Bleomycin Sulfate
Low-Dose Chemotherapy for the Effective Treatment of Warts
By Johanna Youner, DPM, FACFAS

Not just found on witch's noses, warts can be a nagging problem on the feet too. Are you afflicted and embarrassed by plantar's (bottom-of-the-feet) warts? Do you never take your shoes off or simply pretend the warts will go away if you ignore them? If this sounds familiar, take heart - there are very effective treatments available for painful, resistant, and recurrent plantar (foot) warts.

Warts, or verrucae vulgaris, are a viral infection of the skin. They are extremely contagious and extremely common. Verruca vulgaris is one of the most recognizable skin growths. Common warts can occur at any age, but they are more frequently seen in children and young adults. Warts often occur on the hands and feet, but they can grow anywhere on the skin.

Children generally have less immunity to the wart virus than adults; therefore, they are more commonly infected. A few unfortunate adults never seem to develop significant immunity and they are continuously plagued with warts. Warts can easily spread, so it is best to treat as many as possible.

How We Contract Warts

Warts are one of several soft tissue conditions of the foot that can be quite painful. They are caused by a virus, which generally invades the skin through small or invisible cuts and abrasions. Plantar warts are often contracted by walking barefoot on dirty surfaces or ground where the virus is lurking. The causative virus thrives in warm, moist environments, making infection a common occurrence in communal bathing facilities such as at the gym or pool. If left untreated, warts can grow to an inch or more in circumference and can spread into clusters of several warts; these are often called mosaic warts.

Like any other infectious lesion, plantar warts are spread by touching, scratching, or even by contact with skin shed from another wart. The wart may also bleed, another route for spreading. Because plantar warts develop on the weight-bearing areas of the foot - the ball of the foot, or the heel, for example - they can be the source of sharp, burning pain. Pain occurs when weight is brought to bear directly on the wart, although pressure on the side of a wart can create equally intense pain.

Self treatment of warts is generally not advisable since most over-the-counter remedies contain caustic acids or chemicals that destroy skin cells. Your podiatric physician can, however, prescribe and supervise your use of a safe and appropriate wart removal preparation. More likely, however, removal of warts by a simple surgical procedure, performed under local anesthesia, may be indicated. People with diabetes, circulatory, immunological, or neurological problems should be especially careful with the treatment of their warts and seek professional care at all times.

Treatment of Warts

The single most effective way to get rid of plantar's warts is by extremely careful removal of these lesions by your podiatric surgeon in conjunction with an extremely low dose of chemotherapy (bleomycin sulfate) injected into the wart. The amount of medication is one or two units of medication, a minute dosage that affects only the wart portion. This medication stays only in the wart area and does not affect any other portions of the body. There are no side effects to this medication other than soreness at the injection site.

After your podiatric surgeon gently removes the infected tissue, he or she will inject the tiny bit of medication in there to assure that no abnormal wart cells are left behind to create any new lesions. The total cure rate is 87% after one or two injections1.

Surgical Treatment

Because plantar's warts are on the bottom of the foot, care must be taken in their removal to prevent a scar on the bottom of the foot. A plantar scar is a severely painful and difficult condition to treat. The proper treatment of your wart first involves the area being anesthetized via injection. In our office we dispense a very strong topical anesthesia that the patient can apply to their own foot (at home) two hours before surgery so the injection into the foot is not painful. After the area has been numbed, the wart is gently removed, making sure that only the wart is removed, and the good tissue is not invaded in any way.

If an overly aggressive removal is performed, problems can arise. Once the wart is removed completely, a tiny injection of bleomycin sulfate is performed directly into the area. The patient's foot is then wrapped with an antibiotic cream and sterile dressing. The patient is given pain medication if needed, and instructed to elevate the foot and rest for a few days. The more rest a foot gets, the faster any foot surgery will heal.

Many instances of warts worsening have to do with stress. Stress affects immune systems, and warts are immune-system mediated. Keeping your immune system strong with adequate rest and good nutrition, including the addition of B-vitamins and Vitamin C, is extremely helpful. If you have an auto-immune condition, treating your physical issues is important to your overall health. Natural immuno-boosters also include finding time to balance work and play, and spending time doing what makes you happy, be it reading, exercising, playing sports, playing with your kids, or whatever makes you specifically happy.

Nature supplied us with warts. These days, there are easy and effective treatments to remove these problematic viruses. With the use of bleomycin sulfate treatment, what used to take six months is gone in less than a month, and recurrence of the wart is also minimized. No other treatment is this effective, and it is also covered by most insurance plans

If you have been hiding this problem, please visit your podiatrist to determine a good treatment plan. For more information visit www.healthyfeetny.com. IMAGE