Plantar Wart treatment - lessons learned

Go to a podiatrist and have them use Cantharidin (Cantharone/Beetle Juice). 

1. I first tried using over the counter Compound-W.  I used this several times but it didn't do much other then remove skin and make the whole area look messy. 
Money spent (wasted):  $13
Time spent:  2-3 weeks

2.  Next I tried the Compound-W home freeze kit and acid.  This hurt a little when I did the freezing but I don't think the home freeze kit was able to get the freeze deep enough.  Also, the size of my plantar wart was much bigger then the small freeze application tip.  I tried this many times anyway and it did not work. 
Money spent (wasted):  $25

3.  Went to my general practitioner (MD) and had him freeze it with his product.  This was done every 2 weeks for a total of 5 visits.  It hurt, blister would form days later and eventually fall off.  Wart still there each time. 
Money spent:  $30 copay/office visit times 5 visits = $150
Time spent:  5 times sitting in Dr. Office with two weeks between visits = 10 weeks. 

4.  Doctor suggested I see a podiatrist and have him cut it out.  Went to podiatrist and he applied Cantharidin (Beetle Juice / Blister Beetle).  This hurt the most but was effective and ultimately appears to have worked.  Money spent:  $45 copay.   Done!  Also important - time saved.  I hope this helps someone else out there.  I wish I would have gone to a podiatrist and had the cantharidin done the first time.  That would have saved me a lot of time over going to store buying compound-w and trying that for a few weeks.  Going back to store and trying home freeze kit and trying that for a few weeks.  Going to doctor 5 times, copays and all the scheduling and pain from the freezes. 

Here is my follow up at 3 weeks - before and after photos

My plantar wart treatment experience 2 - Cantharidin (Blister Beetle)

My plantar wart treatment experience 2 - Cantharidin (Blister Beetle) at the podiatrist office. 

     I went to the podiatrist office unsure of what the doctor might want to do.  Part of me hoped he would numb it up right there in the office and cut that wart out.  He wanted to try Cantharidin (Blister Beetle) treatment first.  Unlike the general practitioner, the podiatrist trimmed down the wart the first visit.  He trimmed much more then my previous doctor did.  It bleed and hurt a little by the time he was done cutting it down and then he put on the Cantharidin.  It did not hurt going on just as he said and he told me that after about 3 hours it would hurt more then the freezing treatment.  He was right.  My foot hurt and throbbed later that afternoon and all night while sleeping.  He also told me that I should have ibuprofen ready for bed time and he was right.  The ibuprofen did help some with the pain and throbbing that first night.  It was also much more sore the following 3 days then the freezing treatment ever was.  The podiatrist told me that the way it works is that the Cantharidin makes the skin blister and lift the wart up out of the skin layers.  I have taken pictures each night along the way and I hope that this works. 

First night (8 hours after he trimmed it down and applied the Cantharidin) picture:

Here is a day 3 picture: 

Here is a day 6 picture:

Day 8 - follow up visit to podiatrist to have him trim away the blister and check the progress.
Once back in the treatment room, the doctor asked how the week was from the treatment in terms of pain and also removes the bandage and gives it a good look.  He then pulls out cutting tools and trims off the skin/blister.  It hurt a little but not too bad and it also bled a lot.  Next, he had to spend a minute applying pressure which did not stop the bleeding completely but it did slow it down.  Overall, he seemed hurried to want to get the 2nd round of cantharidin painted on and get to his next patient.  Here is the picture right after he trimmed the blister/skin off before applying the second round of cantharadin: 

He did say that it appeared that the canthardin/cantharone worked well and he estimated that about 80 percent of the wart was gone.

Here we are at Round 2 - treating the last bit of the wart with a 2nd round of Cantharadin/Cantharone.  I was curious about the treatment so I took a picture of the bottle he used for the Cantharadin that was left on the table next to me. 

I was surprised to see that it was only 1% Cantharidin. 

