Verruca Vulgaris! No those aren’t fighting words but the medical term for plantar warts

When I was in school I did a presentation on Warts and gained an increased appreciation of them.  One article I read stated that 50 percent of warts resolve in 2 years without any treatment.  When I read that I was skeptical, most of the warts I had seen had been around for longer than 2 years and were nowhere near resolving. 

I tested this theory out on myself.  After more than two years I have a study with a sample size of one that refutes that claim.  After your wart doesn’t go away without treatment there are several ways to treat them.

Treating Plantar Warts

These treatments range from duct tape (needs to be silver) to surgical removal and even LASER.  These treatments have two ways to help remove wwarts | Expert Albuquerque Podiatristarts.  The first is destruction of the wart.  The second is cueing the body to attack the wart. 

This is related to that study that didn’t pan out for me.  The immune system is the best treatment for warts, but sometimes it needs a little help recognizing what’s foreign.  There is even one treatment that injects bacteria into the wart so the body will attack it.

If you think you have a wart, take a picture of it.  Then look for these two things to make sure it is a wart. 

  1. The skin lines (like finger prints) will be interrupted at the edge of the wart. 
  2. Pinpoint bleeding, which is the little dark spots in the middle of the wart. 

After you have identified it’s a wart go after it with your preferred treatment, then if it doesn’t work come see me in the office.

Janet Simon
Experienced Albuquerque podiatrist specializing in preventing and treating foot and ankle pain.