If you find rough, grainy bumps on your child’s foot – or even your own foot – we can guess the first thought that might run through your mind: “Great. Here we go with this ordeal!”
Plantar warts are a stubborn, unsightly, and often painful condition. Traditional forms of treatment are unappealing as well. These include cutting, freezing, and burning with acid or other chemical treatments. We don’t blame anyone who second-guesses putting their child or themselves through such a thing.
But don’t worry! We have a breakthrough form of plantar wart treatment that puts those others to shame. It’s called Swift Treatment, and it’s a safe, more comfortable option for patients of any age.
Do not wait on getting the plantar wart treatment you and your loved ones deserve. Contact us today to schedule an appointment!
“Do I Even Have Plantar Warts?”
Of course, you may not be eager to read about plantar wart treatment if you’re not certain that’s what you have in the first place! Here are a few easy questions about symptoms to ask yourself:
- Do the growths appear on the underside of your foot (usually around the base of the toes, forefoot, and/or heel)?
- Do you see small, black “specks” within some or all growths? (These are small, clotted blood vessels.)
- Has the skin become hard or thickened (callused) over a solidly defined place?
- Do the growths interrupt the natural lines in the skin of your foot?
- Does it hurt when you gently squeeze the sides of a growth?
If you answered “yes” to more than one of these questions, there is a likely chance you have plantar warts and can benefit from Swift Treatment. But even if you answered “no” most often, we still highly recommend contacting us. Anything abnormal on your skin is always worth investigating.
What Makes Swift Treatment Different From Other Treatments?
To understand what makes Swift so revolutionary compared to other treatments, it helps to understand what makes plantar warts so tough to treat in the first place.
Plantar warts are caused by a viral infection. Fortunately, we have an immune system that typically seeks out and destroys such invaders on sight. Unfortunately, the virus that causes plantar warts – certain strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) – remains in the upper layers of the skin. This is not an area that our immune system actively “patrols,” so the virus is mostly left alone. It’s living on the foot rent-free!
To deal with this situation, most traditional forms of plantar wart treatment attack the problem from the outside. Peeling medications (such as salicylic acid), freezing with liquid nitrogen, or surgically cutting into the skin all have similar modes of operation. They eliminate a wart by destroying and removing the skin it resides in.
Swift Treatment does not operate this way. It changes the game by not attacking a wart externally, but by stimulating the body to attack it internally.
How Swift Treatment Works
Remember how we said the immune system tends to overlook HPV when it resides in the upper layers of the skin? Swift Treatment changes that in a creative way.
The Swift device that we have in our office sends a low level of microwave energy into the wart. This generates heat and friction within the cells located there. They respond by sending out signals that alert the immune system to the presence of an HPV infection. Once the immune system is activated, it will seek out all areas where HPV infection is present. Once there, it will begin attacking the wart. This means that when patients have several warts, not every lesion needs to be treated. Usually, Swift will trigger a response that will put an end to all the warts—even those not yet identified!
Swift provides impressive results as well. Studies have shown Swift to be 77-85% effective in treating plantar warts. This included cases where the warts had failed to respond to other treatments. Best of all, the recurrence rate after treatment was less than 1%! Traditional methods have as much as a 30% chance of warts returning.
What to Expect From Swift Treatment
We really mean it when we say that Swift is a more comfortable form of plantar wart treatment. You might still feel something when the microwave energy is applied to the area of the wart. It’s often described as a sting that builds over two seconds, then quickly vanishes. It is much less painful than other methods of treatment and rarely requires any numbing. We highly recommend it for children.
Best of all, while cells are aggravated enough to send out signals to the immune system, Swift Treatment does not cause any damage to the skin. There is no burn, blister, or wound at all! Typically, more than one session will be required to clear up a case of plantar warts. Most patients require three sessions, spaced about a month apart. As a group, children typically need fewer treatments while seniors need more. Each session lasts only about 5-10 minutes. Afterward, you are free to continue with your day! There is no need to worry about making preparations before a session or any limitations after.
But What About Doing… Nothing?
There is one other option that remains: letting plantar warts run their course.
In some cases, warts will end up dying off on their own. There are a few downsides to this, however:
- It can take a number of months or even years for this to happen.
- In the meantime, warts can continue to spread along your feet, and could potentially jump to other spots or people.
- If a wart is in a spot that’s causing you pain or irritation, you’ll want to take care of it now.
We definitely recommend treating warts instead of trying to wait them out. Fortunately, with Swift Therapy, effective treatment is easier and more comfortable than ever!
Do Something!
Whether you have just discovered a case of plantar warts, or have been trying to take care of one for a while, it’s never too soon to start effective, professional treatment. Contact our office in The Woodlands or call us at (281) 292-7000 to schedule an appointment with us. We’ll be happy to see you!