How Do You Get Rid of a Plantar Wart?
Key takeaways:
Plantar warts are growths on the weight-bearing parts of the feet that are caused by one of the human papillomaviruses (HPVs). These warts usually go away on their own.
Treatments such as salicylic acid or freezing can get rid of persistent plantar warts.
When plantar warts bleed or interfere with daily life — like when they become difficult to walk on — it’s time to see your provider for treatment.
Anyone who has had plantar warts can tell you it can be a painful experience. But, with the right treatment, they can be resolved.
Plantar warts are growths on the areas of your feet that tend to bear the most pressure when you walk or stand — like the balls of your feet and your heels. Like other warts, plantar warts are caused by a strain of human papillomavirus (HPV) and aren’t a serious health condition. Usually, the virus enters the feet through tiny cracks or cuts in the skin. There, they become rough growths. However, they usually go away with time.
But, because they are located on weight-bearing areas of the foot, sometimes pressure may cause the warts to grow inward, forming a tough callus over them. Most of the time, home remedies and over-the-counter solutions can help get rid of them. If the warts start to bleed, become painful or change in shape or color, or persist despite treatment, it’s time to see your provider.
When a wart becomes too painful to ignore
Melissa Baker, a nutritionist who runs a food-related website, had a plantar wart that interfered with her life to the point she went to a dermatologist.
About 3 years ago, she felt an odd bump on her foot. At first, the area just felt sore and tender to the touch. But then, it got bigger and more painful. Eventually, it was hard to stand or walk without pain.
“It was a sharp stinging sensation that I couldn’t ignore. And it only got worse,” Melissa says. “I was an active person who loved playing sports and running. But, suddenly, I was faced with a painful problem that was impacting my ability to do the things I loved.”
Melissa’s dermatologist recommended that she do at-home treatments with salicylic acid. Melissa had to apply the acid twice a day for 4 weeks. When that didn’t help, her dermatologist recommended in-office treatments to freeze the wart off with liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy). The treatments were painful, Melissa says, but so were the plantar warts.
“The pain was intense, and it seemed to be getting worse every day. I was worried that I might not be able to play sports or run again,” she says. “The treatments were painful, and I was scared. I felt like I was running out of options. But I didn’t give up. I kept going back to the dermatologist and, after several treatments, the wart started to shrink.”
In all, Melissa had three cryotherapy sessions, on top of the salicylic acid treatments, over the course of 3 months.
“It wasn’t an easy process, but I’m glad that I stuck with it, because it worked,” she says. “My wart is now completely gone. I highly recommend cryotherapy for warts, as it worked wonders for me.”
Since then, the wart hasn’t come back. But, Melissa says, she does take some precautions — like avoiding walking barefoot in the grass, keeping her feet clean and dry, and wearing sandals or shower shoes when needed. She also keeps an eye out for any new bumps or spots on her feet, so she can start treatment as quickly as possible if needed.
The memory of a plantar wart is painful years later
Bill Carman, a 72-year-old outdoor guide and author from Lexington, Kentucky, still remembers the pain of the plantar wart that he had when he was in college at the University of Kentucky.
“I had one when I ran track at UK that was very painful,” Bill says.
The plantar wart came on gradually, he says, when he was around 20 years old. At the time, he visited a doctor who prescribed a topical medication to “paint on the wart.” It took a while, Bill says, but the treatment worked.
“It eventually dried up and literally fell off,” he says. Since then, he’s never had another one.
It’s showtime for beetle juice
Neither salicylic acid nor freezing worked for Katrina Walburn’s plantar wart. In fact, nothing seemed to work.
Katrina, who is an on-air host for Majic 95.1 WAJI in Fort Wayne, Indiana, asked listeners for advice after discovering the wart on her foot.
“I tried every remedy the internet and friends suggested,” she says. “I tried over-the-counter medications, freezing it, apple cider vinegar on it, duct tape, medicated pads for warts — everything. Nothing worked.”
Finally, Katrina says, she went to a podiatrist. And he recommended “beetle juice” for wart removal.
“I thought he was joking,” she says. “But it’s actually a medication.” The treatment — called cantharidin — is a substance that comes from blister beetles. When it’s applied to a wart, it causes the skin to blister and brings the wart to the surface.
Once Katrina’s blistered skin area started to heal, the wart fell off, she says. But the procedure wasn’t without its drawbacks: The pain from the beetle juice was intense.
Describing the procedure, Katrina says that her podiatrist dabbed a Q-tip in the beetle juice, applied it to the wart, and then bandaged the area. “I couldn’t get it wet for 24 hours, and I couldn’t take the Band-Aid off for 8 hours. Then, overnight, I felt it starting to burn, and that was actually the blister forming underneath the wart. I mean, it is just the craziest thing,” she says.
For the first few days, she couldn’t walk on her foot or put a shoe on over the blister. But eventually, after about 2 weeks, she began to see results. The blister was beginning to fall off with the wart.
Katrina says her doctor recommended treatment with beetle juice because it was a more permanent solution and everything else had failed.
“They did this procedure because cutting it ran the risk of not getting it all and the wart returning,” she says.
While the treatment was painful, Katrina says she’s seeing great results after a year of having to deal with her plantar wart.
What does the doctor say?
Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH
Medical Editor
Warts are areas of skin overgrowth that are triggered by strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Warts aren’t harmful, but they can lead to discomfort depending on where they’re growing.
Plantar warts, which affect the feet, are notorious for causing pain because of the constant impact from walking and running. If you have a plantar wart, this can impact your gait over time — making it painful to walk, run, or even just wear certain types of shoes. Your body will naturally act to protect you against this situation by building a callus or corn around the wart. This can make things worse, since treatment will need to penetrate more keratin to get to the wart.
Over-the-counter and prescription treatments can make these warts smaller or even make them disappear. Prescription therapies like cryotherapy, cantharidin (“beetle juice”), and immunotherapy can be more painful. But they do work faster than over-the-counter options.
As the stories show, it takes many applications for prescription treatments to show results. When you’re starting out, stay positive and stick with it. It may take time to see results, and you may have to try a combination of therapies. But, over time, the wart will start to shrink.
Make sure you avoid the temptation to cut or razor off a plantar wart. This can lead to serious infection.
Once the wart does go away, make sure to follow Melissa’s excellent advice: Always wear shoes or sandals, so you don’t pick up HPV again. This increases your chances of developing another wart.
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