What is a Wart?
A wart is a skin growth that resembles a callus or corn. Warts are caused by a virus that enters the skin, and usually appear on the bottom of the foot. They are most common in ages between four years to fifty years. It maybe painful or not. It commonly bleeds when picked at. Small black dots are usually seen at its center. Warts can usually spread and multiply when not treated.

How Do Warts Form?
Warts typically form from a viral contact. This can commonly occur in locker rooms, swimming pools, and bathrooms. They tend to start out small, and most patients think it is a callus. Warts, with time, will generally spread or increase in size. There is some documentation of a hereditary sensitivity toward warts.

The longer you leave a wart untreated, the chance of spreading is greatly increased.

Symptoms
Pain and bleeding after picking at the wart are its greatest symptoms. Some warts are completely pain free, and some are quite painful.

Diagnostic Tests
Warts are generally diagnosed by an experienced doctor on appearance alone. The diagnosis is usually confirmed by trimming the wart down and looking for “pin-point” bleeding, which helps differentiate it from a callus, which usually doesn’t bleed upon trimming.

Wart Treatment
The goal in treatment consists of removing the wart completely and preventing recurrence. To reach this goal, a surgical or non-surgical treatment plan may be used.

A More Conservative Approach
Treatment for warts consists of acid treatments with trimming of the lesion(s).  The treatment course can last from 4 to 25 times or possibly more.

Surgical Approach
The surgical treatment may consist of the following 2 approaches: (1) Laser excision and (2) Wide excision.

1. The area around the wart is numbed with a local anesthetic.
2. The base of the wart is either excised or lasered.
3. A small bandage is then applied.