Tips to Get Rid of Plantar Warts

Plantar warts are noncancerous skin growths on the soles of your feet caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), which enters your body through tiny cuts and breaks in your skin. Plantar warts often develop beneath pressure points in your feet, such as the heels or balls of your feet.

Surgery is an option if home treatment and treatment at your health professional's office has failed. Surgery for warts is usually quick and effective. No single surgical method is more effective than another in curing warts. Generally, health professionals start with the surgical method that is least likely to cause scarring.

Cryotherapy sounds like what they did to Ted Williams, and does involve freezing. In this case, doctors use liquid nitrogen to "freeze" your wart. They apply the liquid nitrogen directly onto the plantar wart using a spray-tip or cotton-tip applicator. If you've never experienced cryotherapy before, you might be struck by the sci-fi image of unearthly vapors rising from the nitrogen tank. For children, this method can be too painful and scary, and at any rate, it guarantees neither more nor less success than duct tape or acid treatments. If successful, however, you'll get rid of that plantar wart faster.

It is possible to remove plantar warts. Some success for removing painful plantar warts has been reported by the repeated and extended applications of salicylic acid. The acid, available in drug stores, works by softening the callus over the wart, exposing the virus. Apply the acid at night, and rub the whitened skin off in the morning. During the day, apply a donut-shaped pad over the wart for cushioning and pain relief. Do not use salicylic acid if you have diabetes or peripheral vascular disease.

Cantharidin Doctors and healers have used cantharidin — a substance extracted from the blister beetle — to treat warts for centuries. Today, this therapy is sometimes paired with salicylic acid. Your doctor paints this beetle juice onto your wart and covers it with clear tape. The application is painless, but it causes the skin under the wart to blister, lifting the wart off the skin. Your doctor can then clip away the dead part of the wart in about a week. However, some doctors are hesitant to use cantharidin because it's not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of warts.

Another very low cost way to remove plantar warts is called hyperthermic treatment. Hyperthermic treatment of plantar is very simple and all you need is warm water and a small tube to soak your feet in. It involves soaking your feet in hot water to remove the warts for 90 minutes a day. This is a no-nonsense method on how to remove warts, especially plantar warts. Also, it can relieve the pressure caused by the infection.

Removal of plantar warts using this method may depend on the size of the wart. Usually, it takes about six weeks for the lesion to heal completely. Another disadvantage of the method, aside from the length it takes for the wound to heal, is the pain associated, even if anesthesia is applied, and the scar that forms around the skin area.

Another very low cost way to remove plantar warts is called hyperthermic treatment. Hyperthermic treatment of plantar is very simple and all you need is warm water and a small tube to soak your feet in. It involves soaking your feet in hot water to remove the warts for 90 minutes a day. This is a no-nonsense method on how to remove warts, especially plantar warts. Also, it can relieve the pressure caused by the infection.