Answered by Anthony Mancini M.D.
Dr. Mancini received his undergraduate and medical educations at the University of Arizona, and trained in pediatrics, pediatric dermatology, and dermatology at Stanford University. He is currently Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Dermatology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine and Head of the Division of Dermatology at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Mancini has served as a member of the AAP Executive Committee, Section of Dermatology since 2001. He is a member of the AAP Super CME Planning Group and the AAP Pedia Link Pediatric Dermatology Project Team, and is Secretary-Treasurer of the Society for Pediatric Dermatology. His teaching accomplishments include the Faculty Excellence in Education Award from the Department of Pediatrics at Northwestern, which he has received for the last eight years. Dr. Mancini is a peer reviewer and/or sits on the editorial board for several academic journals, and has published over 75 peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, and book chapters. He is co-author of Hurwitz Clinical Pediatric Dermatology, 3rd edition, and is an associate editor for the comprehensive dermatology textbook Dermatology. His special interests include infectious skin diseases and exanthems of childhood, vascular malformations and hemangiomas, and neonatal skin maturation and skin disorders.
Dr. Mancini is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Dermatology. He and his wife, Nicola, a neonatal intensive care nurse, have three children (Mallory, Christopher, and Mackenzie) and reside in Evanston, Illinois.
Question
I have a baby who is 2 1/2 years old. For quite a few months I have noticed what looks like a wart underneath his foot, by his sole. It seems pretty deep. Should I try and use a wart remover? I already tried a corn remover, and it removed some dead skin, but this looks like tiny holes, like a wart. Please advise. Also, does this hurt for him to walk on?
Answer
Warts are a very common viral infection in children. They can be passed from person-to-person or, especially in the case of warts on the bottoms of the feet, by contact with infected surfaces such as showers, baths, or pool areas. And to dispel some popular myths: frogs play no role, and warts do not have "roots"! They appear as rough bumps, and often have tiny black dots visible on their surface. In 85 percent of patients, warts resolve on their own, but this may take years. Most treatments for warts are aimed at destruction of the skin cells containing the wart virus, since specific anti-virus medicines are lacking. Start with over-the-counter preparations (liquids or "plasters") containing the ingredient salicylic acid. These are applied at bedtime, and in the case of small warts, may be all that is required. For bigger warts, or those that are spreading or are not responsive to these products, treatments are available in the doctor's office, but many of these treatments (like freezing the warts) are painful and traumatic for young children. If the wart does not appear to bother your son (and most of the time they don't), watching and waiting is a reasonable option given his young age.
