Summertime Increases the Risk of Plantar Warts, Especially for Children

Sunday, August 08, 2010 by: Todd Mumford
Tags: plantar warts, children, health news

(NewsTarget) Summer time is the most likely season of the year to contract a plantar wart and children are especially vulnerable when they spend time at the local swimming pool or perhaps at summer camp. The virus that causes these warts is HPV or human papillomavirus. It is extremely infectious and can lurk on damp surfaces, clothing, towels and skin.

Direct contact with any HPVs can infect your child`s skin through a scratch or wound. The virus then grows inwards. There is thickening and damage to the skin followed by the appearance of plantar warts. Fortunately these warts are non-cancerous growths, which form round areas within the skin, similar to the warts that can occur on hands.

Plantar warts can be difficult to spot at first when they are small and often painless but that is the easiest time to treat them.

These warts usually appear as areas of rough skin with a dry crusty surface and tiny black dots deep inside. As the plantar warts grow, they can become very painful, particularly as pressure is applied to them when walking. Some people believe that those tiny black dots are roots or seeds, but they are just dried up capillary blood vessels.

If you are not sure whether your child has a plantar wart (as they can sometimes be confused with a callous), just squeeze the lesion between your fingers as if pinching. If this action is painful, you know you are faced with a planter wart that needs to be treated. It can be treated safely and successfully using a natural product such as one formulated with essential oils.

There is no way to prevent plantar warts apart from taking care not to walk barefoot in suspect places. Children can be more susceptible because they have a less established immune system than many adults. To avoid exposure to HPV would mean total isolation. Although plantar warts are considered non cancerous growths, in very rare instances and if left for years and years, they could become cancerous.

Apart from the more obvious safeguards of protecting your feet against plantar warts by not sharing towels or washcloths (even with members of your own family), you should encourage your children to wear flip flops in locker rooms, public showers and around swimming pools.

Plantar warts have several different names (or spellings) such as planter warts, plantars warts and verrucas but whatever the name, these flat surfaced warts can be very tender, painful and stubborn. The name Plantar is given to these warts because they appear on the sole (or plantar surface) of your foot.

Sources:

http://www.footphysicians.com/footankleinfo/...

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/wartsandchild...

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/plantar-war...

About the author

Todd Mumford is staff writer for Amoils.com - a provider of 100% natural treatments for a variety of conditions - and writes on a wide range of alternative and natural health topics.