by Debbie
(Plantation, FL, Broward)
I went to the podiatrist with what I thought were plantar warts. I have 6-8 wart-like bumps on the right foot, (located where arch meets heel, and where arch meets ball of foot)and 2 near my small toe on the left foot. They grow inward and have become painful when walking barefoot. The doctor said he did not think they were plantar warts because they do not have a black dot in the center (???) He seemed a little concerned about circulation but said mine seemed fine. He gave me samples of Umecta PD (Rx cream) and said to give that a try. I have been using it 2x/day for 2 weeks but really haven't noticed much of a difference. I have spent hours searching online and have not been able to find anything that appears similar. Do you have any ideas of what this could possibly be, if not plantar warts? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
Hi Debbie,
The thing that mimics warts the most are called porokeratosis which is nothing more than plugged sweat glands. The feet have over 250,000 sweat glands so it is not uncommon for them the become clogged. They then become hard and to the untrained eye are usually mistaken for warts.
If they do not hurt, you can leave them alone, but frequently they will hurt especially ones that are located over bony prominences.
Treatment is usually to have them curetted (carved out). In some cases this solves the problem, in others it helps the problem but the lesions do come back.
I am not so sure what help the urea cream that you are using will do.
By the way, not all warts have to have the "black dot" that your doctor mentioned.
If your doctor is a podiatrist, ask he or she to curette them out, if your doctor is not a podiatrist, I would recommend you see one.
Marc Mitnick DPM
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