Spine on the foot - causes and treatment

The article was prepared by a specialist for informational purposes only. We urge you not to self-medicate. When the first symptoms appear, consult a doctor.

A thorn is popularly called a wart that appears on the sole of the foot and is the most unpleasant and painful manifestation of a viral disease - papilloma. A thorn on the leg causes pain when walking; patients often compare this pain to a splinter or a thorn prick. The difference between a thorn and warts on various parts of the body is the unpleasant sensations and discomfort that become constant companions when walking.

What is a thorn

Plantar wart, gossa or in Latin Verruca plantaris is the name experienced doctors give to a neoplasm that resembles a callus in appearance, but causes painful tingling sensations when walking. Spine is considered a type of wart with a radicular attachment method in the deep layers of the skin. A small growth can be cured using traditional methods, and only deep freezing methods, laser removal and electrocoagulation can help completely remove the spine on the foot.

The gum, which has grown deep into the skin, touches and injures the nerve endings and can cause cracks on the surface of the foot and inflammation. Skin growths are localized mainly on the skin of the feet, heels, toes or hands, but sometimes delicate areas of the body are also susceptible to infection with the virus: face, neck, ankles. Like any other wart, a wart on the foot is a benign tumor, but if left untreated it can develop into a malignant tumor.

Features of education

As a rule, the diameter of a plantar wart varies between 1-2 centimeters, but sometimes the size of the neoplasm can reach 4-5 cm. In the photo, the spine on the foot looks like a round or oval dry callus, with clear boundaries. The formation is very dense and painful to the touch. Under a microscope, black-brown dots may be visible in the center of the spine. If you carefully examine the growth after steaming your legs, you will notice threads on the surface of the spines that have grown in all layers of the skin.

First signs of appearance

At the beginning of development, the spine on the foot looks like a dry callus with a rough crust. However, if it is not treated correctly, the tumor increases in size, changes color, becomes lumpy, and a small hole forms in the middle through which the rod is clearly visible. When pressing on the foot, a sharp pain occurs, as if needles or thorns are piercing the leg. If the tumor is not removed immediately, new growths may appear nearby over time.

Possible complications

The prognosis for complete recovery and removal of spines without the risk of relapse of the disease is positive, but provided that complex therapy is carried out.

Lack of adequate treatment, or complete ignorance of a dermatological disease, can lead to the following complications:

• severe drying of the skin surface in the area where the benign tumor is located, peeling, necrosis and peeling of the surface layer of the epidermis;
• cracking of dry epithelial tissues, secretion of ichor and the risk of bacterial infection of the feet;
• the growth of plantar warts over the entire surface of the foot;
• loss of the ability to move independently due to the fact that benign neoplasms have spread throughout the sole;
• degeneration of the spine into a cancerous tumor with metastasis to bone tissue, which can lead to amputation of the fingers or foot, as well as a long course of chemotherapy.

A thorn on the leg is a foreign tumor that is highly contagious. Contact of healthy areas of skin with the surface of a plantar wart can lead to secondary infection with HPV. It is possible to get rid of an epithelial tumor, but for this it is necessary to start treatment as early as possible.

It is recommended to use drugs to strengthen the immune system, remove the wart with topical medications, use cryodestruction, laser coagulation, or surgical excision of the spine.

Article design: Mila Friedan

How does infection occur?

Plantar wart is a viral disease that can be contracted through open wounds on the sole, through contact with a sick person, or through shared objects. Bacteria feel especially comfortable in a humid environment, so people with excessive sweating of the feet are prone to the appearance of horns. Very often, infection occurs after visiting swimming pools, showers, and gyms. To prevent the appearance of plantar warts, doctors recommend always having personal hygiene products and swimming shoes with you.

