A Plantar Wart – What Is It?
A plantar wart, (also called verruca plantaris or VP), is caused by a virus, making it an contagious infectious skin disease. A Picture of A Mosaic Plantar Wart.
Verruca plantaris are often called planter warts, heel warts or foot warts.
If left untreated, verruca plantaris can grow up to 1 inch in circumference and may spread into clusters (called mosaic warts). In severe cases, they can be so painful that a person may walk differently so not to put pressure on the wart. This in turn, throws their posture off, causing back or leg pain
VP are considered a contagious skin disease making warts very easy to infect a person. According to the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), warts occur most often in children and young adults between the ages of 12 and 16. However, it has been suggested that plantar warts appear when our immune system is stressed or is low, which is why some older ones suffer from them and even when they are removed, keep coming back. My grandson has had problems with these warts that appeared on his heels. He had some frozen off and one had to be cut out leaving a hole in his foot which eventually filled it.
Identifying A Plantar Verruca - This type of warts are usually rough and spongy, and most are gray, brown, or yellow with dark pinpoints (tiny capillaries that supply blood to the wart).
- If these warts are scraped they may bleed.
- The biggest portion of the wart is often under the skin and is at least twice as big as the part you can see (much like an iceberg).
- Some people often feel the wart as a "lump" when they stand. It might feel like a stone in your shoe.
- These types of warts may not rise above the surface of the skin because of the pressure on the sole of the foot when standing and walking
- It is a small lesion (or opening) that appears on the sole our foot and looks something like cauliflower,
- They often look like calluses or corns, but the difference can be seen by close observation of skin.
- Out feet are covered in skin striae, which are like fingerprints on the feet. Skin striae go around these warts; if the lesion is not a one of these wart, the cells' DNA is not altered and the striations continue across the top layer of the skin.
- When pressure is put on either side of the plantar verruca it hurts rather than when we put direct pressure on it. Calluses, on the other hand, tend to be hurt when we put direct pressure on them.
Picture of Verruca plantaris on The Big Toe
Since a plantar wart is an infectious skin problem it is easy to get one - who hasn't walked bare foot at a pool in summer - we should know what it is and how to identify this type of wart. When we do, it is important to get proper treatment as soon as we can so it doesn't spread or we don't infect others.
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