⏰ 9pm-10pm tonight
I will be answering cough variant asthma and asthma, how to deal with it on a live broadcast, You are welcome to bring your questions to the live broadcast room
I saw a news report a while back that a 10-year-old boy had dense “pimples” on the soles of his feet after taking swimming lessons for a while. Go to the hospital, the doctor told the parents that this is a plantar wart.
This reminds me that in the previous live broadcast on the theme of “Preventing HPV Infection”, there were also parents who asked how to treat skin warts caused by HPV infection. Today, I will ask Wuhan First Hospital Hu Lei, a clinical pharmacist in the dermatology department, and I will first introduce the treatment and prevention of plantar warts (zhí yóu, commonly known as “warts” or “flesh thorns”).
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What are plantar warts?
Plantary warts are a type of skin warts caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection of the skin on the soles of the feet. Don’t panic when you see HPV. There are more than 200 different subtypes of HPV, only a few of which are high-risk types, such as HPV-16 and HPV-18 subtypes that can be prevented by HPV vaccine. Continuous infection for more than 2 years may cause cervical precancerous lesions and even progress to cervical cancer. cancer. But most HPV subtypes are low-risk types, and infection with them does not pose a risk of cancer.
The HPV-6 and HPV-11 subtypes that the quadrivalent and nine-valent HPV vaccines protect against, mainly infect the anogenital area, causing anogenital warts such as condyloma acuminatum. The HPV-1 subtype often infects the skin of the soles of the feet, causing the skin of the toes to proliferate and form plantar warts. There is currently no vaccine to prevent it.
Plantary warts are contagious, mainly through direct or indirect skin-to-skin contact, especially at macerated or wounded sites, and through self-inoculation through tiny skin breaks.
Plantary warts are most common in children and adolescents, and their incidence decreases with age.
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A plantar wart, what are the symptoms?
Plantar warts are primarily localized, thickened papules that can be single, multiple, or fused to form plaques.
It looks similar to the corns that often grow under the feet, but it is not the same disease. Corns are mostly caused by mechanical factors such as friction and extrusion, and are not contagious by themselves. Moreover, small black spots are not visible after shaving corns, while small black spots are usually visible after shaving plantar warts, which are thrombosed capillaries.
Planar warts in some children show only localized skin thickening without pain or itching. But because plantar lesions can grow inward, many children experience pain from pressure when they walk.
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How are plantar warts treated?
A small number of children have plantar warts that go away on their own without treatment. However, when plantar warts tend to spread, more and more, or when pain symptoms affect daily life, active treatment is still recommended.
There are currently no specific antiviral treatments for HPV skin infections. Topical salicylic acid ointment and liquid nitrogen freezing are currently the most common ways to treat plantar warts.
Daily application of salicylic acid ointment can exfoliate plantar warts and stimulate local immunity. The downside of salicylic acid ointment treatment is topical skin irritation. If irritation is evident, use less frequently. Advantages include the ability to self-medicate, less pain when applied, and a low incidence of serious side effects. It is generally recommended to scrape the surface of the wart regularly and repeatedly to minimize the accumulation of hyperkeratotic flakes.
Liquid nitrogen cryotherapy is a commonly used physical therapy in the treatment of skin warts and is performed in a hospital. The disadvantage is that it will produce obvious pain, so it is mainly used for older children and adults, and generally not for children under 3 years old. Also, multiple freezes are usually required to remove the wart, usually every 2 weeks until the wart disappears. If 6 treatments are still ineffective, other treatments can be used.
In addition, when the effect of a single treatment method is not good, combined treatment with external application of salicylic acid ointment and liquid nitrogen freezing can also be considered, which is relatively common in clinical treatment.
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How can plantar warts be prevented?
It is recommended that you do not walk barefoot by the public swimming pool. It is best to use your own slippers or disinfected slippers. Avoid foot trauma, excessive friction, sweat soaking, etc. If the skin is damaged, it should be treated with local disinfection in time. During the onset of plantar warts, try to avoid scratching, and daily necessities should be disinfected in time to prevent self-infection (spread to other parts of the body) or infect family members.
In addition, balanced nutrition, scientific exercise, and enhanced immunity are also effective ways to reduce the infection of various subtypes of HPV.
⏰ 9pm-10pm tonight
I will be answering cough variant asthma and asthma, how to deal with it on a live broadcast, You are welcome to bring your questions to the live broadcast room