Round 2: 
First night (8 hours after the 2nd treatment of Cantharidin: 

Day 3 picture feeling optimistic: 

Day 6 picture feeling better: 

Finally day 8 has arrived and it's time to go to the podiatrist to find out the result.  I go in to this office 1 week after the 2nd treatment.  He gets out the razor trimming tool again and cuts of the top part of the dead/healing skin.  Success!  He feels that the wart appears to be gone!  He states that the skin appears pink and healing but the only way to know for sure is to wait a few weeks to see if it heals over or if a wart forms back.  He tells me that he doesn't think it will come back from the way it currently looks.  I sure hope so. 

Day 8 picture after he cleaned it up with the razor:

Here's what I learned from this experience - next part

My plantar wart treatment experience 1 - Freezing (Cryotherapy)

This is my plantar wart experience (pictures included).  I am going to be honest and add pictures along the way.  I googled searched a lot at the beginning trying to find someone that chronicled their experience but did not find any worthwhile.  Most were basic posts that were leading to a product they wanted to sell.  This is just a blog of my plantar wart experience.  I hope it helps someone! 

     I took off my sock one day and happen to notice a white circular area on my foot that was raised and I realized I had a wart.  A plantar wart to be specific (I thought all warts were the same).  Plantar warts are harder to get rid of because they are pushed further into the skin by being on the bottom of your foot.  This wart was large so I decided to go to my family doctor who is a general practitioner MD.  He suggested that we freeze it.  He went and got his canister, returned to the office and sprayed my wart with three short bursts of the freezing agent. 
     The first blast did not hurt but felt cold and weird.  The 2nd blast hurt but was bearable.  3rd blast hurt even more and I was glad it was done.  He told me to keep it covered until the blister formed and fell off by itself.  By late that night I could see the blister forming and filling with fluid.  It stayed that way for about 3 days and it appeared to have broken because the fluid was not there anymore.  It took about 12-14 days before the blister dried up and came off.

     First treatment was unsuccessful.  Where the blister was had nice new skin that had formed but the area of the wart was still there and still the same size.  It seemed to me that the top part of the wart came off with the blister but the majority of the wart was still there and laughing at me.
     I returned to the doctor and he said it can take a few freezes to eventually kill and remove the wart.  He repeated the exact same freezing process and I experienced the exact same results again for the 2nd round of treatment.  Blister formed, broke, drained and about two weeks later it came off.  Nice new skin again but the wart appeared the same size and still smirking at me as if to say "Is that all you got?"  Second treatment unsuccessful. 
    I did a lot of google searching regarding the freezing of plantar warts and found mixed results - mostly unsuccessful.  It seemed that the majority were unsuccessful using cryotherapy on plantar warts but I did find a few that said it worked after many freezes.  So I returned for 3rd freeze and got the same results again.  Darn it.  Here are the pictures from my 3rd freeze: 

Here is the picture from my 3rd freeze after the blister was removed: 

You can see the white core in the middle - that's the wart and it started growing again fast. 

     I decided to go back for a 4th freeze and also go back sooner then 2 weeks this time.  I returned after 10 days and also the doctor this time decided to trim the top of the wart off before freezing it.  These two changes made for a better result but still unsuccessful in removing the wart.  He also froze the wart with 4 blasts this time instead of just 3.  Between the shorter return time, trimming of the wart and the extra blast of freezing agent my end result was better but not removed.  When the blister came off the wart was visibly smaller but still present. 

Here is the picture of the 4th freeze:

Here is the picture of the 4th freeze after the blister was removed: 

Here is a picture of the blister that came off from above: 

I returned to the doctor happy about seeing progress and thinking maybe one last freeze would do it.  He decided that he would just trim it this time and he wanted me to leave it alone.  I'm not sure why but he was optimistic that it was healing and would be going away now.  Reluctantly, I left and hoped I was on my way to being plantar wart free.  That's not how it went.  After about 2 weeks I looked at my wart and it was back to it's original size - maybe a little bigger.  The doctor then recommended I go to a podiatrist and have it cut out. 

Here is what happened next: