Talk:Plantar wart

Cryotherapy

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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. —unsigned by 62.6.139.11 15:32, 18 August 2006.

Based on referenced information I've added to the article, I'm guessing that you sent the virus into remission, but didn't eliminate it. Warts may recur even after effective treatment. I don't think the doctor was too gentle; you can cause permanent nerve and tissue damage with cryosurgery. —{admin} Pathoschild 18:49:24, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Rewrite

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

Done. —{admin} Pathoschild 18:51:49, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Folk Treatment

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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?

Information in articles must be reliably referenced. —{admin} Pathoschild 18:53:49, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Should be treated right away

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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)

Reference?

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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)

Merge with wart

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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)

Comments on pharmaceutic treatments

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(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

Contradiction? Immunotherapy

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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)

Tidy up

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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)

Pharmacologic Rx

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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)

Rx is an abbreviation/shorthand and has many meanings. It is a specifically american view that it means 'prescription only drugs'. Also, some salicylic acid remedies for warts are only available by prescription in some countries. That being said, as shorthand, it is hardly appropriate for a heading in an encyclopedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.171.215.238 (talk) 14:33, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

other causes

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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)

Choice of photo

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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)

There are a number of good photos of plantar warts (differing severities) available on VisualDxHealth Plantar Warts - perhaps one of these would work. Also has content on flat warts and common warts (images and treatment info) Burrillr 14:43, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

If you own the rights on these pictures then you can upload them, otherwise they're not usable Pgr94 15:47, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

The photo at the top of the article right now appears to be warts on the top of the foot, not plantar warts on the bottom of the foot. Either the photo is not an accurate representation, or the description which defines plantar warts by their location on the sole of the foot is inaccurate. From prior information I've heard on the subject, I think it's the former possibility. In that case, the photo should be removed. --Icarus ^(Hi!) 08:53, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree. It's a common wart, not a plantar Pgr94 11:55, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

My image, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Debrided_verruca.jpg was removed apparently arbitrarily at some point before the article; I mention it just to say it's available, but I'd leave the decision to use it to those editors who've invested more time in the article than I... Chris 09:12, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I have just uploaded an image, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SANY0147.JPG that i took of a plantar wart that is on my toe. It's been mostly untreated for the last 5 months. The current image, while good, isn't real high resolution and isn't representative of what the wart looks like when left alone. If someone would like to include this into the article (because i jsut can't get my head around wikipedia's page formatting), please, feel free. DewDude 02:32, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Cluster cure

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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.

Unfortunately I cannot find any reliable sources about that treatment, so we cannot include it in the article. —{admin} Pathoschild 15:25:05, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

malignant change

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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)

Here's some evidence:

• a case study of "a long standing plantar verruca undergoing malignant transformation to a squamous cell carcinoma." PMID 1469224
• "Malignant transformation of plantar verrucae." PMID 16943705 Could someone with access to this article please summarise?

Pgr94 (talk) 21:21, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

For readers' convenience, we discussed this in more detail in the section titled "HPV and cancer (was Extensive changes by pathoschild)". We concluded that malignant changes did not occur according to the scientific literature. —{admin} Pathoschild 15:21:49, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Soaking: verifiable?

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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)

Hyperthermic treatment (defined as "immersing the involved surface in hot water (113ºF) for 30-45 minutes, 2-3 times per week") may be effective in some patients, according to eMedicine and medFamily. I've added it to the article. —{admin} Pathoschild 15:35:01, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

treating the planter wart after suergy

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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.

You should speak to your doctor. —{admin} Pathoschild 15:46:04, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Incorrect spelling

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I hear 'Planter's warts' more often than plantar wart. Does anyone know if the Planter's peanut company actively discourages this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 00:39, 3 May 2007 (UTC).

According to Google, "plantar's warts" is a very uncommon mispelling. I doubt the Plantar's peanut company has an official position on the misspelling. —{admin} Pathoschild 15:50:26, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Any chance?

