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Plantar Warts
A plantar wart, also known as a verruca (Verruca plantaris), is a wart occurring on the sole and/or toes of the foot, caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV causes keratin, a hard protein in the top layer of the skin (the epidermis) to grow too much. This produces the rough, hard texture of a wart.
Most people will have warts at some time during their life. However, they are more common in school children and teenagers than in adults.
Furthermore, most plantar warts disappear on their own without treatment, although treatment may help to get rid of them more quickly. Treatment may be recommended and considered in cases where:
- the plantar wart is causing you pain or distress
- there are associated risk factors, such as having a weakened immune system
Several treatment options are available to help treat such warts successfully. See the following pages for more information.
Diagnosis
Plantar warts are small lesions that normally appear on the sole of the foot and like other types of wart, often resemble a cauliflower in structure. However, plantar warts may appear on the top of the foot or toes and in which case they may be raised, rather than flat, because they are not subjected to pressure when you walk.
Plantar warts may also be identified by the tiny black dots or petechiae (haemorrhages under the skin) that they contain close to their centre, bleeding from which may occur if scratched or agitated.
In some cases, plantar warts can be similar to corns and calluses, but can be differentiated by close observation of the skin striations (lines / bands) around the area in question. These skin striae go around plantar warts, however in the case of corns and calluses the skin striae continue across the stop layer of skin. Another distinguishable characteristic of plantar warts is that they tend to be painful when pressure is applied from either side of the lesion, whilst calluses tend to be painful on the application of direct pressure instead.
