Podiatrist (Foot and Ankle Specialist) Questions

“Infected area under foot - wart?”

Our teenage son thought it was a wart and used salicylic acid 40% as his brother had good success with it a couple months ago.

He used a nail clipper to get the dry white part in the middle out but it got irritated and infected instead. He has since used baking powder baths and hydrogen peroxide, bacitracin with no luck. It hursts to walk on it he said. Please let us know what you recommend going forward to clear this.

Thanks,

Male | 14 years old
Complaint duration: 2 weeks
Medications: No
Conditions: No

6 Answers

Many times plantar warts do not respond well to Salicylic acid on plantar aspect of the feet and palms of hands because the skin is thick. If it still has not resolved I would recommend seeing myself or one of my local colleagues.
Tagamet Orally as well as Zinc have been quite helpful in my practice in helping warts resolve.
It does look like a wart. The over the counter acid for warts doesnt know the difference between wart and good skin. It appears that some of the good skin has been damaged. He may have an infection. I would recommend seeing your local podiatrist. I the mean time have him soak in a tablespoon of epsom salt for a bucket of warm water. Continue to apply the bacitracin and a bandaid. Stop using the peroxide.
From the picture, it looks like a wart, but rom your description it has been self- treated which may very well have altered the true look of the lesion. It's not a matter of cleaning it, but rather getting rid of the wart which is caused by a virus. You can start by using over the counter wart medication; however, it would be best to see a podiatrist and make sure that it is a wart before putting medication on it.
Salicylic acid will cause a degradation of the skin giving a whitish appearance. However the area around the opening appears inflamed possibly from trying to cut the skin. Seek medical attention for an antibiotic pill as a topical will be insufficient. Call your family doctor and get an antibiotic.
The white tissue surrounding the area is showing that there is some maceration/excess moisture. If the area is hurting and irritated and looks infected  I would suggest to have the foot evaluated for infection, have a obtained, start antibiotics as needed. Once this has cleared, he can consider having wart removed surgically. Jonathan M. Kletz, DPM Texas Foot WorksDallas, Athens and Gun Barrel City Texas214-340-8885
That is a case I would get looked at by a podiatrist local to you. A LOT of things can look like warts and don't respond well to treatments. Even if it turns out to be a wart after all, working with the podiatrist can speed up resolution of the problem. Best of luck!