Your concern
Warts under the foot
Plantar warts: pain on weight-bearing, dark dots and interrupted skin lines.
Unlike warts on hands and fingers, the ones under the feet do not protrude: body weight pushes them inwards, and they grow deep beneath a layer of keratin. This is why they resemble a callus and are treated as one for months.
Two signs distinguish them and can be looked for at home. The first is small dark dots within the lesion, corresponding to thrombosed capillaries: a callus has none. The second concerns the skin lines, which in a wart are interrupted and curve around it, while in a callus they cross through. Add the type of pain: a wart hurts mainly on lateral compression, a callus on pressure from above.
They are caused by a virus, are picked up in shared damp environments — pools, showers, changing rooms — and can multiply on the same sole. It should be said that a proportion regress spontaneously, and that no treatment works in everyone: the choice is therefore made by looking at number, site, pain and the patient's age, and often requires several sessions. Promising they will disappear in one go would be wrong.
Dark dots and broken lines: it is not a callus
This is the check made under a lamp, and it changes the treatment. The dark dots inside the lesion are capillaries and do not belong to pressure thickening. Skin lines that are interrupted say that the layer has been disrupted by something growing, not simply compressed. If you find both signs, corn products will not help, and the time spent on them is time in which the wart can multiply.
How it shows
- A thickened lesion on the sole, not protruding
- Dark dots visible within the lesion
- Skin lines interrupted around the lesion
- Pain on lateral compression more than on direct pressure
- Appearance of satellite lesions near the first
- A history of pools, showers or shared changing rooms
How we proceed
- 1Dermatological visit with dermatoscopic examination of the lesion
- 2Definite distinction between wart and pressure hyperkeratosis
- 3Counting of lesions, including satellites not yet noticed
- 4Outpatient treatment, usually over several sessions
- 5Follow-up and advice to limit spread
Available treatments
- Dermatology visit
- Dermatoscopic diagnosis
- Outpatient treatment
- Scheduled follow-up
Book a visit
Our specialists will evaluate your case and define the most suitable treatment plan.
Book in FlorenceBook in SienaSiena · Firenze
Frequently asked questions
How many sessions are needed?+
Usually more than one, and the number is not predictable at the outset. Plantar warts are among the most stubborn precisely because they grow beneath a thick keratin layer that protects them too. A treatment needing several appointments is not a failing treatment: it is the normal course of this lesion, and it is better to know before starting.
Can I keep doing sport and swimming?+
Yes, with some care to avoid spreading them: cover the lesion, wear sandals in changing rooms and showers, do not share towels. The virus circulates in shared damp environments, and an uncovered lesion in contact with those floors is how they multiply — both on your own sole and on other people's.
If I wait, will it go away on its own?+
It can happen: a proportion of warts regress spontaneously, especially in children. Waiting has two costs to allow for, though: meanwhile the lesion can multiply, and if painful it affects walking. The choice between observing and treating is therefore made at the visit, looking at how many there are, where they are and how much they interfere — it is not a rule that fits everyone.
Related reading
Have a question? Let's talk.
Book a first visit: the physician will evaluate your situation and guide you to the most suitable treatment.
Book a dermatology visit