Prevention measures

A well-known axiom says that any disease is easier to prevent than to cure. You can prevent the appearance of spines and help the body heal by adjusting your lifestyle in accordance with the following recommendations:

• Follow the rules of hygiene, especially if you are surrounded by a person with growths;
• In public places it is recommended to use your own stationery;
• In swimming pools, baths, saunas, fitness centers, wear your own shoes and use your own towel;
• Wear high-quality leather shoes, keep them clean and dry;
• Avoid sweating feet, do not allow feet to remain in wet shoes for a long time;
• Any skin lesions should be immediately treated with bactericidal agents;
• Regularly take measures to strengthen the immune system: jogging or other available sports, dousing or taking a contrast shower;
• Adjust your diet by getting rid of fast food, refined and difficult to digest foods. The daily menu should contain an adequate amount of fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Sea fish, nuts, bee products are useful (in the absence of allergies);
• If possible, cure concomitant diseases, destroy foci of infections (for example, carious teeth);
• Control your state of mind, try to maintain a harmonious state in order to exclude psychosomatic causes of the disease. Meditation and yoga can help with this.

Nowadays, getting infected with warts is not a death sentence. To avoid complications of the spine, it is recommended to remove these growths at an early stage. Medicine offers a wide range of remedies of varying degrees, effectiveness and cost levels.

Causes of plantar warts

The spine on the foot is caused by the human papilloma virus, which is present even in a healthy body. However, when certain conditions are created, bacteria begin to actively multiply, causing skin lesions. The risk is especially high in people with reduced immunity, pregnant women and children. A bunion on the foot appears as a result of regular friction of the foot inside tight shoes, due to congenital or acquired deviations in the structure of the skeleton, for example, from clubfoot. Factors that provoke the development of the virus in the body also include:

• excessive sweating of the palms, interdigital spaces, and feet;
• constant stress, overexertion, lack of sleep;
• injuries, wounds or burns to the skin of the legs or arms;
• exacerbation of chronic diseases;
• infectious viral diseases - influenza, ARVI, sore throat;
• wearing uncomfortable or tight shoes;
• flat feet;
• avitaminosis;
• excess weight.

How to get rid of a spine

If a suspicious formation appears on the soles of your feet, you should not delay visiting a doctor. The sooner the correct diagnosis is made and treatment is started, the lower the risk of wart processes growing deep into the soft tissues. There are several methods for treating papilloma: physical impact on the wart, surgery, removal of growths with chemicals, complex therapy to increase immunity. Minimally invasive methods are especially popular.

Physical effect on the wart

Removing papillomas with a scalpel is used extremely rarely today, since this method does not provide a 100% guarantee of getting rid of the problem. The remaining processes in the skin layers can provoke relapse and even greater growth of tumors. This treatment method is acceptable if all other options are unavailable. The operation is performed under local anesthesia, followed by a long rehabilitation period.

Chemical methods

This option is considered one of the best for conservative treatment of spine. Aggressive substances included in some drugs, when they come into contact with affected areas of the skin, cause cell necrosis, after which the keratinized particles are easily removed mechanically. It is worth noting that this option is painful and can cause the appearance of scars on the body. There are several types of drugs with chemical composition:

• With a necrotizing effect - due to very aggressive components they provoke mummification of the skin surface. Such medications are strictly contraindicated during pregnancy and for treating a child. These are the drugs Solkovagin, Solcoderm.
• Keratolytics are products that gently exfoliate dead skin cells and help soften rough skin. In combination with other medications, they enhance their effect, promoting deep penetration of the active ingredients. Keratolic preparations include: Arievich ointment, Collomak, urea-based patches.
• With a cryogenic effect - they act similar to the “cryodestruction” procedure, freezing and stopping the growth of papilloma. Products: Cryopharma, MaxiVart, Wartner.

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Immunotherapy

For a speedy recovery, along with local agents, doctors recommend using drugs that stimulate the immune system. For this purpose, immunostimulants are prescribed: Interferon, Kipferon, Imudon, Amiksin. At home, immunotherapy consists of normalizing nutrition. The menu should include more fresh fruits, vegetables, and juices. Additionally, you can engage in light sports - swimming, running, cycling.

