Plantar wart, seed wart, what is on the bottom of my foot???

Kids can have a foot problem and not complain.....

So being a foot doctor, I would have never thought that I would have to perform so much home care to my own adorable children.  I have previously wrote about my 10 year old and her continuing struggle with stinky smelly feet from soccer, and the athlete's foot that every once and a while rears its ugly head in her life.  But now my 8 year old's feet must have gotten jealous, because now she has a wart! Yes, that's right now I am doing house calls, but just at my own actual home! There is nothing quite like your 8 year old leaving a bloody trail on the carpet from a wart on her foot.

Yes, our child has been growing this monster on her foot for quite some time, but like many kids, did not share this information with us until there was a need for a carpet stain remover.  Many parents present to our office, almost embarrassed by the wart or warts on their child foot.  Parents often think the doctor is going to make a judgement based on the ailment like a wart or a fungus that may be lingering on their child's foot for over a couple months.  Even ingrown nails(which can be very painful to a child) children tend to hide from their parents.  No judgment here by these foot doctors. 2 out of 3 of our kids have faulty feet so far:)

What should you do if you or your child has a wart?     

A wart on the bottom of the foot is usually pretty easy to identify.  I will use the picture of my lovely at home model, my 8 year old's foot, to show the most common presentation of a wart. First thing most people notice is a roughness to the skin or a callus tissue.  If you look closely, you will see your normal skin lines that stop right at the lesion.  Yes, your normal skin lines do not run through the wart, this is a helpful identifier to know that you are dealing with a wart.

Many people use an older term "Seed wart" to describe what they are seeing on the bottom of the foot.  They sometimes notice little black dots throughout the wart and think of little black seeds seen in many fruits.  The idea of thinking about fruit and anything on your foot is just gross to me, so I never use this term.

Warts can be non painful and be on the bottom of a foot and go unnoticed for a long time.  This is why, for most warts, I would recommend seeing your podiatrist before trying self treatment and here's why.  If you have had a wart for longer than a month, the callus build up makes it very difficult for just topical treatment alone to work. In order to treat the wart most effectively, you need to remove as much of the dead skin on top of it for topical treatment to be an option.
If you try your own at home debridement, you run the risk of not getting enough callus off, cutting yourself way to deep or giving yourself a nice little infection. I would absolutely recommend seeing your podiatrist before attempting any home care.

What are the options for warts?

When you see your podiatrist, they will give you the run down of all of the possible options. In my office these are the options I give below.  The options are from simplest to most complex.

1. This option is done in the office.  We shave the dead skin off of the wart until we see a little pinpoint bleeding.  Once we see the bleeding we apply an acid and a protective covering.  The patient usually can walk out of the office with minor discomfort that fades over a day or two.  Then the patient is given at home instructions.  They are to use a topical like the one seen here.
They are to apply the medicine on the wart stick and then apply (I know this sounds crazy) duct tape.  Every night they repeat this process and when they wake up in the morning they take the duct tape off and do not reapply the medicine until the night time routine.
This is always the option I recommend to a person who has never had any treatment for their wart. This is also the option I am opting for my own child.

Terrasil Wart Removal MAX 2g (3 Sticks) The Terrasil? Wart Removal MAX Stick is a powerful treatment that quickly eliminates even the most stubborn warts without painful freezing, burning or surgery. This breakthrough formula also soothes irritation, stops itch, and supports the natural production of new, healthy skin cells to minimize scarring. Our innovative and portable no-mess stick dispenser ensures that medicine is applied only where you need it. Made by Aidance Skincare in the USA and FDA Registered. Aidance products use the finest natural ingredients. Our powerful healing products based on our Activated Minerals? formulations are backed by over 10 years of R&D, testing, multiple patents, thousands of repeat customers worldwide and our satisfaction guarantee to you.

 2. Option 2 is to numb the foot in the office and cut the wart out (either by surgical dissection or laser)  and send it to pathology.  This seems like the best option if we did not live in a world that requires us to use our feet daily.  If we cut the wart out, the patient is unable to put weight on their foot for 3 weeks.  They need to give the skin time to heal, if they step on the area the incision will split open and they can have a host of other complications. But if a patient has struggled with a wart for months on end and/or has been treated by another physician and the "wart" keeps coming back, I recommend excising the wart out and sending it to pathology to make sure that this is really a wart.

Just get in and get it checked!

The best advice I can give you is, if your child or you have a new rough area on the foot, get in to see your foot doctor.  With warts, like so many other conditions, the sooner you get in and seek treatment the sooner you get better!  Remember, our office is a judgement free zone, because 2 out of 3 of the kids seen in the Christmas picture taken with Santa this year have yucky feet!

Merry Christmas from the Center for Ankle and Foot Care and "2 Pods and A Microphone" Family!

To learn more about different foot and ankle problems visit us at:
http://www.centeranklefootcare.com/index.html

Michele McGowan, DPM Center for Ankle and Foot Care
Offices: 
Clermont, FL
Tavares, FL
The Villages, FL