Talk:Plantar wart

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Cryotherapy may not SEEM to be as effective as it might be because of the way different clinicians apply it. A liquid nitrogen cold-burn which goes sufficiently deep enough to kill all the infected cells is very painful, akin to a cigarette burn. When a doctor applied this technique to a wart on my hand, the surface layers of the wart did die off and flake away after a few days, but the wart recurred in a couple of months. I found by treating myself that a very painful burn with repeat applications of liquid nitrogen on one occassion seemed to get rid of the wart permanently. It could be that doctors are being too gentle.

This article is so poorly written it should be trashed and started over! Philiphughesmd 20:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

As far as treating these things... I think we should add something about the banana peel method. It sounds like an old wives tale, but it's true: a doctor told me to tape a piece of banana peel on my foot and cut away dead skin. I did this for about two or three weeks, and the wart fell off.

Utter tosh.

Does said doctor float in water? ;-) I think the problem is that it's impossible to know if your wart simply fell off naturally. Chris 15:29, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

"Fell off"? I've had warts, and I've had them disappear after several years. But I've never known one to "fall off". It was more that the entire cluster, which had grown for about five years, unexpectedly shrank and disappeared in less than two weeks. Is "fell off" meant to be taken figuratively, or is my experience totally unusual?

Contents 1 Should be treated right away 2 Reference? 3 Merge with wart 4 Comments on pharmaceutic treatments 5 Contradiction? Immunotherapy 6 Tidy up 7 Pharmacologic Rx 8 other causes 9 Choice of photo 10 Cluster cure 11 malignant change 12 Soaking 13 treating the planter wart after suergy 14 Any chance?

[edit] Should be treated right away

They should be treated right away because they can spread in clusters. As for treatment garlic definatley works garlic oil contains a potent substance called allicin, which blocks key enzymes that aid bacteria and viruses in their effort to invade and damage tissues, cut a slice of garlic clove the size of the wart and attach it with adhesive tape for 24 hours this definatley helps heal along with regular treatments from a dermatologist who can freeze it with nitro.

I have two comments to add:

First, about the banana peel method, there is a reference on the left side of http://www.plantar.org about this method.

Second, here is a holistic method to remove plantar warts: see this link http://home.access4less.net/~wart/plantar/Plantar-Foot-Wart.html

I have a comment to add:

I just treated my daughters wart with duct tape! I was skeptical at first but it worked amazingly well. Here is a link to a small article at the Mayo Clinic : http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/plantar-warts/AN00739

Right before I put duct tape on the wart it was irritated and all the skin around it was red and slightly warm. Within 2 days that was gone and then over the next week and a half or so the wart itself dried up, shrivelled and then just came off stuck to the duct tape. All we did was rip off a square and stuck it on the area and replaced the square whenever it fell off. We never filed down the wart at all or otherwise messed with it, motly because my daughter didn't want anyone to touch it! So far it hasn't shown any signs of coming back. It might be unscientific but I am absolutely positive the duct tape made it go away and wanted to share the information.

I have submitted medically accurate information about the treatment of warts Philiphughesmd 02:59, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

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Added info and references for garlic, banana peel and duct tape methods. 139.165.200.31 11:42, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reference?

For 2006, modern treatment methods are not more than 75% effective. Does anyone have the source for this claim?

Yes, http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab001781.html seems to be widely referenced, and says:

• "...best available evidence...a cure rate 75%"
• "...the average cure rate of placebo preparations was 30%." --Snori 12:51, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Snori. If you look at the abstract it says that the must recent data source used is 2003. I have removed "for 2006". Pgr94 08:06, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge with wart

The main article wart has been flagged as being in need of help. Nearly all of the content in wart is redundant with plantar wart. Since plantar wart is better organized and more verifiable, I vote that plantar wart be used as the foundation for the merged article. It might also make sense to rename the merged article "Skin wart" or "Common wart" and have it cover all non-genital skin warts. Genital warts should be left a separate article, since they have a completely different etiology.Retroid 13:15, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

There are numerous types of wart including Common warts, Flat warts, Filiform warts, Mosaic warts, as well as plantar and genital [1]. I think wart should hold information common to all types with specifics of each type on separate pages. So, I'm not convinced that merging is a good idea. But I would agree that much information is being duplicated and this should be addressed. This would probably involve moving content from plantar wart into wart and vice-versa. Pgr94 08:47, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Agree with Pgr94. --Arcadian 13:04, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