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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?

No. :) —{admin} Pathoschild 15:51:27, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

question

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do people die from verruca. what is the survival rate and death rate. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 168.11.151.98 (talk) 14:53, 14 February 2007 (UTC).

There is no known case of a plantar wart fatality; the known survival rate is currently 100%. —{admin} Pathoschild 15:54:45, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Prevention

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"Avoid walking barefoot in public areas such as showers, communal changing rooms.(covering up with a plaster is not a safe method as it will not last for long at all, especially while showering or swimming)"

Can anyone cearly state what the heck that last phrase means - I'm referring to the section in parenthases. What is a "plaster"? I think we need to be more clear so as to avoid confusion. SkittlzAnKomboz 15:00, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

A "plaster" is the English term for a Band-Aid.

And "Band-Aid" is a trademarked name for an adhesive bandage. It's an americanism.

That section has been expanded since this comment, and it's much clearer now. —{admin} Pathoschild 15:55:46, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Change shoes daily?

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I assume that this is just an error or vandalism, but I don't want to change it for fear that I'm missing something. Does any physician really recommend buying hundreds of different pairs of shoes to change daily? Croctotheface 08:18, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

That's been corrected by now. —{admin} Pathoschild 15:59:40, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Contradiction?

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• the best treatments are those containing salicylic acid. They are clearly better than placebo.
• there is surprisingly little evidence for the absolute efficacy of cryotherapy.
• two trials comparing salicylic acid and cryotherapy showed no significant difference in efficacy.
• one trial comparing salicylic acid and duct tape occlusion therapy showed no significant difference in efficacy.

How is it possible there is "surprisingly little evidence for the absolute efficacy of cryotherapy" How is it possible "the best treatments are those containing salicylic acid", while "two trials comparing salicylic acid and cryotherapy showed no significant difference in efficacy" and "there is surprisingly little evidence for the absolute efficacy of cryotherapy"? If there is no difference in efficacy, how can a salicylic acid treatment be the best?

That is not a contradiction. The study was an overview of past trials whose results could differ. It found that salycylic acid was most effective overall (73%), while there was no evidence of the absolute effectiveness of cryotherapy. However, two particular studies comparing salycylic acid to cryotherapy found no significant difference between the two. For more information on their findings, see the study's abstract. —{admin} Pathoschild 18:41:51, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Vinegar: verifiable?

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Removed from the article because not verifiable:

• Although not mentioned in medical texts, distilled white vinegar is a common solution. Soak either a cotton ball or cotton pad with distilled white vinegar then adhere to the areas of infection with medical tape (easiest when done at night during sleep). Within one to two weeks, depending on severity of each case, the wart will fall off.

Pgr94 23:04, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

I can't find any reliable sources supporting this remedy. According to "Vinegar: Medicinal Uses and Antiglycemic Effect" (Carol S. Johnston), application of very high concentrations of acetic acid (up to 99%) does alleviate warts, presumably due to the mechanical destruction of wart tissue, but vinegar has a low concentration of acetic acid (typically 5–18%, or roughly 40% when distilled). "Skin Disease in Organ Transplantation" (Clark C. Otley, Thomas Stasko) notes that white vinegar is useful in defining the extent of HPV infection due to its acetowhitening effect, but makes no mention of its use in treatment. Without reliable sources for this method, it cannot be added to the article. —{admin} Pathoschild 20:36:22, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Walking: verifiable?

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I have removed the following pending a verifiable source.

• Weight-Load Walking: The patient wears a backpack weighing 40 pounds (17.5 kg), and walks non-stop for 8.1 miles (13 km), completing the walk in 2 hours 25 minutes. This is done once a week. Painful blisters may occur in the first few weeks, and last a day or two after completing the walk. Due to accelerated exfoliation the plantar warts may also fall off within a few weeks. A comforable backpack with a frame is strongly recommended to prevent excessive soreness in the shoulders. Comfortable shoes and extra-thick socks are also strongly recommended. Numerous side benefits of weight-load walking include low-impact fat-burning, the expenditure of approximately 1000 Calories, increased upper-body strength, increased endurance, increased muscle efficiency, improved walking form, improved cardiovascular fitness, and improved general health.

