I had one about two years ago when I was a competive swimmer. Man those locker room floors were nasty… Anywhoodles, I tried those little wart plasters for about a month with little result so finally I just picked the darn thing off. Bled like it was from The Shining, but eventually scabbed and went away. I haven’t had any since. My brother used to have a bad problem with them and had a dermatologist freeze em off. He also hasn’t had any more warts in years.
I know I had plantars a year or two or three ago. But now I don’t. I didn’t do anything. I was going to try duct tape, but never got around to it. Warts are like that: they come and go. They’re viruses, I believe. In college I got warts on my hands. I went to the local Baskin Robbins and got some dry ice, which I used to freeze them. This caused dead skin, and for several years visable scars, but it got rid of the warts, and I haven’t had a wart again on the hands.
I took a course of antibiotics for an influenza and an annoying, sore and slight swelling underfoot disappeared too.
I saw the doctor yesterday, and she referred me to a podiatrist because there were so many of them. I see him on the 28th.
And thanks to this thread I was half expecting her to come back to the exam room with a roll of duct tape. 
Yes when I was in college. I only had one—one was enough for me, thank you. I learned that it’s a plantar wart because that’s what that surface of your foot is called. I haven’t read the thread because I’m lazy, so someone else probably pointed that out already.
Something that killed the skin, and then I had to cut it off w/ scissors. I wasn’t very good at it. I think the doc was frusterated with me being such a wuss. It was a pad that you stick on; he said freezing & burning wouldn’t work b/c you don’t want a scar there.
No, I got no needles in my toe.
No, it did not hurt like a bastard. Maybe the wart did, but the treatment didn’t.
Nope.
I had one back in the '60s. I thought it was just some kind of annoying callous. Having no money at the time, I put off having it seen to until it was getting painful to walk on. The thing had grown to about the size of my thumb. The doctor said it was caused by “rubbing,” although I’ve since read that they are caused by viruses. He cut it out under local anaesthesia. I had to keep off my foot for several days. Nothing like it ever came back.
I got a wart on the underside of my big toe when I was about 4 or 5. I think it started with a splinter or something, but after a while grew “children” and off to the Derm I went. He drew a little smiley face on the main wart (guess it was pretty big) and little dots on all the children and then zapped them off. I don’t remember what he used, and I don’t remember it hurting very much, but I do remember all the pretty colors my toe turned while it was healing!
Then later in college I got a bunch of warts. One on the top of my right foot, one on the ball of my foot, and a bunch on my fingers. Went to the Derm again and I think he burned them off. They all took at least 2 treatments and hurt like sons of bitches. I have a weird eyeball scar on the top of my foot where the one wart was. The ones on my fingers I don’t think ever went away completely. The one on the bottom of my foot remained, but I was tired of getting it burned off. So I took a swiss army knife and cut it out. It bleed like crazy for a while, then I band-aided it and went on with my life. It took a few swiss army treatments before it went away completely, but it was still less painful than what the Derm did.
In the early to mid 80s I had them. Went to a podiatrist to take care of them. He tried the freeze and scrape thing. It wasn’t exactly painful as it was disorienting, so I fussed and complained. Podatrist was a dick about it. They came back, just like nothing had been done, so we went back, with podiatrist swearing and complaining while he scraped some more. They came back again, as if nothing had been done.
So I said heck with that, got toenail clippers and did my own scrape job. Damn those are ugly little things on the inside. There was some pain, but better me doing it than dick who charged money (I’m sure insurance covered some of it, but still). I can’t recall but I think I used some rubbing alcohol or something to clean my hands and painfully clean the wounds after. Never came back.
Knowing what I know now, duct tape sounds like a better option.
I know you’ve all been on the edge of your seats, waiting for the next installment in my wart saga! Well, here it is.
Saw the podiatrist yesterday. He scraped them down a bit, then gave me a scrip for some cream (Aldara) to put on the warts every night and scrub off in the morning. Must be nasty stuff: all kinds of Happy Fun Ball warnings, it’s used to treat skin cancers as well, and it costs $200 for 12 applications (and I’ll need a refill! Thank Og for insurance). Then I see him again in a month. He was very surprised that I’d had the big wart for 18 years.
Oh, and he also told me that whoever stuck the needle in the end of my toe and made it hurt like such a bastard was doing it all wrong.
And I didn’t get a chance to ask him about the duct tape cure. Maybe next time!
I’m in the middle of The War of The Warts.
I have a big 'un on the end of my right big toe. I tried the home remedy stuff, and it seems like every time I sloshed on some of Dr. Scholl’s Wart Remover, my wart grew. Like Audrey. And started yelling “FEEED MEEEE - I’M HONGRY!”
So I went to the dermatologist last month. He froze it with liquid nitrogen and gave me a small bottle of stuff to apply along with warnings to not let that stuff touch any other part of my body. Turns out it’s embalming fluid and it will kill any living cells of any kind that it contacts. I also have to wrap my toe in duct tape. Yep, duct tape. That’s what I thought, too.
