Special Report on Plantar Warts

What is a Plantar Wart?
A wart is a small growth on the skin that develops when the skin is infected by a virus. Warts can develop anywhere on the foot, but typically they appear on the bottom (plantar side) of the foot. Plantar warts most commonly occur in children, adolescents, and the elderly.

There are two types of plantar warts:

•A solitary wart is a single wart. It often increases in size and may eventually multiply, forming additional "satellite" warts.
•Mosaic warts are a cluster of several small warts growing closely together in one area. Mosaic warts are more difficult to treat than solitary warts.
Signs and Symptoms
The signs and symptoms of a plantar wart may include:

•Thickened skin. Often a plantar wart resembles a callus because of its tough, thick tissue.
•Pain. A plantar wart usually hurts during walking and standing, and there is pain when the sides of the wart are squeezed.
•Tiny black dots. These often appear on the surface of the wart. The dots are actually dried blood contained in the infected capillaries (tiny blood vessels).
Plantar warts grow deep into the skin. Usually this growth occurs slowly -- the wart starts off small and gets larger over time.

What Causes a Plantar Wart?
Plantar warts are caused by direct contact with the human papilloma virus (HPV). This is the same virus that causes warts on other areas of the body. Typically, the plantar wart virus is acquired in public places where people go barefoot, such as locker rooms, swimming pools, and karate classes. It can also be acquired at home if other family members have the virus.

Diagnosis and Treatment
To diagnose a plantar wart, the foot and ankle surgeon will examine the patient's foot and look for signs and symptoms of a wart.

Although plantar warts may eventually clear up on their own, most patients desire faster relief. The goal of treatment is to completely remove the wart.

The foot and ankle surgeon may use topical or oral treatments, laser therapy, cryotherapy (freezing), or surgery to remove the wart.

Regardless of the treatment approaches undertaken, it is important that the patient follow the surgeon's instructions, including all home care and medication that has been prescribed, as well as follow-up visits with the surgeon. Warts may return, requiring further treatment.

If there is no response to treatment, further diagnostic evaluation may be necessary. In such cases, the surgeon can perform a biopsy to rule out other potential causes for the growth.

Although there are many folk remedies for warts, patients should be aware that these remain unproven and may be dangerous. Patients should never try to remove a wart themselves -- this can do more harm than good.



Committed to your health,

Dr. Craig Conti
Sarasota Foot Care Center
www.sarasotafootcarecenter.com

British man removes wart...with a shotgun?!?

This guy wins the prize for taking things into his own hands. You may have heard the expression, "if you want to make an omelette you have to break a few eggs." This gentleman in England had a wart on his finger for several years. He claims to have tried several options to cure these pesky lesions, all with no success. It is at this point that he decided to stop playing games. He loaded a shotgun and blasted the wart off his finger...well to be more accurate he blasted his finger off with the wart still attached to it! There was no finger left to even attempt to reattach it. If the story is not strange enough yet, it gets weirder. In England it is very difficult to get a gun. This man did not have the proper paperwork and as such he faced up to 15 years in jail just for possessing the gun. He claims he found the gun in the hedges near his home. I guess the judge felt sorry for the poor guy because he got off with a fine, some community service and time served...oh yeah and he lost a finger! Got to love the justice system. For his part the man said he is happy to see the finger gone. The wart was so annoying that he is happier this way.
I am posting this to (hopefully) make you laugh and also to tell you that you don't have to use a shotgun to remove your warts. There are plenty of options to help remove these painful lesions without shooting off parts of your anatomy. For more information, please refer to my blog, "Do You Really Get Warts From Frogs," on December 19, 2008. Please, please, please put the shotgun down!


Committed to your health,

Dr. Craig Conti
Sarasota Foot Care Center
www.sarasotafootcarecenter.com

Do You Really Get Warts From Frogs?

Warts are a very common skin condition that affects the feet. Kids and teens are the most likely group to get warts but they can occur at any age. There is much confusion and folklore out there about what causes warts and how you can cure them. First of all, warts are not caused by frogs, toads or amphibians of any kind. Warts are caused by a virus, specifically the human papilloma virus. This microscopic virus enters the body through tiny cuts in the skin of the foot. Most of the time, our immune system destroys the virus and you never show any symptoms. Some times, the virus is not destroyed. It instead takes over skin cells and produces more and more virus.
A wart on the bottom, or plantar, part of the foot is called a plantar wart. This is not to be confused with the word planter. Make no mistake, warts are not related to or caused by any type of farming or gardening. Plantar warts are raised, have a rough surface and often contain small black dots. These black dots are actually blood vessels that have been taken over by the virus cells and have now grown so fast that they clot off. Because of this unique property warts can bleed easily if scratched or rubbed. Warts are sometimes painful and sometimes painless. It all depends on the thickness of the wart and the location. Skin on the bottom of the foot is very thick and makes treatment of warts difficult.
Medical science is not very good at killing viruses. This is why the common cold and HIV are so difficult to treat. The way warts are treated is by destroying the virus and the skin that it lives in. We do this in various ways. Sometimes freezing the skin is the treatment, other times it is through the use of chemicals such as acids. Either way the treatment of warts is a slow process that takes several weeks.
What if you never treat them? Well, there is a very complicated interplay of the virus and our immune system. Warts do just seemingly disappear on occasion. Why is this? This happens because the immune system can clear the virus by itself. This is very unpredictable and is the reason we treat warts to help speed the process up. This spontaneous healing of warts has lead people to believe that all manner of home remedy is actually responsible for the effect. I have heard of people putting soap under the mattress or burying a potato in the backyard to help with warts. I assure you, this does nothing to the virus, but the power of the mind is very strong.
I think of it like the Indian rain dance. Do you know how that worked? Well, they just kept on dancing until it rained. Hopefully it didn't rain frogs or else they all might have broken out with warts! Just kidding, see how these crazy stories are spread.

Commited to your health,

Dr. Craig Conti
Sarasota Foot Care Center
http://www.sarasotafootcarecenter.com/