Pgr94 01:11, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I can find no reliable sources for that remedy. The remedy is supposed to work through increased exfoliation, but there are much easier ways to provoke that. —{admin} Pathoschild 21:27:40, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Chlorine treatment: verifiable?

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I removed chlorine treatment from the article as it is not verifiable. There were no articles in pubmed and google didn't return any authoritative articles.

• Chlorine treatment immersion in a high liquid with a high level of chlorine (say a swimming pool with too much chlorine) may be effective at kill plantar warts

Pgr94 07:34, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I can find no reliable sources for that remedy. —{admin} Pathoschild 21:33:48, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

Plantar wart transmission

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How does the Plantar Wart virus leave an affected person? Through the wart? Through feces? Through bodily fluids like other HPV viruses?

Does a wart form where the virus enters? The sole of the foot is so thick I find it hard to believe even the smallest cut necessary to let the virus enter would go unnoticed. 68.81.119.160 (talk) 03:16, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

The virus enters through tiny cuts or abrasions in the stratum corneum (outermost layer of skin); it does not require a deep cut. The wart forms at the location it entered, and can be pushed deeper into the skin by the pressure of walking. It is the warts which are contagious; I haven't found mention of contagion through other bodily fluids in my research. —{admin} Pathoschild 21:40:15, 07 August 2008 (UTC)

HPV and cancer (was Extensive changes by pathoschild)

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I have reverted these edits because they have removed factual information obtained from peer-reviewed scientific journals. It is a step backwards to remove such material unless it is replaced with better sources. The changes are too extensive to separate the wheat from the chaff. Can I suggest making less extensive changes, and removing no facts unless they lack verification or are demonstrably wrong. Pgr94 (talk) 19:46, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Actually, I may have been a bit hasty there. The references that I initially thought stripped were not, just moved around significantly. I'm struggling to make out what has changed in the article between sections being moved around, new text being added, text being removed.

The references added to support new material are other encyclopaedias (emedicine or hipusa). Peer-reviewed scientific publications are preferable.

• are plantar warts really "generally harmless"? HPV is known to cause some types of cancer, is there evidence that this doesn't happen with plantar warts?

Pgr94 (talk) 20:21, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Hello Pgr94. Other HPV types are harmful, but plantar warts do seem to be generally harmless according to the current references. I've seen some unelaborated references to benign HPV becoming malignant (as you've noted), but I'm not sure whether that's normally relevant to these types (1, 2, 4, or 63) or the result of other factors. We should look into that to make sure.

Most of the changes are additions and referencing, with some reorganization. Very little (if any) content was removed. Scientific journals can be good sources, but so are encyclopedic sources; there's no reason not to use both. :) —{admin} Pathoschild 00:45:55, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Doing some research into this, Dr Penelope Bridger explains the references we noticed: "In the general population, cutaneous warts are harmless, transient tumours caused by about 8 types of human papilloma viruses (HPV)" [...] "Longterm immunosuppression, for example among renal transplant recipients, and patients with the rare disease Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis (EV) are at risk of their warts undergoing malignant change. However, such malignancies are in-situ or invasive squamous cell carcinomas which are slow growing and non-metastasising. The HPV types found in these skin cancers are not the ones found in common skin warts. Malignant transformation of skin warts found in the general population has never been reported." [...] "There is no evidence that warts are potentially harmful, except in immunocompromised patients whose warts need monitoring, or patients with EV, which is very rare."

