Plantar Wart Pictures - 20 Photos & Images

Although common warts can be found on palms or soles, warts on the palms or soles, known as plantar warts (not "planter's warts, by the way -- "plantar" is the term we use to refer to the sole of the foot) are usually thick and painful, and are often covered by a thick callus (a layer of thick and hard skin). The skin ridges that make up your fingerprints and hand prints are obliterated on the wart surface. If the callus and the top of the wart are shaved off with a razor blade you may see bleeding from tiny blood vessels within the wart tissue. (Often we have to shave off part of the wart to be able to do anything else to treat it.)

Plantar wart signs and symptoms include:

• A small, fleshy, rough, grainy growth (lesion) on the bottom of your foot
• Hard, thickened skin (callus) over a well-defined "spot" on the skin, where a wart has grown inward
• Black pinpoints, which are commonly called wart seeds but are actually small, clotted blood vessels
• A lesion that interrupts the normal lines and ridges in the skin of your foot
• Pain or tenderness when walking or standing

See your doctor for the lesion on your foot if:

• The lesion is painful or changes in appearance or color
• You've tried treating the wart, but it persists, multiplies or recurs
• Your discomfort interferes with activities
• You also have diabetes or poor sensation in your feet — in which case, you'll need treatment supervised by a doctor
• You also have a weakened immune system because of immune-suppressing drugs, HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders
• You aren't sure whether the lesion is a wart