Plantar warts....

Hi, I had a plantar wart that came up on my left foot about a year and a half ago. I bought some Dr. Scholls plantar wart removers and placed those on the wart for a couple of weeks. The wart was painful, and this helped with the pain, and helped it go down some. It looked like the wart was almost gone, but not completely, so I kept picking at the wart until it came out. Well, I recently noticed that the wart is not gone, and there seem to be other tiny ones around it. What should I do? What can I do to keep these from spreading? I`m afraid they`ll spread all over my feet like pictures I`ve seen on the net! I have also read all over the internet that they`re contagious and are hard to treat. I have a young child who baths in the same tub I use & I don`t want her to contract these from me. I also do not want my husband to contract them. How can I protect them? How can I get them to go away?! Thanks....

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Despite what you read, plantar warts are not highly contagious, if they are catchy at all.  Every day I see patients with them, when no one else around has them.  You can have these warts frozen off, but frankly, if the warts are small and not bothering you to walk on, I think you'll do just as well to leave them alone and let nature take its course, because in time these will go away.  It's certainly OK to leave warts alone if you want to--you're not putting your family at risk.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[Derma]

Hi, i have MANY plantar warts on both my feet (2 on my left...which are BIG, and around 5 on my right (some recently appeared). You said that they will generally go away, but mine have been getting bigger and bigger and more have been appearing. Why am i so prone to these viruses? Also sometimes they itch! I remember getting rid of them at one time (by burning them at a clinic)and then they returned with a vengeance! Could it be because of the shoes that i wore when i had them?