Warts and Plantar Warts…what’s the difference?
What is the difference between Warts and Plantar Warts
A Wart can be anywhere on the body, but most commonly on the hands and fingers. Plantar Warts are found on the foot.
How are warts diagnosed?
A doctor usually can tell if a skin growth is a wart just by looking at it. Your doctor may take a sample of the wart and look at it under a microscope (a skin biopsy) if the diagnosis of a skin condition is unclear or if you are at high risk for having skin cancer. This may be done if it isn’t clear that the growth is a wart. It may also be done if a skin growth is darker than the skin surrounding it, is an irregular patch on the skin, bleeds, or is large and fast growing.
How are Plantar Warts treated?
Most warts don’t need treatment. But if you have warts that are painful or spreading, or if you are bothered by the way they look, your treatment choices include:
- Using a home treatment such as salicylic acid or duct tape. You can get these without a prescription.
- Putting a stronger medicine on the wart, or getting a shot of medicine in it.
- Freezing the wart (cryotherapy).
- Removing the wart with surgery (electrosurgery, curettage, laser surgery).
Wart treatment doesn’t always work. Even after a wart shrinks or goes away, warts may come back or spread to other parts of the body. This is because most treatments destroy the wart but don’t kill the virus that causes the wart.
To learn more about treating Plantar Warts, go to Heel Pain Institute of America or Laurel Foot & Ankle Center or Northern Foot & Ankle Associates.
Contact our offices Laurel Foot & Ankle
Center or Northern Virginia Foot &
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