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Lifestyle and home remedies
By Mayo Clinic staffThe following self-care approaches can help you treat plantar warts. Do not treat plantar warts at home if you have an impaired immune system, diabetes or nerve damage in your feet. Over-the-counter treatment options include the following:
- Salicylic acid. Nonprescription wart medications with salicylic acid are sold as a patch or liquid that destroys and peels off layers of infected skin a little bit at a time. Usually, you're instructed to wash the site, soak the wart for up to 20 minutes, gently remove dead tissue with a pumice stone or emery board, and apply the solution or patch. Patches are usually changed every 48 hours. Liquid applications are usually used twice a day. You may need to repeat this process for several weeks to eliminate warts completely.
- Freezing (cryotherapy) products. Products that freeze plantar warts, such as Compound W Freeze Off or Dr. Scholl's Freeze Away Wart Remover, are available at drugstores without a prescription. Such products aren't as effective as cryotherapy done at the doctor's office because they don't freeze tissue at a temperature as low as that achieved with liquid nitrogen. The treatment may also result in some pain.
References
- Warts. American Academy of Dermatology. http://www.aad.org/public/publications/pamphlets/common_warts.html. Accessed March 4, 2011.
- Androphy E, et al. Warts. In: Wolff K, et al. Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2958209. Accessed Feb. 24, 2011.
- Warts, herpes simplex, and other viral infections. In: Habif TP. Clinical Dermatology: A Color Guide to Diagnosis and Therapy. 5th ed. Edinburgh, U.K.; New York, N.Y.: Mosby Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?about=true&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..X0001-6--TOP&isbn=978-0-7234-3541-9&uniqId=230100505-57. Accessed Feb. 24, 2011.
- Your guide to diabetes: Type 1 and type 2. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/type1and2/YourGuide2Diabetes.pdf. Accessed Feb. 24, 2011.
- Goldstein BG, et al. Cutaneous warts. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 4, 2011.
- Gibbs S, et al. Topical treatments for cutaneous warts. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2006:CD001781. http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews. Accessed March 4, 2011.
- Aldara (prescribing information). Loughborough, U.K.: 3M Health Care Limited; 2010. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2010/020723s022lbl.pdf. Accessed Feb. 24, 2011.
- Podophyllum. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed March 2, 2011.
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