I see Pgr94's point - separate entries for the various wart types sounds like a good idea. Then "Wart" would become basically a glorified disambiguation page with links to the different wart types. Am I understanding correctly that you propose there be separate articles entitled "Common wart" and "Plantar wart?" I'm confused by that scenario. The current Plantar wart article covers the topic of common warts pretty thoroughly. Not sure what would go in the "Common wart" article that would be different.Retroid 23:16, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

My understanding is that they are different (but closely related) conditions and as such deserve their own page. Information needn't be duplicated - for instance there can be separate pages for commonalities like "keratolytic treatment of warts", "immunological treatment of warts", etc. Incidentally Retroid, as our resident HPV expert, can you tell us if common and plantar are the same HPV type? Pgr94 14:14, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I’m surprised to find that the answer is it depends who you ask. Molecular biologists (like me) and epidemiologists (like PMID 16032719) tend to think of plantar warts a sub-class of common warts. For example, although HPV type 1 is usually associated with foot warts, you can also sometimes find it in hand warts. As mentioned in the current incarnation of Plantar wart, foot warts and hand warts are fundamentally similar phenomena. On the other hand, after a quick skim through PubMed I’m surprised to learn that clinical specialists draw a clear distinction between plantar warts and common warts (e.g., PMID 16127954 – note: free to the public – has a nice summary of treatment options for cutaneous warts [2]).

Interesting reference, Retroid (PMID 16032719). It would seem a nice neat hierarchical structure relating genotype to clinical condition simply may not fit. It's more a case of certain groups of host-genotype+virus-genotype being evolutionarily successful.

Glad you posted that link with the summary of treatment options. I found it a few weeks ago and liked it too, then lost it and have been looking for it since. I thought it would be good to incorporate a couple of the tables but was concerned about copyright issues. Pgr94 21:50, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Anyway, good question, Pgr94. Helps me understand that even though a plantar wart may be the same biological phenomenon as a hand wart, the fact that people have to walk on the plantar warts merits a clinical distinction. So I think we now have consensus - separate pages for different wart types, with just "wart" being a type of disambiguation page.

Separate pages for different treatment options sounds difficult. All the treatments are conceptually similar - trying to wake up the immune system to see virus parts that are effectively hidden. The spectrum of available treatment options is basically the same for all cutaneous wart types (PMID 16127954). I think "Common wart" could have a section that compares and contrasts the different treatments (e.g., as current Plantar wart article does). Then the various wart types could refer to the treatment section of common warts.

I'm not opposed to that. My reasoning was that in the future there'd be sufficient content on each of the treatment options that they'd get an article of their own. Perhaps guilty of looking too far ahead... Pgr94 21:50, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm also in favour of a main wart page with specifics on subpages for different entities like plantar wart. Maybe this topic could use a navigation box?--Steven Fruitsmaak | Talk 11:24, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I say merge the two. Then, after that's done, let's merge all the various car articles (Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang, et al) into the Automobile article; they're all just variants, after all. When that's finished, we can merge all the colleges and universities, all the mammals, all the planets, and so on. In fact, Wikipedia could just be one big article lumped under Everything. --BRossow 14:21, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

I've removed the merge tag, as consensus was not to merge, and added a stubby section to the warts article listing the various major types of wart, with a brief description. Espresso Addict 17:09, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Comments on pharmaceutic treatments

(moved from article by Pgr94 12:22, 25 May 2006 (UTC)) -It is unecessary to take such extreme measures as these listed above for plantar warts. Over-the-counter treatments (adhesives and at-home freeze therapy, see below...) work fine. If the wart is stubborn, however, a local clinic could treat the wart(s) in a matter of minutes. (see below, again.) User:Pittlers

[edit] Contradiction? Immunotherapy

These two statements seem contradictory to me:

"The ideal treatment for a viral-induced tumor (such as the HPV virus causing plantar warts), would be an anti-viral drug or an immunization against the virus. Unfortunately, for plantar warts, this is not currently available."

and

"Immunotherapy: using injected mumps, candida or trichophytin antigen USP or applied imiquimod cream ("Aldara") are new treatments."

