Okay, DD 5 picked up a wart on her foot from an inground swimming pool area. I'm doing research and growing concerned. It says they can spread just by touching the wart and then touching any part of your body! To me that makes no sense as warts don't ooze fluid or anything... It also says that as you walk around barefoot you deposit little piles of wart virus all over your floors for others to walk on. LOVELY!!! But if they're THAT easily spread, why isn't EVERYone covered in warts?? It does say some people are more susceptible to warts than others so that would explain why everyone doesn't have them, but why don't the people who DO have them, have them ALL over their bodies??

Okay, my next question...treatment. Doc recommended typical Compound W and duct tape. Well. NEITHER one will stay ON her foot. The Compound W just peels right off the second she takes a step, no matter HOW long we let the stuff dry. The tape will NOT remain on her foot, even wrapped around her WHOLE foot enough for the end of the tape to adhere to the other end of the tape and then some. The tape stays ON, but the part above the wart lifts up!! It's a tricky area and I'm frustrated.

Any advice? Thanks!

By Marcia on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 - 10:59 pm:

My daughters have all had plantar warts. I have found the best thing to be the freezing stuff. The one we have is called Wartners, or something like that.
I asked the doc about them being contagious, and she said that if they were that contagious she'd be covered in them. I've been dealing with them for a few years between the 3 girls, and have never had one (knock on wood!!)

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 12:20 am:

Duct tape worked well, for a wart that Sarah had once and when the wart on her finger cleared up, the one on her foot did, as well.

Emily has one now, too, and we tried the duct tape and it didn't work at all. I probably should buy the freezing stuff for hers.

A foot would be hard to keep tape on, since feet are sweaty. I have an idea, though. If you put the duct tape on her foot and then wrapped the tape with something called Coban. It's a stretchy wrap that sticks to itself, but not to skin. If you put that over the duct tape, then it would stay more secure. Horse people often use coban to wrap horses' legs with it.

Coban Self-Adhesive Wrap

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 07:42 am:

DS had a plantars wart earlier this year. Our ped. recommended duct tape and/or something like Compound W. He said if that didn't work over the course of a month or two to schedule an appt. with a podiatrist. We also had trouble with the tape staying on during the day, but had better luck at night while he was sleeping. It took about 2 mos., but it worked. I had just scheduled an appt. with a foot doctor when DS got up one morning and exclaimed, "Hey Mom, the wart fell out!"

By Vicki on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 09:01 am:

My dd had a wart on her hand once and I mentioned it to her ped when she was there for something else and she did the freezing. It only required one treatment and dd didn't fuss too much about it at all. She said it kind of stung for just a few minutes but the dr had her blow on it and count to 25 (I think this was just done to get her mind off of it directly and onto something else) and then dd was fine. We never had to do another thing to it and it was gone in a couple of weeks. I think I would rather do that than a daily hassle of duct tape! I wonder why they don't just freeze them off. Is there a side effect that I am not aware of? I think you can even buy the freezing stuff at the store, but if I recall, I read the package and it scared me to try it!! Something about being very careful etc because of burning the skin. I let the dr tackle it and insurance covered it. LOL

By Tunnia on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 09:28 am:

Warts do not ooze anything, but they can spread because they make, well, little seed things. If you look at your dd's wart and it has these little dark-looking dots in it, then it can be spread.

I dealt with warts, both on my hands and on my feet, until I was in my 20s. When I was a teen, my doctor told me to do this--first soak the area for five minutes in the hottest water I could stand. Then, if any of the wart was raised, I used sterilized nail clippers to remove as much of the wart as possible, if it was flat, I used a nail file to rough it up a little so that the meds can get into the wart and not just sit on top. Warts do not have nerve endings so it doesn't hurt unless you get into the surrounding tissue so you have to be careful. Then make sure the area is completely dry and apply the meds and cover with a bandage or tape. Good luck!

By Kim on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 09:56 am:

Kayla has two on her foot. She got them because she has skin problems and often has cracked bleeding skin and the virus enters through an open wound. Through research I also found out it is a form of HPV that causes plantar warts. YUK! Anyway, I soaked her feet and tried to file one with a fine grain file and it started bleeding. I stopped because you can definitely spread them if they bleed. I believe the black dots in the top of some of them are blood vessels. We also tried the duct tape and it will not stay on her foot. I am taking her to the dr today so he can treat them and get them removed asap. With all of her skin problems we do not need more warts. The dr may try to shave them down first them freeze them. Not sure.

Good luck Kate!

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 12:12 pm:

I'm assuming it's a plantar wart from the way you described it. I would tell the doc that the home remedies are not working, and ask him to treat it in office. I've had regular warts frozen off my hand when I was a kid, I'm not sure how they treat plantars warts, but freezing isn't that bad.

By Tonya on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 12:27 pm:

Timmy is the king of the warts he has 9 total right now between his 2 hands. They have froze and scalped or lanced them and we have dug them out they just keep coming back. The kid looks like he was attacked by frogs!!

No remedies but good luck.