Plantar warts, 7 years and counting, what now?

My darn feet have a ton of problems, but the plantar warts seem to me the most pressing.

I have four plantar warts on my feet: one on the bottom of each of my little toes and one on each side between the big and first toes on the ball of my foot, but not on the expanse of the ball, but rather just south of being between the toes.

I have had the little toe ones for 6 or 7 years (I'm 24) and the ball of foot ones for 4 years. In both cases, they appeared almost instantaneously, in the same location on both feet, and I have always assumed they came from trying on shoes. None of them has spread, or really gotten bigger, or if they have, it's not been more than 1/4 or 1/2 centimeter. I thought they were calluses until just over 2 years ago, when a doctor told me they were warts.

They have callusing over them. The ones on the balls of my feet I periodically pare with a blade, as it's more painful to let it build up. I try to pare the hard skin on the balls of my toes, but it is as if there are nerve endings underneath and it's too painful to trim it. The little toes curl under my second toes so I am always treading on the wart. It is very painful. I sometimes put a divider of some sort in between my little and second toes, but it is very difficult to keep this in place while walking. The normal toe covers (foam or gel-y) that you find at drugstores don't really work as dividers as they don't prevent the little toe from curling under. It's pretty impossible to pad the ball of foot/between toes ones.

I have done the following with no effect and would appreciate any suggestions as to remedies I might try next:

• 4 sessions of freezing by a podiatrist.... no effect. This was as a student in England in Spring 2007, and I graduated after 4 sessions so could not continue with the podiatrist, as he was with the student health service.

• 1 bottle of a dab-on liquid formaldehyde, prescribed by same podiatrist.... no effect

• Duct Tape... this MIGHT have begun to work, but I could not for the LIFE of me get it to stay on my feet. Same issue with little pieces of potato and banana skin (home remedies found online).

• Weak (British) callus removal gel, something like 4% salicylic acid.... no effect

• Bazuka and extra strength Bazuka gels (British), which have salicylic acid, I think up to 15% or so... brought some dark dots to the surface, but then caused blistering, after which the warts were still there

• Back in America this summer, Dr Scholl's salicylic acid plantar wart dots, which are something like 40% salicylic acid... blistering, after which the warts were still there


I am often in discomfort or even pain and I am so sick of these warts. Some shoes don't aggravate them much, but all do by the end of the day or to some extent, as does being barefoot.

I don't have access to a podiatrist right now-- I haven't seen one in approx 2 years-- but I will seek one out when I go back to (American) university in the Fall. In the meantime, I would appreciate any suggestions or words of wisdom. Thanks in advance!

Hi there

Have you heard of verrucae needling? Podiatrists in the UK and US will be able to do this for you easily under local anaesthetic. The idea is to push the wart virus further into the body so your immune system can produce an immune response....immunising you against your verrucae.

It doesn't work on everyone but appears to have high success rates. Home treatments don't work well on mosaic plantar warts (verrucae) but duct tape does. Cut it into a circle 1-2mm larger than the wart and put some medical tape over the top (eg hypafix, mefix, saniporefix....the white stretcht breathable tape) most pharmacies sell similar here in the UK.

I hope this helps

:-)

[FootDoc]

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Common warts, if that's what you have, can be one of the more difficult and unpredictable problems seen by both podiatrists and dermatologists. Their resolution probably has more to do with the patient and the ability of his/her immune system to kill the causative virus than any particular therapy. One thing I didn't hear you mention was surgical removal, either by curettage or full thickness excision. Without the cooperation of the immune system, though, permanent resolution is unlikely.

Thanks very much to both of you.

The podiatrist I saw never suggested surgical removal, nor did I suggest it, as we were trying freezing, then formaldehyde, then I had to skip stop seeing him due to graduating. I have seen surgical removal mentioned online as a last-ditch effort, and one not overwhelmingly successful at resolving the issue for good. I will discuss it the next podiatrist I see. Possibly no closure for me, though, well, I can live with that too. No rest for the wicked (with uncooperative immune systems).

I am actually back in the US now, and here to stay for the next 4 years (for university).... the needling sounds a bit horrifying! But perhaps I will google around to try to get a better idea about that. The duct tape, I really gave it a go, with various kinds of medical tape, but it would not stay on for love or money. I've got a lot of free time right now before starting university, though, I will try it again with American tapes. =)

I had a planter's wart for a year on the sole of my feet next to the toes. I had it surgically removed five weeks ago, but it has left a scar which is almost as painful as the wart. However my doctor says the scar will soften in about a month or so. I will keep you posted. One thing is for sure sometimes, if all else fails surgery is the only option. I tried most of the remedies like duct tape, salicylic acid patches and stuff like that before opting for surgery.

[FootDoc]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I had a planter's wart for a year on the sole of my feet next to the toes. I had it surgically removed five weeks ago, but it has left a scar which is almost as painful as the wart.

Am I correct in assuming that this was not done by a podiatrist?