Dos and Don’ts for Fixing Foot Warts
Warts are a common, yet very unwelcome viral skin infection. Many people have struggled with them at least once in their lives, usually in childhood. Warts typically aren’t dangerous, and they aren’t “painful” per se. However, they no doubt cause plenty of emotional distress, and warts on the feet can cause physical pain when you walk.
If you want to eliminate warts on your feet (or your child’s feet), we generally recommend you skip over all the old folk remedies—duct tape, rubbing the wart with a penny (or potato, or raw meat …), we’ve heard it all. As a matter of fact, even using over-the-counter pharmacy products such as peeling medicine or freezing tend to provide spotty results at best. It’s not so much that these treatments are dangerous, but that they rarely work. And the more time you waste on treatments that don’t work, the more likely warts are to multiply and spread from location to location, or from person to person.
A better solution is to see the team at Gulf South Foot & Ankle for professional treatment. We offer a number of options to deal with warts, and can help you pick out the best one for your situation.
When it comes to wart removal, there’s a bit a trade-off in the treatment options between the level of “invasiveness” versus the length of treatment. At one end, we may provide a prescription-strength peeling acid (such as salicylic acid) designed to remove a few layers of dead skin at a time. However, you may require at least two or three follow-up appointments before the wart is fully eradicated. On the other end, we may choose to simply numb the foot with a local anesthetic cut out the wart entirely, then bandage you and send you on your way.
This solution is often best suited to larger warts, or those that haven’t responded to gentler treatments.
If warts are bothering you or your child, stop in and see the team at Gulf South Foot & Ankle. We serve greater New Orleans with two convenient office locations. Dial (504) 708-4810 for Metairie, or (985) 809-1464 for Covington.