One of the most common questions I’m asked about skin conditions on the foot is, “Is this a wart?”.

Here’s a quick way to tell if you have a wart.

The lesion will appear as a callus but will have interruption of the skin tension lines – your fingerprints. Or, in this case, toe prints!  Look close and see if there are no skin lines running through the lesion. You will also possibly see small black dots. These dots are areas of blood from microscopic blood vessels in the warts. They’re not seeds or viral particles as some people say!!  Finally, warts are painful. If you squeeze the lesion from the sides it will typically be very painful. More so than a callus.

Treating warts can be as simple as destructing with an acid or more severe requiring surgical excision.  We offer both treatment options in our offices. More severe cases may require surgical excision in an outpatient surgical setting which we can determine after an office visit.