Plantar Wart Causes and Treatments
What are Plantar Warts?
A Plantar Wart is a contagious skin lesion at the bottom of the foot caused by a viral skin infection by one or many of the 150 different species of Human Papilloma Viruses (HPV). Plantar warts are similar to normal warts (non-cancerous skin growths), with the difference being that plantar warts form on the sole, ball or heel of your foot where the pressure from standing and walking can cause them to grow upwards into the foot.
How are Plantar Warts treated?
At Ottawa Foot Practice we have trained foot technicians working under the supervision of doctors of podiatric medicine who have experience in dealing with plantar warts and providing appropriate treatments for all levels of conditions.
Our new plantar wart laser treatment protocol is a quick, in-office procedure. There will be no downtime due to chemically-induced blistering.
It is believed that the laser beam gently coagulates the mini blood vessels nourishing the infected skin cells. These cells will then be evacuated fast enough so viral transmission to new skin cell generation will not take place anymore. In many cases, three to four laser sessions performed two weeks apart may be enough to eradicate the viral lesion.
As Plantar Warts are a virus and in many cases are hard to treat it is advised that you contact our foot specialist to assist with their removal.
Over the counter medications can often cause more harm than good by rendering the lesion more resistant to professional treatments. Home treatment can also damage healthy skin and home surgery is certainly not recommended because it only spreads the viral infection to a larger area. You may cause injury and most likely will not be able to remove the growth entirely.