How to Kill a Foot Wart on My Child's Foot
According to Dr. Alan Greene, foot warts (also known as plantar warts) are more common in children than in adults because children's immune systems are less mature. Dr. Greene says kids also frequent areas such as wet pool decks and locker rooms, where they can easily become infected with foot warts. Plantar warts are harmless, but if they are painful or start to spread, they may need treatment. Fortunately, foot warts on children can be killed through various methods.
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Instructions
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Wait for three to six months to see if the foot warts disappear on their own. Dr. Greene says that 25 percent of plantar warts on children will be gone in six months without any treatment, and 65 percent will disappear in two years. However, you may not want to wait quite that long to kill the foot warts if they are painful or bothering your child.
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Use an over-the-counter plantar wart treatment. You can purchase medicated pads that can be placed on your child's foot to cover and kill his warts. Dr. Greene says you may want to talk to your child's doctor to confirm that he has a foot wart before you start at-home treatment.
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Call your child's doctor for an appointment if the home treatment doesn't eliminate the foot warts. Some plantar warts will not respond to over-the-counter treatments. The doctor can use something stronger to eradicate a stubborn problem.
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Discuss potential treatments with the doctor. The Mayo Clinic says that most physicians use the least painful method when treating a child for foot warts. This will likely be a combination of cantharidin, a liquid extracted from blister beetles, and salicylic acid. This will not cause pain, although your child may have some discomfort as a blister develops after the treatment.
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Return to the doctor in a week so she can clip the dead skin off your child's foot. The Mayo Clinic says the child's foot wart should be killed along with the surrounding skin. The entire area can be removed painlessly during this treatment. This will cure the plantar wart.
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Tips & Warnings
Dr. Greene says that many children's foot warts can be cured by using mind over matter. If you would like to try a natural treatment, he recommends putting a dot of paint on the foot wart, then pressing it on a piece of paper to transfer some of the pain. Destroy the paper and tell the child the wart will fall off within two weeks. Giving this sort of suggestion often leads to curing the wart with no further treatment. Dr. Greene says "wart charming" methods like this one are discussed in the "Color Textbook of Pediatric Dermatology."
Don't let your child pick at or scratch his foot warts. This can spread them to other parts of the foot and even to other places on the child's body, which can complicate the treatment of the warts.
