foot repair?

[James]

I have some plantar warts being treated by a doctor, a nickel-size blister formed and is violently painful to touch. This makes it difficult to wear socks or shoes. Even sleeping requires special care to prevent it from touching a blanket or the bed.

Bandaging would not help because touching the outside of the bandage is just as bad as touching it directly. I need something rigid to shield the sensitive area so that it cannot be touched directly or indirectly.

Can anyone think of something I can buy somewhere (hardware store, drugstore, craft store...) that is half dome shape with a wide base -- like a full brim hard hat shrunk down to about 2-3 inch diameter? It would be even better if it is transparent so I can center it properly when taping it.

I posted to sci.med but I may not get an answer from that ng. Since people in this ng are better at improvising, perhaps someone could think of a solution.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, Slurpee cap? Doulbe up to make it rigid. samething from Tim Horton ice capuccino.

[jmagerl]

[Don Phillipson]

1. It is reasonable to expect a doctor who treats XYZ to have practical advice about convalescing from XYZ.
2. Corn plasters (sold in drugstores) are rings of felt, made in various sizes, and you could stack several together. (They are adhesive on one side.)
3. Some cities still have branches of the Dr. Scholl chain that specializes in fitting feet and solving foot problems.

[Uncle Monster]

Cut a cup out of an old ice tray and drill vent holes in it.

[8~{} Uncle Monster

[RickH]

Cut the handle off a spoon and file it smooth maybe.

[dpb]

...

:)

I agree that would be a first step.

Disclaimer -- I am NOT a doctor (but I've doctored a lot of cattle.)

My experience w/ blisters that are painful and assuming this treatment was the liquid nitrogen that made the blister is that the best treatment is to drain them. W/ the pressure gone, the pain subsides drastically.

Your physician may disagree...

[Norminn]

What kind of doctor is treating your foot? What kind of treatment? A plantar wart as painful as you describe may be infected - they can be abscessed under the wart. Go to a podiatrist if you have not already - most MD's are not skilled in treating foot problems - about all they know about feet is that most people have two of them :o)

[Norminn]

clipped

For sure - and go to a hat store if you develop a brain tumor.

[Meat Plow]

Are you being treated by a DPM? Foot and ankle specialist? You shouldn't be in that much pain.

[HeyBub]

I've heard that using FireFox will give your cat warts. I didn't think FF would have an effect on humans, but look around...

[Phisherman]

Plantar warts can be painful. A doctor will cut it out with a scalpel. Or you can apply Compound W everyday after bathing and apply medicated foot powders. Keep your feet dry.

[Norminn]

PW should not be painful if not bearing weight. The blister may be an abscess or need to be debrided by a doc.

[Stormin Mormon (on backup com]

Plantar warts. From what I remember, typically a viral thing. treated by salicylate solution. See your local pharmacist to reccomend treatment. What the heck is the doctor doing, anyhow?

I took an ingrown toe nail to a podiatrist one time. About three or four years later, and about $2,000, I did a net search on ingrowns. Found out the doctor was making it worse, not better. Also, the doctor wasn't doing a very good job of educating me how to not need doctors. Guess he liked the money.

Now, as to clear domes, others have suggested some good ones. I was t hinking two layers of corrugated cardboard, with a hole cut in. Tape those on, and third layer (no hole) over that. When I was in scouts, they used to reccomend stuff called "moleskin". Not sure where to find that, maybe a pharmacy.

If cardboard isn't flexible enough, maybe the black wrap used on AC suction lines. Razor knife to cut the hole so the sore spot isn't touched.

[coffee]

Ive had several of these PWs in my life. The first time was on the ball of my big toe. Went to the doctor and he numbed it and burned it out. I did get several at different times on my thumb of all places! I actually found the thing somewhat stress relieving as I would pick at it alot. Finally the thing would either die or give up and it would pull out in a kinda stringy thing.

Hummm.... Sorry if I grossed anyone out. I think they are caused by a viral infection of some type that gets in by way of a cut or something. Hafta google that a bit to be sure.

Dump the doctor and get one that will burn them out. It really doesnt hurt and will take care of things quickly.

coffee

[Rudy]

What you re looking for is called a foot "orthotic" or "night splint

See link..

Something like that with a hole cut in it so as to not touch the afflicted area..

[Norminn]

AHR is a great place to get advice, but for the OP's problem, I still lean toward someone with a license in the health fields. An orthotic is definitely NOT what he needs. Night splints are pretty good for carpal tunnel, but not of great relief for an acutely painful plantar wart or whatever is going on down there. The OP sounds like he has an infection and ought to see the doc yesterday.

[Jeff Wisnia]

Thanks for the mammaries!

over 50 years ago, while in college here in Red Sox Nation I developed a silver dollar sized plantar wart on my right foot.

One of my classmates' dad was a GP with an office in his home and I went over and showed my foot to him.

He laid me back on his exam table, shot some novacain into the sole of my foot, and the next thing I saw was a bloody piece of skin hanging from his forceps before he tossed it in the trash.

He cauterized the wound with some chemical, bandaged me up and sent me on my way. When the novacain wore off the bottom of my foot hurt like hell and I had to walk on the heel of that foot.

As I was leaving to drive cross country back to Frisco in a couple of days I picked up a left foot accelerator pedal pusher so I didn't need to use my right foot at all to drive.

It was similar to this, but a lot simpler design, just a wide U shaped bent steel rod with a little pedal welded to one end and a couple of cable clamps screwed to the car's floor:

It took about a month before I could walk normally, but the plantar wart was gone.

About a year later I got another plantar wart in just about the same spot. I asked a different doc about it and he said, "Just go to the drug store and buy a package of salicylic acid on moleskin, cut pieces the right size and keep one of them stuck onto the plantar wart until it goes away."

He was right y'know, after a week or so of using that moleskin the plantar wart was gone.

Different strokes from different doc's, 'eh?

Jeff