Are Plantar Warts Contagious?
A healthy, active life starts with healthy feet.
The average person will walk around 100,000 miles in their lifetime – that would take you around the world three times. And yet we so often overlook foot care.
Plantar warts are unsightly, embarrassing, uncomfortable and a common foot affliction. They’re unwelcome and uninvited guests.
But the good news is there’s a swift, effective treatment to send them packing.
What are Plantar Warts and Why Do We Get Them?
Plantar warts are small growths, usually appearing on the feet around the heel or ball of the foot – the weight-bearing areas of our feet. This can cause pain when we walk.
They’re caused by HPV, a very common virus. HPV sneaks in through tiny cuts or vulnerable areas in your skin. Often the cracks are so small you can’t see or feel them. The virus then causes a build-up of the protein keratin, which can result in warts.
The HPV virus doesn’t always trigger our immune response because the virus attacks the epidermis – the outer layer of your skin while your immune system is busy protecting deeper layers of skin. So sometimes the virus slips under the immune system’s radar undetected and causes plantar warts.
Plantar warts prefer warm, moist environments, and they’re most common in children and adolescents. But anyone of any age can be susceptible to a plantar wart, and around 14% of people of all ages will develop one.
Signs and Symptoms
Plantar warts are usually pretty easy to spot, but if in doubt you can always consult our podiatrists, Dr. Sanjay Patel and Dr. Nili T. Harpaz.
Symptoms include:
- Pain when walking or standing – this puts pressure on the wart. Some say it’s like having a stone in their shoe.
- “Wart seeds”, little black dots which form as the wart forms. These are actually clotted blood vessels.
- Rough, grainy lesions on the bottom of your feet, usually near the toes or the heel.
- Calluses in one particular area, are caused by the wart growing inward.
Are Plantar Warts Contagious?
The short answer is yes.
The virus is certainly contagious – however, you need direct contact to spread HPV.
Plantar warts can and do spread within households, often through sharing shower and floor areas. Because they thrive in warm, moist places you should take precautions in gyms, aquatic centers, and similar environments.
Tips to Avoid Plantar Warts
Obviously, prevention is preferable, when possible.
You can’t always avoid plantar warts, but the following guidelines can help:
- Don’t share socks or footwear.
- Try to avoid walking around in wet or damp areas – such as changing rooms and poolsides – with bare feet.
- Make sure your socks are dry and clean.
- Avoid wearing damp footwear whenever possible.
- Avoid sharing towels, razors, and other personal care items.
Because they’re contagious, once you have a plantar wart, you can develop more of them.
So it’s really important not to pick at them, and make sure you wash your hands thoroughly if you touch a plantar wart.
Do Plantar Warts Go Away Without Treatment?
Sometimes, but that can take months or even years – and all that time you’re in discomfort and risk spreading warts around.
As with anything contagious, fast, effective treatment is the goal.
Professional treatment prevents plantar warts from spreading and relieves pain and embarrassment swiftly.
How Do We Treat Plantar Warts?
There are a number of plantar wart remedies available, but unfortunately, their effectiveness is varied and they often involve cutting, freezing, peeling, and burning parts of your skin.
Shop-bought treatments can take months to work, and they’re not always successful. And using over-the-counter freezing sprays and acids can cause damage to healthy surrounding skin, which can be quite unpleasant and uncomfortable.
Plantar warts can be obstinate. Once they’ve established a foothold, they don’t want to let go!
Swift Therapy
Fortunately, there’s a Swift solution available.
Swift Therapy is a simple and effective way to treat plantar warts. It uses our body’s own natural immune response to fight the virus.
Swift therapy works by sending focused microwave energy onto the area. By generating just a small amount of heat and friction in the skin, it causes your cells to throw out protein signals that alert your immune system to the invader. Your immune system arrives ready for battle and attacks the virus as it should.
There’s no damage to your healthy skin and minimum discomfort for you.
What To Expect From a Swift Treatment
You’ll typically only need 3-4 short Swift therapy sessions over the course of approximately a month, which means you can avoid months of cutting, peeling, burning, or freezing.
- Your health professional will first carefully remove any damaged tissue from the area – without causing damage to your healthy skin.
- The Swift application wand is then applied to each wart for about three seconds.
- You might feel a “pinch” at this time, but that will pass as soon as the wand is removed.
- You’re then free to go about your day.
It’s that simple.
No strange smelling potions, no abrasions, no scars, and no bandages.
Just tried and tested professional treatment for your plantar wart problem.
More Good News
As well as being efficient, easy and virtually pain-free, the Swift therapy treatment means there’s less chance of you catching plantar warts in the future.
Thanks to your immune system being activated by the focused application wand, your immune system is more likely to recognize and fight off future plantar wart invasions.
Act Swiftly for Professional Treatment
Contact your experts in Swift therapy and let us help you. You can call and discuss your concerns on Milford at 203-876-7736 or Hamden at 203-288-4055. Or fill out our online contact form, and one of our staff will be happy to get in touch.
Our feet are our unsung heroes, and good foot health is essential for an active, happy life. Why tolerate the painful embarrassment of plantar warts? Contact us, and let us offer our expertise with an effective, professional, and simple treatment.