If you’ve noticed you have a wart — or a cluster of them — don’t panic. Though warts can make you self-conscious, these small, noncancerous skin growths are treatable.
Warts are just one of the many conditions that the expert podiatrists at South Florida Foot & Ankle Centers treat so you can have healthy feet that keep you comfortably mobile. In addition to smaller warts, we also treat plantar warts, which develop on areas of your feet that get a lot of wear and tear.
Your feet do so much for you throughout your life, so it’s only fair to treat them well!
Warts are incredibly common, especially in children and teens. In fact, research has shown that about one-third of children and teens have warts, while only 3-5% of adults experience them.
A specific strain of the human papillomavirus — there are over 100 types — causes warts to erupt, and the raised bumps often appear to have tiny black dots on them, which are clotted blood vessels.
The virus loves warm and humid environments, and can enter your skin through tiny nicks and cuts you may not even notice.
Many warts disappear on their own, but we can also treat them here at South Florida Foot & Ankle Centers.
But how do you know whether your wart warrants treatment?
We’ve got some good rules of thumb that indicate whether you should see your podiatrist for wart treatment. You should seek care if:
If your wart, or several of them, have settled onto a spot that makes it painful to walk, you need to seek treatment, because living with this type of discomfort for an extended period is simply unsustainable.
You need to be able to move freely and comfortably, without the pain a wart causes or the worries about aggravating it.
If your wart gets visibly irritated, is painful, or bleeds, it’s time to visit your podiatrist. Warts can get irritated, rough, itchy, and even bleed. Unfortunately, so can basal and squamous cell carcinomas, two types of skin cancer.
It’s better to be safe than sorry. If your wart looks or feels different, call your South Florida Foot & Ankle Centers podiatrist to make an appointment to get it checked out.
When you live with the circulation problems that often accompany diabetes, you can’t afford to take any chances of your feet sustaining any injury, because even the smallest and seemingly most insignificant irritation can become a serious problem very quickly.
A persistent wart can get cut, scratched, and irritated easily, and then you’re at risk for an infection that can turn life-threatening because your immune system isn’t as robust as someone who’s not affected by diabetes.
When a wart sticks around for too long, it’s a problem. Even though they often go away on their own, it can take up to two years, and if your wart is tender or prominent enough to make you self-conscious, you likely don’t want to wait that long. You don’t have to.
When you get professional treatment for your wart, these worries and complications disappear — just like your wart!
The South Florida Foot & Ankle Centers team offers effective treatment for warts. After thoroughly evaluating your wart, your podiatrist talks to you about two care options and helps you decide which one is right for you.
They might recommend cryotherapy, which involves freezing the wart off, or a minor surgical procedure that’s easy to tolerate. Both of these treatments mean you can say farewell to your nuisance warts sooner rather than later.
Call the South Florida Foot & Ankle Centers office nearest you to schedule an appointment for discussing wart removal, or book one online. Choose from our locations in Royal Palm Beach, Lake Fort Worth, Palm Beach Gardens, and Belle Glade, Florida.