How to remove a thorn on your foot at home

It can be problematic to cure a spine with simple means. The whole difficulty is to remove the roots of the benign neoplasm, otherwise the problem will arise again in the future. If a spike on the foot bothers you, special medications will help remove it:

• Salicylic ointment is a product for external use. Has antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects. The ointment should be applied to pre-steamed and dried skin in a thin layer. To enhance the effect, an occlusive dressing can be applied on top. The procedure must be carried out once a day until the papilloma completely disappears. If desired, salicylic ointment can be replaced with special patches (Mozolny, Compid, Salipod) or the drug Collomak.
• Viferon ointment is a medicine that has antiviral and immunomodulatory effects. The ointment is applied in a thin layer 3-4 times a day to the affected areas. The duration of treatment is 4-7 days. Contraindications include: individual intolerance to the components and children under one year of age.
• Lapis pencil is a silver-containing drug with an antiseptic effect. The surface of the pencil is moistened with water, after which the product is applied to damaged skin, while avoiding touching the healthy epidermis. Lapis pencil should not be used during pregnancy, for treating children, or if papilloma appears on the neck or face.
• Supercleaner is a liquid developed on the basis of a mixture of strong alkalis. Before use, healthy skin around the papilloma must be lubricated with a rich cream, after which one drop of the solution is applied strictly in the center of the growth. Treatment is carried out until the plantar wart is completely burned out. It is worth noting that the procedure is very painful, causing itching and burning.
• Roaccutane gel is a topical agent based on isotretinoin. Belongs to the group of keratolytic drugs, available in the form of tablets. Capsules are taken orally with meals at a dose of 0.5-1 mg/kg for up to four months. The drug is contraindicated during pregnancy. You can take the tablets with caution if you have diabetes, obesity, or renal and hepatic failure.
• Asgiape is a keratolytic ointment that helps treat plantar warts in an advanced stage of development. When applied to the skin, the active components of the product destroy the neuroconnection between dead cells. The product is produced on the basis of urea, salicylic, citric, and lactic acid. Sometimes it can provoke adverse reactions in the form of burning, itching and redness of the skin at the site of application.
• Feresol is a liquid with a mummifying effect. The method of using Feresol is the same as for treatment with Supercleaner. The drug is contraindicated in the presence of moles near the papilloma, in case of hypersensitivity and in children under 7 years of age.

Drug therapy

To remove warts, you can purchase a product at the pharmacy. Eg:

• Super clean.
• Feresol.
• Kolomak.
• Verrucacid.

The drugs in question contain acid, alkali or poison. Products containing phenol are used with extreme caution. Since this component can cause cellular necrosis. Pharmaceutical celandine, like other medications, is used in very small quantities; contact of the drugs with the organs of vision and mucous membranes is prohibited. Before using the drugs, careful study of the attached manual is required.

Important! Do not forget that caustic alkalis and acids are painful for the skin, and after chemical treatment a scar may remain, so it is better to treat warts on the face using other methods.

An ointment for warts based on salicylic acid has proven its effectiveness. Salicylic ointment is often recommended by specialists to eliminate warts. Another effective remedy is Viferon. The drug is used to combat all benign skin growths. There are other treatments for warts:

• The Salipod patch is a painless, highly effective, inexpensive method. The adhesive layer contains active components.
• Vinegar and flour - vinegar is dripped onto the flour (to obtain a dough), the wart is covered with tape (along the contour), leaving a hole for the new growth, which is covered with the resulting dough and sealed over it with adhesive tape.
• Cryopharma is a drug that deals with spine in one application.
• Removal with potassium permanganate - the steamed spine is picked out and cauterized with manganese.

How to remove a spine on a foot

If the plantar wart has grown deep into the skin, there is a chance that ordinary local creams, solutions and ointments will not help. In such situations, doctors recommend resorting to minimally invasive methods of wart removal: electrocoagulation, laser removal using liquid nitrogen freezing - cryodestruction. These methods help not only remove the bunion on the foot, but also prevent its reappearance in the future.

