Summertime, and the living is easy, means fun in the sun and time around the pool. It also means time to be careful not to pick-up a pesky plantar wart. Here is some information about plantar warts, their prevention and treatment.
A plantar wart is a painful growth which occurs on the bottom of the foot. It is called a plantar wart because the bottom of the foot is known in anatomical terms as the plantar part of the foot. Warts are caused by a virus which commonly lives on moist surfaces. It enters the bottom of the foot through a small break in the skin. It then develops its own blood supply and nerve endings. The small blood vessels can often be seen as small black dots within the wart. Because of the nerve endings, a wart is painful if you step on it just the right way. Sometimes warts will go away by themselves but most of the time they continue to grow and sometimes will spread to other areas of the foot. There are many different treatments for plantar warts including various home remedies and there is no one particular method of treatment that is 100% successful.
Prevention
Methods of prevention are primarily aimed at protecting the feet when you are in an environment where the virus might be present. This involves around swimming pools, showers in locker rooms or college dorms, and anywhere there is water and many people walking barefoot - even a water park. Wearing a good water shoe or even flip-flops may help to prevent exposure to the wart virus.
Treatment
In the more than 27 years Elyria podiatrist Dr. Roger Friedman has been treating warts, he has discovered the most successful forms of treatment involve the use of the laser. Dr. Friedman uses two different types of lasers for wart removal and destruction. The first laser is called the pulsed dye laser which uses a specialized wavelength of light to destroy the blood vessels which are supplying the wart so the wart shrivels up and dies. The second type of laser is the carbon dioxide laser which eliminates the wart through precise surgical excision. Both are very successful, but they each have their pluses and minuses. To discuss these options of treatment with Dr. Friedman please give our office a call at 440-934-8444 today. No need to put up with a pesky, painful plantar wart anymore!