So it seems that plantar warts are indeed harmless; the malignant changes mentioned are not caused by the plantar warts or underlying infection, although epidermodysplasia verruciformis is believed to be caused by infection from other types of HPV not contributing to plantar warts. —{admin} Pathoschild 04:00:09, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Malignancy transformation: Thanks for the reference and the comment you quote Pathoschild. I would be wary of attaching too much importance to that source because it is based on an old (1990) virology textbook which in turn is based on even older publications. (Bear in mind that at that stage the HPV hadn't been sequenced). Secondly, I'm not sure it is even peer-reviewed.

This 2006 article PMID 16943705 and this 2007 review PMID 17553059 would be a great help to get a more recent perspective. Unfortunately, I have access to neither :-( Pgr94 (talk) 09:19, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

I have access to those articles, and can send you copies if you give me your email address.

PMID 16943705 (Malignant Transformation of Plantar Verrucae) states:

Although malignant degeneration of chronic wounds is rare in immunocompetent hosts, it has been documented in the literature since the early 1800s. The first description of malignant transformation of plantar verrucae, however, did not appear in medical literature until 1981. Malignant transformations have also been reported in other previously benign lesions, such as scars, venous leg ulcers, and sinus tracts.

Consistent degeneration of genital warts into cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, for example, is particularly well documented, forming the basis for routine Papanicolaou smears for detection of cervical squamous cell abnormalities. Unfortunately, this heavily studied transformation cannot be generalized to nongenital strains of HPV, as strains infecting uncornified mucous membranes behave differently than those infecting cornified stratified squamous epithelium.

PMID 17553059 (The oncogenic potential of human papillomaviruses: a review on the role of host genetics and environmental cofactors) discusses malignancy of HPV types at greater length than I can fairly quote, so I'll only quote the most relevant sections:

Infection with HPV typically leads to benign epithelial proliferations; however, a growing number of viral subsets has been associated with epithelial cancers. However, most cases do not progress to cancer, even in patients infected with these oncogenic, ‘high-risk’ subsets. Malignant transformation, if it occurs, tends to occur only after a long latency period, reflecting that infection with HPV is necessary but not sufficient for the development of HPV-associated cancers.

The first link between HPV infection and epithelial cancer came from patients with epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV). Individuals with EV develop multiple atypical verrucous lesions which may progress into squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) especially in sun-exposed areas. Genotyping has allowed the isolation of a group of HPV types known as EV-associated HPV types. In addition, advances in molecular technology have allowed a number of additional oncogenic HPV types to be detected in many types of epithelial cancer.

[...]

These neoplastic transformations vary widely in severity from benign warts to highly malignant cancers, depending largely on the type of HPV present. For example, benign verrucae are known to be associated with HPV types 1–4, 7, 10, 27, 40, 41, 43, 57, 63 and 65. In contrast, HPV types 3, 5, 8, 10, 17 and 20 have been isolated from lesions in patients with EV.

[...]

Interestingly, in benign lesions (e.g. warts), the HPV genome is present as an episome (circular and nonintegrated), whereas in malignant lesions (invasive CC lines) the genome is typically integrated. Integration of viral DNA has been suggested to alter viral gene expression. The integration site in the viral genome typically encompasses the E2 gene region, which codes for an E6/E7 gene-regulatory protein. Therefore, viral genome integration has the potential to dysregulate the E2 gene thus leading to a lack of E6 and E7 gene repression. As stated by Wang and Hildesheim, genome integration may initiate an irreversible cascade of events leading to impaired function of tumour suppressor genes, genomic instability and cell immortalization.

[...]

In this review, the role of host genetics and immune response as well as environmental cofactors associated with the development of HPV-induced neoplasms will be discussed.

