consult a physician immediately.
