Plantar Warts
A Simple, Painless, Low-Cost Home Treatment
Plantar warts are warts that appear on the soles of the feet. Here is a simple, highly effective, and pain-free method to get rid of them. You perform this treatment yourself in your own home. The total cost of the full treatment is about $10. You will need to spend about 20 to 30 minutes once per week, over a period of of 2 to 3 months, to get rid of the warts completely.
Cut Mediplast plaster to fit plantar wart
1. Cut plaster to fit plantar wart
mediplast on foot
2. Press plaster onto wart
Plantar wart covered with athletic tape, bottom viewPlantar wart covered with athletic tape, top view
3. Apply athletic tape over plaster
Plantar wart covered all around with athletic tape
4. Put more tape on top
A member of my family had plantar warts that became quite painful to walk on. I tried applying salicylic acid wart removal liquid (Wart-Off) once per day, but the warts just got worse. So we went to see our family dermatologist, who happens to be a professor at a major teaching hospital. He said that these types of warts are difficult to treat, but the best course was to use the method described here. We tried it, and it worked surprisingly well.

The only disadvantage of this treatment is that it requires patience. It may take two to three weeks before you see positive results. Don't get discouraged if not much happens in the first one or two weeks.

Note: This document is not intended to replace the advice of a physician. Although the treatment is very effective, it is not guaranteed to work in every case. If you are not sure of whether you have plantar warts, or if you are not sure if this treatment is right for you, consult a physician first. If you experience pain or discomfort as a result of the treatment, stop the treatment and consult a physician. This treatment is for plantar warts on the soles of the feet only. Do not attempt this treatment if you are diabetic or have poor blood circulation, or if the skin is infected or reddened.

Treatment Procedure

Get one or two Mediplast 40% Salicylic Acid plasters (2-by-3-inch medicated pads) from your local pharmacy, about $2 each. Call first to make sure they have them in stock. You might need to special-order this item. Also get one roll of athletic tape from a sporting goods store or variety store, about $4.
  1. Cut a piece of the plaster to the size and shape of the plantar wart of your foot. Peel off the paper backing.

  2. Your feet should be clean and dry. Apply the sticky side of the plaster to your wart. If you have many warts, just treat the few largest or most troublesome ones.

  3. Cover the plasters with a strip of tape. Make the ends of the tape go around the sides and on top of your foot. Press firmly to make the tape stick on well.

  4. Apply another strip of tape on top of your foot, covering the ends of the first strip of tape. Now the two pieces of tape form a loop around your foot that will not come off easily.

  5. Keep the plaster on for five to seven days (even though the Mediplast instructions say two days). It is OK to bathe and get the tape wet. If the tape starts coming off, trim away the loose edges and apply more tape around your foot to keep the original tape on.

  6. After 5 to 7 days, remove the tape and plaster. The treated area will appear white, probably with some loose dead skin. Soak your feet in warm water for 5 to 10 minutes. Using a nail clipper, file, or coarse sandpaper, remove as much loose dead skin as you comfortably can. (It is not necessary to get every bit of dead skin off.) Wash your feet and allow them to dry thoroughly.

  7. Repeat Steps 1 through 6 (one treatment every 5 to 7 days) until the warts are gone.
Note: If the wart is small, you can try using just a square of athletic tape or a piece of adhesive cut from a Band-Aid strip over the wart, without wrapping all the way around the foot.

With each treatment, the warts get a little bit thinner, and after a few weeks, smaller and smaller. In my case, the warts were essentially gone after about eight treatments, over the course of two months. We stopped the treatment, and the warts continued to clear up and did not come back.

Plantar warts are caused by a virus. My doctor said that the immune system was failing to recognize the virus, allowing the warts to spread over the sole of the foot. The treatment helps the immune system recognize the virus, causing it to attack the virus. Even the warts not being treated with the Mediplast plaster will start to go away.

You can find similar instructions at the San Francisco State University Student Health Service web site.

Where to Get the Supplies

The only things you need to buy are the Mediplast plasters and some athletic tape. The Mediplast plaster is a 2-by-3-inch medicated rubber sheet with a sticky side covered by a paper backing. You can find similar treatment materials at your local pharmacy such as Dr. Scholls. They might work too, but I haven't tried them. Athletic tape is a sticky cloth tape that athletes use to wrap their knees, wrists, and other joints.
Plantar wart treatment supplies
I tried Long's and Walgreens, but neither store had Mediplast plasters in stock. Both offered to special-order it. I ordered it at Walgreens, and it arrived the next day. Unfortunately, I had to buy a whole box of 25. Last year you could purchase them from drugstore.com, two pads for $3.29, but they don't offer it any more. Two pads are likely to be enough for the full course of treatment. To see the product label, click here.
 
Athletic tape is available at sporting goods stores and variety stores. I got mine at Walgreens, the same place where I got the Mediplast plasters.

"Duct Tape Only" Treatment

One suggested treatment consists of covering the plantar warts with duct tape, without any medication. According to a study that was done, this treatment worked better than freezing the warts with liquid nitrogen.

Critics say that the study was flawed. Since it was troublesome to keep messy duct tape on their feet, those who saw no benefit from it tended to give up and drop out of the study, which skewed the results. Duct tape is not meant to be used on human skin, and the safety of the chemicals used has not been evaluated. According to my doctor, using Mediplast and athletic tape is more likely to give good results.

Contact Information

For comments or questions, contact me at the Dog Daze Guest Register. If you try the treatment, please let me know whether it worked. If it did work, how long did it take? If it didn't work, what happened? I'll publish the results here.

Tim S. writes: "worked great with the mediplast and nexcare 1 inch absolute waterproof tape. one smaller area was treated with dr scholls clear away medicated disks. i was amazed how quickly the treatment worked, in my case just three weeks. used a pumice stone for skin removal. thanks for the webpage, it saved me a lot of trouble and expense!"

Lisa W. from Missouri writes: Thank you soo much for your helpful website! It worked in 3 weeks, and I've been to the podiatrist many times and had many treatments over the years. One particularly painful plantar wart just lifted out with the changing of the tape. Ahhh, relief. We don't have insurance, so you saved us lots of money.

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