If you have plantar warts, you should look for a plantar wart remover that works quickly and efficiently. Since plantar warts grow on the bottom of the foot, they can make walking or putting any pressure at all on the foot painful. The type of plantar wart remover required depends on how stubborn the warts are. While some warts clear up without any treatment, others may require attention from a doctor.
Boosting the body's immune system often acts as an effective plantar wart remover and may be all the treatment you need. Apply a few drops of tea tree oil to the wart and then cover with a cut clove of garlic. Secure the garlic to the foot with a piece of gauze or tape. Since the garlic will make walking difficult, use this treatment only at bedtime or when you don't plan on walking for several hours. The tea tree and garlic increase your body's immune function and attack the virus the causes plantar warts.
Several less unusual home remedies for plantar warts exist and may be more to your liking. You can try covering the wart with a strip of duct tape. Leave the tape on for about a week and then soak the foot and scrub at the wart with a file or pumice stone. It can take up to two months for the wart to vanish. The adhesive on the duct tape can irritate your skin, directing your immune response to the area with the wart. It is a cheap and simple way to attempt to remove the warts.
You can also purchase a plantar wart remover over the counter. Over-the-counter products are usually made of a 40-percent solution of salicyclic acid, which eats away at the infected area over a course of several weeks. Other over-the-counter plantar wart remover products freeze the wart to speed removal. If you are considering cryotherapy, or freezing of the wart, it may be best to get it done at the doctor's office, as over-the-counter products do not freeze the wart deeply enough.
If your plantar warts persist despite over-the-counter or home remedy products, you should see a doctor for a more strenuous treatment. He may spray your wart with liquid nitrogen, which freezes the wart and eventually causes it to fall off. Other options include immunotherapy, which can either be an injection to boost your immune response or a topical cream. If no other method of treatment works, you may need an injection of bleomycin, an antiviral medication.