In so far as I understand the articles, it seems that some HPV types do cause cancer, but not those associated with plantar warts. Although there is at least one case of a plantar wart becoming malignant, this seems to have been caused by other factors rather than the HPV infection, and could just as well have affected other benign lesions like scars or ulcers. I'll send you copies if you email me, so you can draw your own conclusions. —{admin} Pathoschild 01:31:44, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for obtaining this information, Pathoschild. I hope it was a copy-and-paste job and not typed in! Have sent you mail and look forward to reading the articles. Pgr94 (talk) 12:45, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Sent. (Yes, I copied and pasted the quoted text. :) ) —{admin} Pathoschild 13:24:32, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Greater celandine

The following discussion is closed and will soon be archived.

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I'm surprised that there's no mention of one of the oldest and most successful treatments. It's not a medical treatment though, since I doubt if anyone has made any research, but using Greater celandine's yellow 'juice' from the stem works perfectly. I've seen it used many times, I even experienced this treatment and it really worked. The plant has been brought to North America by puritans and it's as common as in Europe now. But people are unaware of the method, which is really working, is cheap and painless. Warts die in a few days and as soon as new skin grows underneath, they fall off. Don't consider this as bullshit, please. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Czuken (talk • contribs) 11:46, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

If there's no research backing up the information, we can't add it the article. Wikipedia's core policies require verifiability and reliable sources for any information added. —{admin} Pathoschild 19:07:32, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

This is why Wikipedia is such a bunch of c**k, I edited for ages and got sick of the core policies dogma, Greater Celandine works, just try it, ok I don't have a PhD but it kicks the shit out of warts of all types, but this is not verifiable unless you go out there and try it!

Hypnotherapy

The following discussion is closed and will soon be archived.

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There's no mention under the treatment section of hypnosis. I've read quite a few journal articles indicating hypnosis has a fairly high success rate of treating plantars.Friskyfountains (talk) 23:42, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

You'd need citations for that, because if it shows up on the page without reliable sources, I am certainly going to remove it per WP:PROVEIT. WLU (t) (c) ^{(rules - simple rules)} 01:58, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Tea-tree oil

I don't have access to the journal of essential oil research, so I'm unable to verify this claim.

This Nov 2008 article reports successful treatment of common warts on the hand. The study is on a single patient and there are no controls, so any conclusions should probably be treated with caution. Furthermore, there is no evidence for treating plantar warts.

With only this evidence any claims about tea tree oil as a treatment for plantar warts is unverified or constitutes original research. pgr94 (talk) 20:42, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

I'd say it's a problem regards WP:MEDRS. Pubmed does not index, it'd be nice to see an impact factor, but really to claim it as effective, it needs a more reliable source. WLU (t) (c) ^{(rules - simple rules)} 21:32, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

The journal's pre-2003 issues don't seem to be available through online journal databases. The article is available on request from AGRIS, though. —{admin} Pathoschild 23:23:12, 08 November 2008 (UTC)

Alot of this stuff is wrong —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.149.99.96 (talk) 12:24, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Reliable sources? emedicine.medscape.com and www.medfamily.org

Do these websites satisfy criteria for reliable sources? pgr94 (talk) 12:13, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

unorthodox treatment

Can I add the potential of treatment through personal physical excising of the cluster to the page?

I've done this twice and have completely ended plantar wart incidents twice now in this way. I can explain in more detail if need be. Murakumo-Elite (talk) 19:20, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Do you mean cutting at it? i do the same. It does work... but alot of medical sources disourage it as you can spread the veruccas. (i have never had this problem and have often cut out young ones with one slice and they never return... and no blood shed either) Wuku (talk) 14:09, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

It may sound gross and I guess it stems from an old wive's tale but urine does an excellent job at removing planters warts very quickly. Peeing while in a hot shower and swishing the affected part of the foot has caused my warts in the past to fall out often right after or during the shower. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.215.52.166 (talk) 07:42, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

