Plantar warts are a common skin infection caused by a virus, they are noncancerous growths that occur on the sole of your feet. Plantar warts often develop into the deeper layers of skin, such as heels or balls of your feet because of the pressure the receive.

 

Causes

Warts are caused when HPV (Human papilloma virus) invades the body through a break in the skin. The virus often is encountered on contaminated surfaces, such as those created in tile floors of public showers, and swimming pools. Plantar wart in some cases can be transmitted to other areas of the body, called remote location seeding.
 

Symptoms

Plantar warts usually are rough, bumpy, and spongy, some appear thick and scaly. To make the distinction, look for:

• Small, fleshy, grainy bumps on the soles of your feet
• Pain on the bottom of the foot
• Gray or brown lumps with one or more black dots, which are actually small, clotted blood vessels, not "wart seeds"
• Bumps that interrupt the normal lines and ridges in the skin of your feet
• Located over areas of pressure or bony point such as heel.

Treatment

Although with time, your immune system is able to destroy the human papillomavirus that causes warts. But most people would rather treat warts than wait for them to disappear.

 
You may decide to treat plantar warts if it is:

• Painful
• Easily irritated
• Spreading to other parts of your body
  

You may need to treat warts if you have an impaired immune system or diabetes or if you are pregnant.

Your physician will carefully trim the wart and may suggest this common treatments:

• Salicylic acid
• Duct tape
• Freezing (cryotherapy)
• Cantharidin
• Minor surgery (if your warts don’t respond to common treatments above)
• Laser surgery
• Immunotherapy (This therapy attempts to harness your body's natural rejection system to remove tough-to-treat warts)

Written by Medpages Editorial Team
Last Editorial Review: 18/1/2010