I have had a plantar wart for almost 6 years now. I started with the family doctor and he used salicylic acid and he was digging at it (at least 3 months). Next, I saw a podiatrist who cut on it and treated with stronger salicylic acid every 2 weeks. Said it was gone but came back within a few months. Decided to try a dermatologist and he chose to freeze the thing 4 times over a 3-4 month period. It did go away and he said he cured me! He gave me lotion to apply if it started to come back. Well it did and before I knew it, it was out of control again. I switched family doctors because we moved and he sent me to another podiatrist who used a laser on the wart and then had to laser it again because it came back immediately. It was very deep he said and he had trouble getting it all. The second time it did go away but only for maybe a month and when it came back it is now 3 times bigger. It is about the size of a quarter now on the ball of my foot and very painful! I have spent over $2500 out of pocket in co-pays and medicine now for the plantar wart!! For the past 6-8 weeks I have been scraping the thing off and applying vinegar to a small piece of cotton and putting it on the wart and covering with duct tape. It is very painful when I scrape too much but it is making progress. My sister dug for about an hour last week and it was painful but looking better. I am now soaking it and scraping it and applying tea tree oil to it. I might be able to keep it under control and less painful with this maintenance is what I am thinking at this point. It is cheaper than going to doctor at $30 an appointment. They can't seem to get the job done for me permanently!

After reading all the disappointing stories about plantar warts, I am bummed at how nothing is helping any of you with this problem. My 11-year-old has one on her heal, maybe the size of a quarter. Just started with the Compound W and taping it up at with duct tape. Hoping it works for her. I am going to bring her soon to a dermatologist to check it out, treat it and let's hope for the best. Awfully big pain in the you-know-what, never mind her poor foot. FRUSTRATING!!!!

My son had large clusters of warts on the bottom of one foot. Salicylic acid had no effect. Duct tape wouldn't stick to his sweaty little foot. We went to a podiatrist and he said the best thing was surgical excision. It took weeks for the quarter sized wounds on the bottom of his foot to heal. Later, a dermatologist said they have had success with injecting the warts with yeast to make the body attack the wart and get rid of it. Wish I had known. The scarring from the surgery causes constant discomfort to my son.

Mine started with a few warts clustered on the bottom of my heel. My doctor used liquid nitrogen on them and salicylic acid salve. My wife got some of them out with tweezers. Finally doc cut out a patch of skin the size of a quarter and cauterized it. That took two or three months to heal. Soon warts reappeared and formed a big one the size of the quarter. I tried duct tape for six months and had cauterization done again. As soon as it healed and I stopped covering it, warts began appearing.

I have been treating my 8 year-old for the last two months with medicated discs from a wart removal system, containing 40% salicylic acid. She didn't like rubbing the pumice stone to get rid of skin, but would let the local doctor cut layers off. We tried freezing and burning and they didn't work. Once pads are on then we place air tight tape over the warts to keep air and light out, this seems to have worked, as we can see a tiny hole where the root was. I'm taking her to the doctor again soon, and I hope it's good news.

Plantar warts: I had a large one, which was quite painful. I used the medicated pads faithfully for weeks it finally came out. It was like a cork underneath. The relief was pretty immediate although my foot was sensitive. From then on, I stopped wearing heels and hard-soled shoes and nearly quit wearing non-cotton socks. I've never had another plantar warts and it's been 20 years. Now treating one for my 10-year-old.

I never had a wart in my life, I moved to a colder climate and within the first year I got my first wart. I had to have my warts "cut out" by a podiatrist. It was been 6 years now and the warts will not go away. I am always in pain from my warts, either the pain of having them or the pain of having them removed. I am now seeing a dermatologist who is trying to treat the virus, it has been 8 months, no luck and 2 more have just appeared. I don't know what to try next.

I've had a large plantar wart on the outer ball of my foot (towards the pinky toe side) for over a year. I have been treating it myself by shaving it with a special shallow shaver made especially for that purpose, but it is still there and may, in fact, be getting bigger. It has become very painful lately, even when I'm reclining, so I'm afraid it may now be infected. I'm going to try the commercial remedies next, as well as (finally) think about seeing a podiatrist. I will add that this article (and its live embedded links) is the most complete and helpful article I've yet found.