Warts are rough white or greyish growths of thickened skin. They are caused by a viral infection involving the top layer of skin. Your skin becomes infected by coming into contact with the infected skin of another person. However, once you have a wart you can spread it to other areas of your skin. Warts may also be spread by touching infected towels, bathmats, and linens.
Warts on the bottom of feet may be mistaken for corns or calluses. These warts are more stubborn to treatment compared with warts occurring on other parts of the body.
Warts are harder to treat in immunosuppressed people
Children have a better clearance rate of warts than adults. Spontaneous resolution of a wart occurs in about 50% of children after 1 year.
Treatment
There are many treatment options for getting rid of warts. The key is in being consistent with treatment and minimizing factors that increase risk for reinfection. Picking, biting, chewing, and sucking on warts can spread the virus to other areas of skin. Duct tape occlusion may be helpful in some cases. However, if a wart is present for longer time (years) and is larger and thick, it will be more refractory to treatment. This means it will take multiple treatments over time to try to eradicate.