Does anyone else agree/disagree? Pgr94 11:49, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

it would be more accurate if the first sentence said "virus-specific drugs or vaccination against the virus." The key unifying concept behind all currently-available wart treaments is that, in the context of the undisrupted wart, the virus is effectively hidden from the immune system. Cracking open the wart (cryotheraphy) or killing some infected cells (5-FU) or injecting generically inflammatory agents (Aldara) are just various ways of introducing virus parts into an environment where the immune system can recognize them as unusual and dangerous. There have been studies where they treated warts on one hand and observed that warts on the other hand were simultaneously cleared, suggesting immunological control (as opposed to physical removal of the wart) was the primary mechanism of clearance. Current treatments are very generic, blunt instruments. I guess you could call the current treatments a type of "auto-immunization." But they're such brute force processes that they don't belong in the same category as the terms "immunization" or "vaccine." Retroid 21:21, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tidy up

This article has become somewhat of a shambles. I've made a start, but it still needs work. I think a useful destinction could, and should, be made between "folk remedies", "common medical treatments" and "experimental medical treatments". I've made a little start on that track, but I'd like to review other medical articles to see how best to extend this approach. --Snori 17:16, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm rather surprised you thought fit to erase the section on relative effectiveness of treatments. I have reverted, but we can discuss. Pgr94 18:40, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Another thing gone missing during the tidy up are the complications of watchful waiting. "If untreated there may be complications. Warts may spread, develop into clusters or fuse to become mosaic warts." I again think this is useful info. Rather than deletion, I'd prefer we found references... Pgr94 18:52, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't know how it fits with your tidy up plans, but at some point I had hoped to add some tables similar to those in this article [3]. See what you think. Pgr94 18:58, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

That table approach is excellent. Regards the "if untreated", it may just be a case of popping his in at the right place - it didn't seem to add much where it was, but maybe it could be the part of the intro, or appended to "watchful waiting"?--Snori 20:05, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pharmacologic Rx

I don't think this section title is appropriate. Rx refers to prescription-only drugs and salicyclic acid is over-the-counter. I suggest changing back to "Pharmaceutic". Any objections? Pgr94 10:31, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] other causes

are there any other causes for warts besides HPV and if so what are they?

• Skin warts in humans are always caused by HPV. However other skin conditions, such as corns, can easily be confused with warts but are not caused by HPV. Espresso Addict 01:09, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Choice of photo

I preferred the old photo, which showed the verruca much more clearly and also the skin striations going round the lesion, which is one of the main ways of telling verrucas from eg corns. Any other opinions? Espresso Addict 00:01, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

I agree, I prefer the old photo too. But I like the 3D diagram. Pgr94 15:31, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

I've reverted to the old photo, as no-one disagreed, but left in the useful diagram. Espresso Addict 04:50, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

The diagram has been removed by a bot

That's a shame. I wonder if someone could recreate something similar without copyright problems? Espresso Addict 17:49, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cluster cure

I had a cluster of warts on my foot and sal acid treatment was doing nothing. Laser and/or burning couldn't be used because of the large area affected so I finally tried one of those "strange" natural remedies in the form a cream. Within a week the cluster had almost receeded and within two weeks it had dissapeared. The cream was some sort of plant extract in white-ish transparent form but I wasn't able to get a hold again of the person that gave it to me so I have no idea what it was. Can anyone here tell me?

I had the same problem 6 years ago, and I used a product similar to what you described. It was called something like "Miracle of Aloe," and it got rid of all the warts.

[edit] malignant change

User:Mbmitnick wrote "It should be noted that in very rare instances warts may undergo malignant changes." I removed this line because no evidence was supplied to back up this claim. Feel free to restore it if you can back it up. Pgr94 08:12, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Soaking

63.162.50.151 wrote:

Soaking the infected part in hot water once a day for several weeks may kill the HPV virus, and then the wart would resolve.

Can you supply a reference to make this verifiable? Pgr94 12:31, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

It probably won't work- I had a plantar wart (not a very large one) for many years, and if regular hot baths can be considered soaking they had no affect except to make the callused tissue surrounding the wart swell, temporarily causing greater discomfort in walking. My wart went away by itself as frequently happens.Saxophobia 22:15, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] treating the planter wart after suergy

what if u get white puffy stuff on one part of the hole and the day before the doctor said it was fine then the next day it shows up what should i do.

[edit] Any chance?

Would it be possible to note the Verruca Gnome mentioned in Discworld's The Hogfather? The little gnome that goes around with a sack of verrucas, placing them on unhygenic people? Like, in a footnote?