Plantar wart removal

[Anonymous]

Sorry, kind of a gross question.

I have a plantar wart on the bottom of my foot, and I'm using an OTC salicylic acid treatment to remove it. The treatment comes in little bandages that look like band-aids, but have the acid in the center of it. The instructions say to replace them every two days until the wart is completely gone, which can take up to 12 weeks.

It's been 3 weeks. This morning, when I removed the bandage to replace it with a new one, a big chuck of white, mushy skin came off with the bandage. It left a little crater in the bottom on my foot, mostly normal flesh colored but still has a small white section in the middle, that looks like the stuff that came off.

Does the removal of that main chunk mean that the wart is gone, and I should stop treatment? Or do I need to keep going? I don't want to stop to early, but also don't want to burn off more of my foot than I need to!

[Anonymous]

That’s exciting! I did the salicylic patches but what really put an end to it all was the freezing canister. OTC

[Anonymous]

You should be asking Ai this. Not us.

[Anonymous]

Years ago my doctor gave me a little razor (like a Tinkle eyebrow razor) and said i should shave the dead skin off a little at a time as the treatment progressed. This will help avoid the deep pit in your foot. I also prefer the paint-on acid to the bandaid style because you don't get that soggy skin.

Your wart is probably not completely gone - the spot in the middle is probably still wart - but you should give the bandaid a rest while you gradually level out the surrounding dead skin, and then resume if needed.

[Anonymous]

Seriously, put duct tape over it and change every 4 days until it's gone. Couple weeks. Sounds nuts, but I had a pw for 20 years that no treatment would remove until duct tape. If you look it up, it's now a pretty verified and effective treatment.

[Anonymous]

Take the WartCalm homeopathic medicine from Boiron.

It cleaned out the persistent and every growing jungle of warts on my DS's feet in a few doses.

[Anonymous]

Hard to say without seeing it. Part of what you're doing with the acid is getting your immune system to recognize and attack the wart. Once that happens it usually clears up quickly.

My kid had a wart at 5 and needed breaks from the treatment so his foot didn't get too sore. We still managed to clear it in a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all! I was afraid that stopping treatment before it's completely done would make it come back even stronger, but it sounds like it's ok to take a break for a few days. I'll do that and see how it looks.

[Anonymous]

keep going it will come back if you don't get the stalk. keeping using it the full 12 weeks. even if it gets a little sore.

[Anonymous]

Next time you get one, try the nail polish treatment.