I had a big one on my index toe with a small cluster around it in highschool for several years, trying all kinds of topical treatments to no avail, and one day before gym class I was in the locker room changing socks, with my left foot resting on my right knee as I was sitting, and my usual bully came up and slammed the foot off the knee with a punch (hammer fist), and it hit the floor pretty hard, and suddenly there's blood everywhere coming from a pea-sized hole in my toe where the wart had been. The blood was just gushing out like crazy, freaking everyone out, but it eventually healed and never came back. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 154.5.212.157 (talk) 04:57, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

silver nitrate

Have added silver nitrate as an obvious solution. It is a simple caustic crystal that burns away the wart (and everything else if you are not careful). Still available over the counter in many places, but be careful with it. Much less painful than cryo-cures or real heat cauterisers. 100% successful in my case, if you give it two or three applications. Preceding unsigned comment added by Hoogson (talk • contribs) 10:33, 11 October 2010

Sinobot - if you want to delete something, please have the common decency to explain why. The silver nitrate cure is referenced in the warts section, so if you want to delete siver nitrate please be consistent and delete it from warts too. And then explain why. Hoogson (talk) 16:44, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Pgr94 (not SineBot) removed your changes, because you didn't provide any citations to support them. You can read about acceptable citations at Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources (medicine). —Pathoschild 17:26:29, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

The source is Wiki, as I explained. Or do you not recognise Wiki as a source? Hoogson (talk) 19:04, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Unfortunately wikis are not reliable sources. Wikipedia is a tertiary source, which means it collects information published in reliable documents such as scientific journals. Looking through the history of Wart, that information was added anonymously in 2005 with no citation at all. —Pathoschild 19:24:53, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

I think every nurse and grandmother knows about silver nitrate, it hardly needs sourcing. And why not delete the sentence here that says "A plantar wart is a small lesion that appears on the sole of the foot and typically resembles a cauliflower" - with not a reference in sight for this spurious claim. Can I delete this paragraph? Now if you really want something speculative, how about that last link that says the best cure is duct-tape. Now that is speculative (but apparently effective.). Hoogson (talk) 08:17, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Hello Hoogson, If silver nitrate is so well-known then it should appear in the scientific literature, either in journal articles or in textbooks. You should have no trouble finding a reliable source. If it is a folk remedy that is not backed by science then it is not appropriate in Wikipedia. The relevant Wikipedia guidelines are WP:MEDRS. Hope that helps. pgr94 (talk) 09:23, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Images

Do we really need quite so many images here? — OwenBlacker (Talk) 07:35, 4 August 2009 ( Yes, we need, I think they are helpful and necessary. Why have they been removed?--Marionette1 (talk) 07:58, 17 August 2009 (UTC) I certainly don't mind the number of pictures, but there's absolutely NO reason for the last one to be as large as it is. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bugbrain 04 (talk • contribs) 02:12, 27 September 2010 (UTC) What can I do to process the photo that it may fit to the article?Marionette1 (talk) 07:52, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Unorthodox treatments

I think that the should be a section for unorthodox/unverified treatments. But that is just a suggestion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.218.44.135 (talk) 04:26, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Barefoot emphasis?

Hey what is with the barefoot advice? Walking around barefoot confers a whole other set of health risks, and wouldn't help anyone who already has the virus. I am going to change it but I feel there is an editor/admin who will swat me down, but here goes. 50.80.146.188 (talk) 16:31, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

Seconded. The article reads like some kind of sermon against the evils of shoes. In multiple locations it recommends going barefoot as much as possible when the obvious course of action is to AVOID being barefoot in places other people have been barefoot. It's as if the influenza article told you to "be sure and drink plenty of orange juice before kissing random strangers in winter." 24.252.195.13 (talk) 19:58, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

um i want to point out the whole incubated by shoes thing is wrong sourced or not. hpv is a virus we incubate it so it doesnt need shoes to do it. But i cant source it without going outside the scope of the article — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.197.128.39 (talk) 23:56, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

