Plantar Wart - Prevention

Prevention

The best but least-used preventative, however, appears to be to simply go barefoot as much as possible, thus developing thick protective skin on the soles of the feet as well as exposing them to friction (through walking) which wears off or kills the virus. Because plantar warts are incubated by shoes and spread by contact with moist walking surfaces, they can be prevented by remaining barefoot after walking in public areas such as showers or communal changing rooms until the feet have had time to dry and wear off the virus, or by wearing flip flops or sandals, not sharing shoes and socks, and avoiding direct contact with warts on other parts of the body or on other people. Humans build immunity with age, so infection is less common among adults than children.

As all warts are contagious, precautions should be taken to avoid spreading them. The British National Health Service recommends that children with warts:

• cover them with an adhesive bandage while swimming,
• wear flip-flops when using communal showers,
• and should not share towels.

Plantar warts are not prevented by inoculation with currently available HPV vaccines, because the warts are caused by different strains of the human papillomavirus. Gardasil protects against strains 6, 11, 16, and 18; and Cervarix protects against 16 and 18; whereas plantar warts are caused by strains 1, 2, 4, and 63.