Cryodestruction

Burning out the wart and its rhizomes using liquid nitrogen. Under the influence of cold, the body of the papilloma is destroyed, the area of ​​inflammation is reduced and a greater number of viruses and bacteria are killed. A small bubble remains at the site of the procedure, which goes away on its own in one and a half to two weeks. The procedure takes place without anesthesia and does not cause pain. The disadvantages of surgery include a long recovery period and the possibility of injury to the skin next to the wart. You cannot undergo cryodestruction for cancer.

Electrocoagulation

This method shows good results only in the initial stages of the appearance of spines, when the filamentous roots have not yet affected most of the foot. Removal of papilloma occurs when the skin is exposed to high-frequency current pulses, due to which the spine on the foot and its rhizome are burned out. The disadvantages of such an operation are pain: after the procedure, a bleeding wound remains on the body. Sometimes scarring may appear after electrocution.

Pulsed laser treatment

One of the most popular and sought after methods for treating plantar warts. Removal occurs under the influence of a laser beam, which simultaneously cauterizes the papilloma and disinfects the surface of the skin at the site of the operation. The laser treatment method does not cause any complications; after the procedure, patients are quickly rehabilitated, and the possibility of re-growth of spines on the foot is completely eliminated. The only drawback of this method is the high cost of the operation.

be careful

The presence of papillomas, warts, condylomas, moles and spines on the body is the first sign of malignant melanoma!

We hasten to warn you that most medications “treat” warts, papillomas, moles, etc. - this is a complete deception of marketers who make hundreds of percentage points on drugs whose effectiveness is zero. They do not cure the disease, but only mask the symptoms.

The pharmacy mafia makes huge money by deceiving sick people.

But what to do? How to treat if there is deception everywhere? Doctor of Medical Sciences Anatoly Makhson conducted his own investigation and found a way out of this situation. In this article, the Doctor also told how to 100% protect yourself from melanoma, for only 149 rubles! Read the article in the official source via the link.

Burning out the spine

The burning technique is called electrocoagulation. Electrocoagulation helps by applying high-frequency current. This technique is performed only on superficial warts. This is no less effective method than, for example, laser evaporation. Most patients still often choose burning with liquid nitrogen.

Spine on the leg - treatment with folk remedies

Together with comprehensive drug treatment at home, plantar warts can be removed using traditional medicine. There are several effective recipes for eliminating spines on the feet, palms and toes:

1. The spike on the heel will go away if you regularly apply a nettle compress to the sore spot. To prepare it, finely chop the nettle leaves, wrap them in a clean burdock leaf, and secure with a band-aid. Put a sock on your foot and leave the compress on overnight. The duration of such therapy is 3-4 sessions. Using the same principle, you can make compresses from Kalanchoe, potatoes and garlic.
2. Vinegar lotions help a lot. To prepare them, use fresh garlic and 9% table vinegar. Mix the ingredients until mushy and apply, after protecting healthy skin with a band-aid. The mixture is kept for about one and a half to two hours, after which it is washed off with warm water. To enhance the effect after lotions, it is recommended to treat the surface of the foot with salicylic ointment.
3. An equally effective remedy for human papillomas is iodine. It dries the skin well, disinfects, and helps relieve inflammation. To cure a thorn on the foot with iodine, you need to regularly lubricate the affected areas of the body.
4. A folk remedy like Superclean can be prepared at home. To do this, celandine leaves are collected, ground or finely chopped, and then filled with 90% medical alcohol. The mixture is infused in a dark, cool place for 1.5-2 weeks, after which it is filtered. The solution should be applied pointwise, by sealing the skin around the spine with a band-aid or lubricating it with a rich cream. The duration of treatment with celandine juice depends on the growth of tumors, but should not exceed 30 days.
5. Painful growths can be cauterized using brine from canned cucumbers or tomatoes. To do this, take thick woolen socks, soak them in brine and put them on. Wrap your feet with cling film or a bag on top. To create a greenhouse effect, secure the compress with a clean, dry pair of socks. Apply a compress in the evening and wash your feet with cool water in the morning. The procedures must be carried out until all the tubercles have resolved.