My family doctor recommended taking Tagamet (Cimetidine) for 4-6 weeks to relieve symptoms (pain, discomfort, etc.) associated with Plantar Warts. I have found this treatment to be effective, not only for Plantar Wart symptoms, but also for canker sores associated with citric fruit consumption (tomatoes, pineapple, strawberries, etc.). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.249.47.204 (talk) 22:12, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

Common treatments

I had earlier in my life warts. I got this medical treatments: Bromoacetic acid applied on top, painfull sometimes, only to some degree successfull. I had one cut of at my wrist after it was fozen with some liquid that gets very cold when applied to skin, but I do not remember what it was. After the cuttig, the whole was treated with silver nitrate, it burned like hell. But I got lots of small ones around the cutting line after that. Then an old woman showed me Chelidonium. I found the plant growing on my way to school so I had a daily chance to use it. Just rip off a part and apply the yellow juce on top of the warts. Make sure that everything is covered and leave it alone for some days, dont scratch or wash it off. You may cover it with an adhesive bandage to prevent the stuff coloring your clothes or shoes or to hide it. After one week you can wash and rub it off and apply some new juice. I found out it works well, is absolutely free and does not hurt or bleed. It also does not affect the skin permanently, ist just colours the surface yellow which will disappear some weeks after finishing the treatment. I do not know if extracts or dried plants work the same way, so stick on the juice if you can. Now this treatment takes some weeks but I found it was the most effective way. By surgical removal there is blood which can infect other parts of the skin and does not prevent reappearance. Chelidonia leaves the skin undamaged, but it somehow activates the cornification of the warts so they will cornificate faster. The growth-rate of the wart is slower than the cornification rate, so it will reduce the size, till it disappears. Small ones disappear fast, bigger ones take longer but they reduce in size. I recommended this treatment to several people and none came back to tell me it did not work. So I recommend it to everybody, because it does not do any damage. If it grows still and does not reduce, it might be not a wart but a skin cancer or something else, so see a doctor immediately.--Giftzwerg 88 (talk) 20:31, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Do the math...?

From the article ~"Infection occurs in an estimated 7–10% of the US population. In a 1949 survey of 3,906 mainland Chinese and 1,222 Indians who had never worn shoes, plantar warts were reported in 0.29% of subjects. [3] While lower than rates in the US, this alone ...."~

7-10% is represented as .07 -.10. Therefore .29% is NOT lower but 2-3 times HIGHER! Needs a rewrite as this contradicts the reference. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sir wolf2001 (talk • contribs) 23:10, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

No, it really is 0.29%, not 0.29 (fraction of 1). The actual figure was 15 cases of warts out of 5128 people. --Graminophile (talk) 10:35, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

I know this is old and probably moot, but it's important to note that the Asian study refers to the percentage of subjects that had CURRENT warts at the time it was conducted. The 7-10% estimate for US may refer to the percentage of people who are affected at any point during their lifetime - or "infection" could simply mean they contract the causal agent without necessarily displaying symptoms. A major discrepancy like that for something so generic is often due to the stats not correlating, rather than actual differences in populations. 24.113.229.172 (talk) 06:00, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

Merge with Myrmecia

It has been proposed that Myrmecia (skin) be merged into Plantar wart.

• Support, they are synonyms.  --Lambiam 12:06, 20 June 2015 (UTC)
• Myrmecia can occur in other places, not just the bottom of the foot? Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 03:35, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

Image

Nice photo of a "large" wart. Perhaps there should be a scale included in images used, is a normal "large" plantar wart 0.01mm or 100mm? AnnaComnemna (talk) 01:37, 19 March 2017 (UTC)

Yes that would be useful agree. You can see the skin ridges that give you some idea of size. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 07:45, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Patient subject to electrocoagulation therapy for plantar wart dies of malignant melanoma

See here: [4] 2607:FEA8:1DE0:7B4:C59B:655C:26C0:FEC9 (talk) 07:02, 23 June 2019 (UTC)