A plantar wart —also called a verruca— is a lesion caused by the human papillomavirus in the skin on the sole of the foot. It spreads through contact on wet floors: swimming pools, changing rooms, shared showers. Unlike a callus, it hurts more when pinched from the sides than when pressed straight down, and small dark dots can often be seen on its surface.
It is frequently mistaken for hard skin, and that is the problem: filing it or covering it does not clear it, and meanwhile it can grow or new ones can appear around it. The treatment is chosen according to the size of the lesion, how many there are and which weight-bearing area they sit on, and it usually needs more than one session plus follow-up until the skin looks normal again.
How it is approached
- Assessment of the lesion to tell it apart from hard skin or a foreign body.
- Offloading of the area if it sits on a pressure point and hurts when walking.
- Treatment matched to the size, the number of lesions and their location.
- Follow-up until the skin has recovered its normal pattern.
- Advice on avoiding spread at home and on reducing the risk of recurrence.
Does one particular spot on your sole hurt when you step, as if there were a stone?
Book an appointmentFrequently asked questions
- Can I pass it on to my family at home?
- It is possible, because the virus spreads through contact with damp surfaces, and a bathroom floor is one. Three measures reduce the risk considerably: do not walk barefoot at home — your own flip-flops, especially in the bathroom — do not share towels, nail clippers or files, and keep the lesion covered if it is in an area that rubs. Everything else is fine: it is not passed on through washed laundry or by sharing a bed or a sofa. And if someone at home has a weakened immune system or diabetes, mention it at the appointment: those measures should then be stricter.
- Can I keep going to the pool or the gym?
- Yes, and you do not need to stop training. What changes is what you do when you get there: flip-flops in the changing room and the shower every time, the lesion covered with a waterproof dressing while you are there, and the foot thoroughly dry before putting shoes on. For barefoot classes — yoga, pilates — use your own mat. If the wart is on a weight-bearing area and hurts when you walk, say so at the appointment before pushing through: the area can be offloaded so you can carry on with your activity without the pain changing the way you run or land, which is how other problems start.
- What if I have already treated it with something from the pharmacy?
- Come anyway, and say so when you arrive: which product you used, for how many days and how often. This is not a reproach, it is information that changes what can be done that day. Corn removers and acid-based products act on everything they touch, so the surrounding skin often arrives macerated or burnt, and not every treatment can be started on skin like that: it has to recover first. It is also common for the product to have changed how the lesion looks, making it harder to tell apart from a callus. If you have started something and see no improvement, stop and book an appointment: pressing on is what usually ends in a wound.
