How to Treat Plantars Warts

Learn how to treat plantars warts and you can rid yourself of this harmless, but unsightly skin growth. If you have a plantars wart, you can rest easy knowing that it usually goes away on its own in a few months or, on the long end, a couple of years.  Because plantars warts are often unsightly and sometimes painful, however, many seek wart removal. While they might not signify a problem from a health perspective, people tend to want the aesthetic situation remedied.

Home Treatment
If you are looking for a way to remove plantars warts without racking up a medical bill, consider these home options:

• Duct tape: Praised for many unusual uses, covering warts with duct tape, also called tap occlusion, can actually help remove them over a period of time. 
• Salicylic acid: This drugstore remedy helps to soften skin so that it can be rubbed off after a few weeks or months. You can choose from paint, cream, tape, plaster or a patch method.
• Over-the-counter cryotherapy: Warts can be removed by freezing them and some home treatments are sold. You'll use an applicator to apply a combination of chemicals that will do the job.

Doctor Treatment
A doctor can safely remove plantars warts through the following procedures:

• Cryotherapy: If you don't want to try at-home cryotherapy, your doctor can easily freeze your wart off at the doctor's office using an extremely cold liquid. It removes the wart with little scaring, but it can be painful.
• Retinoid cream: This prescription medicine can stop a warts growth.
• Cantharidin: A medication injected by your doctor, this causes the skin beneath the wart to blister.
• Surgery: While this wart removal method is more expensive, sometimes it's the only treatment that will work to remove a plantars wart. Electrosurgy and laser surgery can burn the wart off; curettage involves cutting off the wart.