Are Ottawa Plantar Warts contagious? The simple and true answer to this question is “yes”. However, you should relax and examine all the facts before you toss out the socks and vow to never to go barefoot again. Plantar warts are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), which, like all viruses, is contagious. It can spread from person to person or from a warm, moist environment to a human being.

That said, the strain of HPV that causes plantar warts isn’t highly contagious, and it affects everyone differently. Often antibodies will kill the virus before it has the chance to cause the warts. Plantar warts are more common in people with cuts or open sores on their feet and in people with weakened immune systems. The highest occurrence of plantar warts is in children aged 12 to 16 years old, though plantar warts do appear in all age groups.

Although the strain of HPV that causes plantar warts isn’t particularly communicable, you shouldn’t take chances. Simple preventive measures will allow you to further reduce your chance of developing plantar warts. The first is to avoid direct contact with a plantar wart — even your own — because you can spread it to other areas of your foot. As a general practice, keep your feet clean and dry and try to avoid walking barefoot in public places, especially if you have any open cuts or blisters on your feet. Stashing a pair of flip-flops in your gym bag for the shower will considerably lower your chance of developing plantar warts.

How are warts diagnosed?

A Ottawa Podiatrist usually can tell if a skin growth is a wart just by looking at it. Your podiatrist may take a sample of the wart and look at it under a microscope (a skin biopsy). This may be done if it isn’t clear that the growth is a wart. It may also be done if a skin growth is darker than the skin surrounding it, is an irregular patch on the skin, bleeds, or is large and fast-growing.

What are the symptoms?

Ottawa Planters Warts come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. A Planter Wart may be a bump with a rough surface, or it may be flat and smooth. Tiny blood vessels grow into the core of the wart to supply it with blood. In both common and plantar warts, these blood vessels may look like dark dots in the wart’s centre. Warts are usually painless. But a wart that grows in a spot where you put pressure, such as on a finger or on the bottom of the foot, can be painful.