How long do planters warts last

When people try a variety of methods over time and the warts start to go away, it can be natural to assume the most recently attempted home remedy had something to do with it.

But actually, the warts were probably just starting to die off on their own. Swift eclipses the more traditional methods of professional plantar wart treatment that patients have come to know and fear , and for one simple reason: it actually works from the inside instead of attacking from the outside!

Remember earlier when we said the immune system has trouble detecting the wart-causing virus because of its location? Swift addresses this problem by using microwave energy to cause a minor disruption in the area of the warts. The immune system responds to this strange occurrence, where it will find the virus and attack it for the invader that it is.

It is true that the old methods of plantar wart treatment also cause disturbances that your immune system will respond to, but they are much more painful and damaging to healthy skin in the process.

Swift, on the other hand, causes minor discomfort for seconds every time the microwave energy is applied — and the pain goes away as soon as the application stops! We schedule several Swift sessions over a few months, but many patients report seeing a significant improvement in the size and appearance of their warts after the first treatment. And as an added benefit, since your immune system is front and center in the treatment, it is much more likely to identify and attack the virus if it ever comes back.

The likelihood of a return case of plantar warts is reduced! You no longer have to worry about the pain and mess of plantar wart treatment. Swift Therapy places those old methods of plantar wart treatment firmly in the past! Schedule an appointment by filling out our online contact form or by calling either of our offices below:. Family members should avoid sharing personal items such as towels.

Make an appointment with a dermatologist or another physician if you have: Painful or bleeding warts. Rapidly spreading or multiplying warts.

Warts that interfere with daily life and are not responsive to self-care. People with diabetes or a circulatory disorder should have their warts treated by a physician. Once you have been diagnosed with a plantar wart, your physician may try one or more of the following treatments: Freezing with liquid nitrogen cryosurgery Burning with an electric needle electrocautery Using a laser to disrupt the blood supply of the warts Application of cantharidin, podophyllin, tretinoin, or salicylic acid Injection with Candida antigen, an allergy-causing protein, or with bleomycin, a chemotherapy drug, directly into the warts Plantar warts can be very stubborn, and effective treatment may take many months.

Bolognia, Jean L. Dermatology , pp. New York: Mosby, Freedberg, Irwin M. Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine. New York: McGraw-Hill, Use of this site constitutes acceptance of Skinsight's terms of service and privacy policy. The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

Close Video. Plantar warts are caused by cutaneous infection with the human papillomavirus HPV. There are numerous types of HPV which manifest in different ways.

However, they generally occur with the greatest frequency in children and adolescents. Plantar warts are also often painful when present on weight-bearing areas of the foot or when they rub against footwear. Plantar warts are almost always benign, however, in rare cases and particularly in people who are immunosupressed , warts of prolonged duration have been reported to undergo malignant transformation to squamous cell carcinoma or plantar verrucous carcinoma.

Plantar warts can be confused with corns or calluses. The use of a hand-held dermatoscope can assist in diagnosis for practitioners trained in its use. Warts are characterised by hyperkeratosis or thickening of the skin, and are often found on pressure points. Small dots or lines are usually visible inside the lesion, which represent broken capillaries and can range from red to brown in colour. The blood vessels may become more obvious if the outer layers of hyperkeratotic tissue are trimmed off.

In contrast, corns exhibit a translucent core concentric fine white rings on dermatoscopy , while calluses show a generalised opacity across the lesion structureless on dermatoscopy.

Although rare, the most important differential diagnosis in a patient with a suspected plantar wart is melanoma. HPV is transmitted by skin contact or contact with surfaces touched by other people with the virus.

HPV can be present for weeks or years before the appearance of a wart, and persists for life, even after the wart has resolved. This may lead to recurrence at the same site, e.

People with plantar warts can auto-inoculate HPV and spread infection to other parts of the body. For example, picking at warts with fingernails may result in transference of infection to the hands. Abrasive implements used to remove thickened wart skin, and clinical implements such as dermatoscopes, have been shown to retain detectable HPV DNA.

Children frequently acquire warts from infected family members or in a classroom environment, therefore, prevention efforts need to focus on the both the home and school. People already infected with plantar warts should be advised to take precautions to reduce transmission to others, such as wearing footwear in the home and school environments and covering warts with tape before using communal areas.

All topical treatments for warts have variable success rates, therefore several different management methods may need to be trialled before the wart is resolved. Wart paints and gels containing salicylic acid show good evidence of efficacy, and can be recommended as a starting point for patients who wish to trial a treatment. If the wart is causing discomfort, the wart surface can be abraded with an emery board disposable nail file , pumice stone or a similarly abrasive surface. Patients should be advised that items used on the wart should be discarded after use or sterilised e.

The lesion can also be debulked to improve absorption of creams or ointments into the underlying infected tissue, if pharmacological treatment is trialled. Most topical treatments for plantar warts are recommended as a daily application until the wart has resolved. There are no specific guidelines for when treatment efficacy should be reviewed or when to switch to an alternative treatment.

Topical treatment with salicylic acid is often regarded as a first-line approach to treating plantar warts.

Salicylic acid is a keratolytic agent and works by debriding the skin. The surrounding skin should be protected, e. The wart should be gently abraded with an emery board or pumice stone once a week. Treatment may need to be continued for up to three months.

Topical salicylic acid may cause irritation if applied to fissures or abrasions. Caution is recommended in patients with reduced skin sensation e. Silver nitrate general sale is available in the form of a stick which is moistened ideally with distilled water rather than tap water and applied directly to the wart for one to two minutes.

Fluorouracil is a chemotherapeutic agent used in the treatment of various cancers. Topical fluorouracil is indicated for malignant and pre-malignant skin lesions. The use of fluorouracil cream for plantar warts is an off-label indication. When used close to the nail, fluorouracil can cause nail detachment. These two medicines are not indicated for the treatment of cutaneous warts. While they should theoretically be useful given their indication for the treatment of anogenital warts, there is little evidence at present to support their use for plantar warts.

Podophyllotoxin, the major active ingredient of podophyllum, has not been assessed in randomised controlled trials for the treatment of cutaneous warts. Podophyllum can cause painful necrosis, particularly of normal skin adjacent to the wart, and is contraindicated in pregnant women and young children. Topical zinc cream for the treatment of cutaneous warts has been assessed in two studies, which suggest it is superior to placebo treatment and comparable to salicylic acid in efficacy.

Covering a wart with adhesive tape or plaster has been anecdotally reported as a cure.