What are they?

Plantar warts are lesions which occur on the soles of the feet. They are generally well circumscribed lesions which can occur as singular or multiple lesions. Unlike corns or calluses which tend to look quite similar, warts have no skin lines running through them, are painful to squeeze and often have small black dots in their centre which represent the blood vessels within the wart tissue.

What causes them?

Warts are caused by a virus. There are many different types of wart viruses, some more resistant than others. The wart virus can be picked up in public showers, swimming centres and walking barefoot over infected areas. Warts tend to be very contagious so family members with warts should take care to prevent spread of the infection.