(keeping an eye on this thread for anwers http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=510634&highlight=planters+wart)

I've been dealing with this since I was a child, likely a teenager. I'm 34 now and I suppose it's time to do something about it.

When I was younger I had what I believed then to be a planters wart dead center on the ball (of all places, sheesh!) of my right foot. It was causing me to walk funny, it was so painful.

It was there for maybe a couple years before I did anything with it. One day I poked and prodded at it and pulled out this small, odd looking soft dark mass. There was no bleeding at all, and I could immediately walk with no pain, but it left a sort of pit on the bottom of my foot.

From that point on however, the skin that (grows?) in that pit becomes hard and level with the surrounding skin and it becomes painful again. About once ever week to two weeks (I've never kept track), if I scratch at it persistantly enough, a small thick circular bit of skin will pop out, once again leaving a pit. The bit of skin has a small point to it on it's top side. (so basically it's hard and pointy, painful)

The first thing I ever tried on it was some kind of small mediacted pad, I think for caluses which seemed to work briefly at keeping the skin in the pit soft until I stopped using it (or ran out).
I've since tried hand lotion and a bandaid which works until I stop. I've since used polysporin and a bandiad or just medicated (polysporin) bandaids all in an atrempt to soften the skin until the problem grows out.

The only calais in the area os the skin immediately adjascent to this pit.

Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks

It's not a wart, it is called a porokeratosis. They are very hard to get rid of. We have cut them out, lasered them, used acids, pads, whatever. Varying degrees of success. Dr Gary Dockery out of Seattle is a proponent of using 3-4 weekly injections directly under the lesion with the diluted denatured alcohol solution (4%) and reports 80% success rate that they resolve. I'm just starting this now on a couple patients so don't know if it works or not. It's the same solution that is used to destroy neuromas in the foot. Otherwise removing the center every couple weeks works too if it keeps it from hurting.

And the denatured alcohol does what?

Whatever you called it, 'it' is no longer there. All that remains is the pit which developes the bit of dried skin which irritates.

I forgot to mention. I used some kind of pad for a while and it seemed to be gone, even after not wearing the pad for what I thought was a engthy period of time.

The skin was soft and no evidence that I could tell that there was ever anything wrong there.

Then it just started drying out again.