But it’s working. I went back yesterday and the Wart From Hell is down to about 1/3 the size is was a month ago. He zapped it again with the nitrogen and said to continue with the embalming fluid for another month. It should be nothing more than a memory by then.
Do they even use the acid cure anymore? I had that done when I was in college (damn dorm showers!) and it left a crater so big I thought I saw a lunar lander in there. When they came back or I got them again several years later, the podiatrist used the cold stuff and it was faster, less painful, and more effective. No needles, no big holes, no recurrence.
Plantar warts are indeed a virus. HPV, to be exact (no, NOT the genital strains!).
I had several as a child, and was absolutely traumatized by the liquid nitrogen. I also remember putting nailpolish in a circle around the wart to protect the skin from the acid treatments.
I was also told that a vitament deficiency can cause them-anyone hear anything about this?
I could never manage the wart remover bandaids-they never wanted to stick to my feet.
I’ve had them twice. Once when I was 15, and again when I was 19. Both times, they stuck around for about a year, then vanished of their own accord.
I have a wart on my scalp, though. That one’s kinda freakin’ me out.
OK, so I went back to the podiatrist after a month and $200 worth of cream, and the largest wart had gone down by a whole millimeter. So I opted for the lasering, which was done last Thursday.
This time I got several needles to my foot for the anesthesia; the first few weren’t bad at all, but the last two made me jump (although not as bad as for the ingrown toenail). Once it was numb, Dr. D went to town with his laser, and he and I and the nurse talked about movies while he worked. When he was done I had several huge blackened craters on the bottom of my foot. You could have fit a large pea in most of them. As I studied them, the blood started seeping in, so I gave my foot back to the doctor to wrap up. He told me to take aspirin and said I should be able to get back on the treadmill and elliptical at the gym by Monday (today).
Um, no. I am still not putting weight on the thing. I’d say 40% of the bottom of my big toe is still an open wound; there are two 3/8-inch holes right at the crease between my toe and the ball of my foot, and two holes on my second toe, one on the side next to the big toe (this one really irritates with the constant rubbing).
Twice a day I unwrap The Thing, soak in warm water for 15 minutes, rinse with hydrogen peroxide (not as bad as I thought it would be), slather some cream on it, and rewrap it in gauze and overwrap. Dr. D gave me some Band-Aids to use, but there’s no way I can put them on without sticking them to something bloody. So it’s gauze all the way. I should buy stock in Johnson & Johnson. Blech. AT least they’re filling in and not oozing so much, hardly at all anymore. I talked to the nurse today about the healing process, and she said the first week is always the worst, and the doc was probably overly optimistic about the gym thing.
Oh! And so Friday was OK; I work at home so I got myself all set up on the couch and took it easy; got some work done with plenty of breaks. Was walking around and felt OK with aspirin. Slept on the couch so I could elevate it and keep Mr. S from kicking me. About 5 AM I woke up with OH MY GOD THE PAIN. I’ve had kidney stones and this was worse. I managed to gimp to the bathroom and get some aspirin, which took about an hour to kick in, while I cried. I thought for sure I was going to the ER in the morning. But after a while it was fine and I got to sleep, and felt better in the morning.
Then on Saturday we had a bunch of running around to do, which probably wasn’t good, because by the time we got home I felt like dogshit. Went to bed, directly to bed, did not pass Go, did not collect $200. Felt better when I got up.
Oh yeah, and yesterday my friends’ daughters were here (ages 18 and 8), and when it was time for my soak I asked if they wanted to see the carnage. The 18-year-old was all “Sure!!”, but the 8-year-old looked frightened just at the thought. Heh heh. So after her big sister got a look and could warn her, I covered up the worst part (big toe) with a gauze pad and they brought her in. Bleargh!! The part she saw only looks like a little wet scab; she managed that OK, but when I asked if she wanted to see more, she said she thought she maybe accidentally had (the gauze had slipped a little) and ran out of the bathroom. Ha! Grossing out little kids is so much fun.
I am also getting a whole new respect for people who have to walk slooooowly for whatever reason. It takes me for-frickin’-ever to get anywhere. I just hope it’s a lot better by next weekend – I need to be on my feet for most of Saturday and Sunday. :eek:
You really shoulda just used duct tape. It really does work, and it’s a whole lot cheaper. And less painful.
I tried the duct tape thing on a wicked one that survived 2 professional freezings. Neither that, nor the over-the-counter acid things worked. But a few treatments with the home freezing kit finally did the trick! And boy howdy, is that stuff fun! I think I used it more often and for longer periods that the directions said to, but I knew that thing wasn’t going away without dramatic methods.
And what is in the core of a wart, anyway? Any exploratory surgery I ever tried resulted in lots & lots of blood, but no real information.