Treatment for Plantar Warts

Treating Plantar Warts

Some people choose to ignore their warts, or try “home remedies” or over-the-counter wart removal kits. We generally don’t recommend these options:

• Warts may go away on their own in time, but this could take months or years—and in the meantime, the warts could easily get worse or spread.
• Home treatments don’t have much evidence to suggest that they work. If one of these treatments “worked” for you in the past, it was probably just coincidence—in other words, the wart would have gone away on its own anyway.

As mentioned above, the best way to treat warts is through Swift Microwave Therapy. During a quick appointment at our office, we’ll expose your wart to a light dose of targeted microwaves for about 2-3 seconds. That’s all that’s needed to treat the infected tissue and “alert” the immune system, which sets about the task of defeating the wart-causing virus from the inside out. (The bonus is that, because you’re treating the cause and not just the symptom, warts are less likely to reappear after Swift treatment than with more conventional remedies.)

Click here for more in-depth info about how Swift works, and what you can expect from treatment.

More “conventional” treatment options for warts have largely been made obsolete by Swift, but include:

• Salicylic acid medications– A prescription strength medication can remove a wart gradually, a layer at a time. We might apply the medication in-office or recommend you apply it regularly at home.
• Cryotherapy– This in-office procedure involves applying liquid nitrogen or another freezing agent to the wart. We may administer a local anesthetic to the foot before this procedure, as it can be uncomfortable. Repeat treatments will be necessary in most cases.
• Minor surgical removal– This is basically just cutting the wart away. Again, the area will be numbed before the procedure.