Plantar warts or Verrucae Pedis are a painful lesion caused by a virus in the skin known as Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Plantar Warts initiate as a result of transmission of the virus through cuts or breaks within the skin. Walking bare footed in areas around public showers or pools are a common reason of contracting the virus. Plantar warts are painful and can be very contagious unlike corns, which look similar. Warts have no skin lines running through them. They are often painful upon squeezing and have small black dots which represent the blood vessels within the wart tissue.
How are they treated?
- Chemical cautery- using strong chemicals to breakdown the tissue of the warts. This results in irritation and alerting of the immune system to address the virus. This may involve up to 6 Weeks of treatment.
- Freezing/burning with liquid nitrogen.
Treatment may take up to 6 weeks.