plantar wart treatment and facts

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Warts are common viral skin infections that appear as protrusions and they can appear on almost all parts of the human body. They are not lethal although they can really make skin features look ugly. Warts is caused by the microorganism called HPV or human papillomavirus and it affects only the outer layer of the skin and it is usually characterized by thick growths that are callous-like in appearance.

Nevertheless, when pressure is put on it, it can become quite tender and at times it may even bleed.

Plantar warts are the kind of warts that appear on the surface of the foot or the sole. The plantar part of the feet refers to that area that directly faces the floor although if you really want to point the exact part of the foot that is exactly where the plantar part is, it is that are covering the arch of the foot.

And that is where plantar warts appear. Although not particularly harmful and most of the time ignored, it may come to a point when warts need to be treated especially if it already negatively affects an individual’s capacity to walk.

And this hindrance on normal walking does not go away easily which means you cannot just brush it aside and hope that you outgrow the wart and eventually get used to it, in fact, plantar warts can stay there for months or even years on length.

And it is very hard to determine the underlying plantar wart causes since there are are more than a hundred types of human papillomavirus and there are only specific strains of HPV responsible for skin warts including plantar warts and of these strains, only a specific type of HPV infects specific human anatomical areas such as the plantar sector of the human foot.

Although the numbers are not the clear, it is approximated that there are at the very least 10 percent of all individuals with wart infections suffering from plantar wart bug. Even though plantar warts can affect people of all ages, they are more pronounced on children between the ages of twelve to sixteen and they happen hardly ever on adults.

There are people who are at a greater risk in being infected by warts and those are the individuals that regularly use public showers such as the ones in the gyms and swimming pools and saunas. People who have suffered from skin trauma are also more exposed to HPV and eventually wart infection, and people who have weakened immune systems brought about by their intake of certain medicines or because of a malingering sickness.

The HPV strain that is responsible for plantar wart infection is the human papillomavirus type 1 strain. It affects the plantar surface via direct contact and obviously, one gets this type of infection from places where HPV flourishes such as in communal shower rooms like in gyms, swimming pools, dormitories with common shower rooms, and other public places where there is a need to walk barefoot on wet surfaces.

Some of the signs that you may be in for plantar warts are painful feet as if there are lumps underneath the sole, leg pain or even pain in then back causing poor posture, the manifestation of lesions with dark spots (blood clots) that are spongy or sometimes thick and scaly in texture, smooth skin surface that is brownish in color, and the appearance of warts on areas of the feet that are always under pressure such as the heel and ball of the foot.

Some warts may even congregate at a specific area of the sole forming a kind of mosaic design.

There are a number of simple home therapies that one can apply if plantar warts begin to appear, however, if despite all your efforts these plantar warts still stubbornly show, then it is bout time that you seek the help of a medical professional.

Generally, a general practitioner can sufficiently treat warts, whatever the type is, yet if all else fails, you should make a beeline to your dermatologist for a more specialized approach on that skin issue.

There are times when warts were mistaken for calluses and corns and you should understand that warts appear faster while calluses and corns will only develop over several years and after continuous contact with the one that is causing the hardening of the skin.

It would be wise to consult your doctor to determine whether you really have a plantar wart condition or if what you are experiencing is just a progression of corn, callus, mole, or skin lesion.

Keep in mind that although most plantar wart growths are practically harmless, a few may pose certain health issues. For example, there is a possibility that more serious forms of lesions may appear which may include malignant gashes such as melanoma and carcinoma and although these occurrences are so rare, they are oftentimes mistaken as regular warts and may be left unexamined.

Once you see warts getting out of control, you should immediately seek medical attention especially if it seems that the warts are already affecting your regular movements and they seem to require removal from the skin to bring your movements back to normalcy.

You should also immediately go to your doctor if you are suffering from extremer pain and the skin around the warts is experiencing severe swelling and redness, there is bleeding involved, and larger than normal lesions are slowly appearing.

You should also seek immediate medical help if after the removal of your warts you using burning or freezing, the skin around the area where the warts were remove show signs of infection and this condition is characterized by redness, pain, and tender skin.

Also, if a fever erupts right after the treatment or the warts do not actually disappear, then that is the time you need to have the warts examined by a doctor for diagnosis and proper treatment.

Keep in mind that plantar warts are not emergency cases so you should take the treatments in stride and carefully examine the areas where treatment has been done.