Plantar warts
A plantar wart is a viral lesion on the sole of the foot. It hurts when you step and it needs treatment: it rarely clears on its own.
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?
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