Plantar warts

[disneydave2003]

Hi All,
I read these boards often and you seem to always have good advice and tips. So I decided I'll ask you a question and hope you can help me out. Aside from going to the doctor to have them burned off or frozen, how can you get rid of plantar warts?

Thanks
Dave

 

[delikado]

You can get these Dr. Scholl's (sp?) medicated plantar wart bandages at your local pharmacy, which you just wear for about a week (changing everyday, of course), and the warts usually just peel off. It looks really gross when that happens, but it does the trick.

 

[tkyes]

Nothing has worked for me. Doctors visits, over the counter, nothing works for mine.

Right now I am trying duct tape. Yep - you read it right. There was a recent study that whatever is in duct tape works as well as visiting the dr. and having it frozen.

You are supposed to wear the tape for a week or so and then soak the wart and let it soften, then remove the dead skin and start all over again if necessary.

I guess we'll see if it works. I have a feeling I'll be wearing this duct tape for a long time though!

 

[piratesmate]

DD had pretty good results with the Dr Scholl's. She told me she had one so I bought a pack & showed her how to use them. However, rotten mother that I am, I failed to ask if she was still using them after a week or so. She wasn't. Then during the summer I happened to see the sole of her foot & was shocked! It was really quite large. So we started again & I kept after her this time. Within days, it was much better.

 

[JESW]

Try the special bandaids - they worked for both my kids. Good luck!

Jill

 

[swanmom]

Did Dr. Scholl's some-kind-of-medicated pads for my DD. Took much longer than they said - about 7 weeks. At first, we didn't see much difference but then at the 3-4 week mark we could finally tell it was getting better. Getting a pumice stone and using it to remove the dead skin seemed to help.

 

[Ally2002]

Mine were so bad that they had to be cut out. However, my podiatrist did say that if they started to come back, I could use an over the counter remedy as I would be catching it much earlier.

 

[MdmMim]

My DD tried the duct tape twice with no real results. She finally got rid of these things using Dr. Scholl's wart remover for a few months. She had many wicked big warts. Now she's wart-free!

 

[cgcw]

DS8 had a bunch on his hands two summers ago. Really good results with Compound W. I was really sketical in the beginning but within a couple of weeks, we could see the results.

 

[Megan's Mom]

I know you will laugh but this works. Find someone you has the "gift" of talking them off. There use to be a lady in our lunchroom that could do it. When I was young the local barber could do it. My dad took me to see him and he rubbed my hand where the wort was and talked to me and they left in a few days.

 

[Kallison]

I've had them for 8 years every since my youngest was born, I could not get rid of them. The only thing that has worked has been the duct tape method, combined with a special acid creme my podiatrist mixes up. All the OTC remedies are salicylic acid, I believe the strongest you can get is around 40%? The stuff I use is 65%. Works great. Unfortunately I passed them on to all three kids, it works well on them too. I would say get some type of acid solution and use the duct tape. It may take months. In between you may want to visit a podiatrist to have them sand down the wart area. Good luck!

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

I just had to take my son to the Dr. for a plantar wart. He did do the freeze method and then told me to use Compound W everyday. I bought a pumice stone and scraped it every other day to remove the dead layers (really gross!) It has been 3 weeks, but it is almost gone.

The Dr. did talk about the duct tape method. He also said that it could take weeks or months to finally get rid of it. It all depends on how fast your body wants to get rid of it. He even told me that sometime the freezing method doesn't help at all, but they do it to to try to jump start your system into attacking the virus.

 

[cinmell]

This might be a dumb question but what causes warts? From touching something?

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

Me son's ped. said it is a virus, so coming in contact with it seems to be how it spreads? Children seem to get them more than adults.

 

[tkyes]

From Web MD:


Warts and Plantar Warts




Cause

A wart develops when a human papillomavirus infects the outermost layer of skin and causes the skin cells to overmultiply. The virus can then spread from an existing wart to other areas of the body, causing more warts. Various types of this virus thrive in warm, moist environments such as showers, locker room floors, and swimming pool areas.

You are most likely to develop a wart where you have broken skin, such as a cut, hangnail, closely bitten nail, or scrape. Plantar warts are common to swimmers whose feet are not only moist and softened but are also scratched and broken by rough pool surfaces.



Are warts contagious?

Warts are contagious. They are spread by direct contact with a human papillomavirus, as when you touch a wart or a surface that has the living virus on it. After exposure to a human papillomavirus, it can take 2 to 9 months of slow growth beneath the skin before you notice a wart.

It is unlikely that you will develop a wart every time you are exposed to a human papillomavirus. Some people are more likely to develop warts than others.

 

[eeyoreno1]

I had a large plantars wart on my foot, went to the podiatrist and told him I didn't want freezing or burning as we were going to Disney in a couple of months and I didn't want to take a chance of making things worse, but I needed to do something as it was making my ankle hurt (from shifting my weight when I walk to avoid putting my full weight on that spot on my foot).

He agreed to try something different, he gave me Zantac (it is an ulcer medicine), a pretty strong dose, and I took this every day ....he also gave me something called Lazer-Formalide (it is a drying agent) to put on the area...

Went back a month and a half later, he scraped off all the dead skin (caused by the drying agent), and it was GONE!! No painful procedures at all. (Apparently when the medical community did tests for this ulcer medicine, a number of people mentioned that in addition to their stomachs improving, warts had disappeared).

Not sure if my experience with this is typical, but it worked for me!

Mo

 

[siouxsieQ]

I had a cluster of plantars warts on my heel. OUCH!!!!! I finally couldn't take it anymore and went to the doctor. He said it was so painful because of the dead skin. He cut off the dead skin with a razor blade (didn't hurt, just sounds bad). Then he told me to use Occlusal HP. This was in July, I think. They are now totally gone. I can walk normal again.. PAIN FREE

 

[Hillbeans]

I'm just bumping this thread for anyone else who's dealing with this now. I'm on my 4th acid treatment from the Dr. and hopefully this will be it. I've had one bad one on and off since I was 18 (i'm 33) and this time where I had the one, I got 5....gross.

He gave me a 30 day cream of Aldara (which is for another kind of wart apparently ) but it worked about 70%. He needed to use the acid for the roots I guess.

It's probably something i'll have on my one foot on and off for the rest of my life, but i've never given it to my DH from the shower.