Warts

Warts are actually a benign growth in the surface layers of the skin caused by a virus. There are may different types of viruses that cause warts, from the top of your head to the bottom (plantar surface) of your foot. The virus can invade the tissue through a small cut or break in the outer layer of skin, and if your body is unable to kill the virus by its immune system, a wart may develop.

It appears that children and people with allergies or weakened immune systems are most vulnerable to forming warts. Warts can be solitary, or clustered together (mosaic warts). Their texture is spongy and many times have tiny black spots imbedded in the tissue. There spots are blood capillaries, and wherever a capillary is , a nerve is close by. This is why warts are painful and bleed easily - they have many blood vessels and nerve endings imbedded in them. Treatment of warts varies on their symptoms, size, and number.


Acid medication may be applied to reduce the thickness of the wart, eventually killing the virus. Surgical excision is performed many times on solitary warts. More commonly, however, laser ablation(vaporization) is used. All of these methods can be done in the office with the use of a local anesthetic when necessary. Recently, a new type of laser treatment has been made available. It is referred to as " Pulse-Dye" laser, and instead of vaporizing the wart it has the ability to shrink down the tiny blood vessels that supply the wart and keep it alive, eventually starving the wart of blood and nutrients, and the virus dies. This procedure is virtually painless and many times an anesthetic is not necessary.

After surgical or laser treatment of warts, there is a short recovery time including home soaking of the surgical wound and application of an antibiotic cream. Return to normal activity is usually within 2 - 3 days. 

If you have been suffering from warts, and would like to know what can be done to correct the problem, or have any further questions, be sure to E-mail your request to drchvala@nwpodiatry.com, and please remember to fill in your “subject line” regarding your request for information  to ensure a prompt reply.