New! SWIFT® Microwave Treatment for Plantar Warts
New! SWIFT® Microwave Treatment for Plantar Warts –
Over the course of their lifetime, most people will develop one or more plantar warts on their feet. Unsightly warts can be frustrating, embarrassing and often painful. Even worse, plantar warts are communicable – meaning they can be spread to family members.
Plantar warts have historically been highly treatment-resistant – requiring multiple painful treatments that either burn, freeze or surgically cut out the wart. Today, however, a new, cutting-edge and incredibly effective treatment for plantar warts is now available.
Goldenberg Dermatology is proud to be among the first and only dermatology offices in NYC offering a new plantar wart treatment called Swift®, which destroys warts painlessly with microwave technology – in a single treatment.
What Are Plantar Warts?
When one or more growths develop on the bottom of the foot, it is most likely a plantar wart. Plantar warts are among the most commonly treated foot conditions at our NYC area dermatology practice.
Plantar warts are caused by a virus known as HPV. They may or may not be painful. Weak spots on the bottom of the foot (such as small cuts or breaks in the skin) allow HPV to enter the body, enabling plantar warts to grow. Plantar warts can be contracted anywhere a person has walked barefoot, with gyms, locker rooms, yoga studios, and public pools being common spreading grounds.
Plantar warts generally appear as small, rough, grainy lesions on the sole of one’s foot, often around the base of the toes or on the heal. Tiny black dots are sometimes visible on plantar warts. While some patients erroneously believe these dots are splinters, they are in fact the blood vessels through which the wart is nourished. Plantar warts may also cause pain or tenderness when walking or standing.
If left untreated, plantar are known to grow and spread, becoming more painful and difficult to treat. And, plantar warts can also be spread to your family members or anyone in your household! So it is important to see a dermatologist if you believe you may have one or more plantar warts.
Old Treatments for Plantar Warts
Traditional treatments for plantar warts were often painful, and not always 100% effective. In the past, layers of the wart were removed incrementally over time by literally “burning” off the wart in segments with salicylic acid. This was a slow and uncomfortable process that required multiple treatments.
Plantar warts were also sometimes treated with cryotherapy or freezing. During this process, liquid nitrogen was applied to the wart, causing a blister to form in the surrounding area. It took a week or more, then, for the dead tissue of the wart to slough off the patient’s foot. Cryotherapy was known to be painful, and required anesthetization of the treatment area prior to the procedure.
Deeper, more stubborn plantar warts were previously also sometimes removed through minor surgery. This involved the wart being cut away from the patient’s foot, or being destroyed through the use of an electric needle (electrodessication and curettage), both of which were also painful. Thankfully, at Goldenberg Dermatology in NYC, patients now have access to much more effective care for their plantar warts.
Swift®: New Microwave Treatment for Plantar Warts
Goldenberg Dermatology, NYC is proud to offer the Swift® Microwave Therapy System to our NYC area clients. This state-of-the-art treatment uses microwave energy to kill plantar warts in mere seconds. Swift® attacks plantar warts at their root cause by killing the virus, offering patients one of the safest, easiest, and most precise treatment experiences on the market.
Board certified NYC dermatologist Dr. Gary Goldenberg performs the Swift® Microwave Therapy System procedure in just a few seconds. During the procedure, the skin surrounding the plantar warts is exposed to low-power microwave energy. This generates both friction and heat, exciting the skin’s water molecules and drawing in proteins needed to activate the patient’s immune system.
The layer of the skin where plantar warts form is usually ignored by the body’s immune system. This is why, before Swift® Microwave Therapy, plantar warts took so long to heal. But now, the Swift® device directs the immune system’s attention directly to the plantar warts. Not only does this treat the wart, it also helps the body build an immunity to the strand of HPV that caused the plantar warts in the first place.
Swift® Microwave Plantar Wart therapy does not require anesthetic, and comes with no downtime. Most of our NYC area patients experience complete results after just one treatment, and generally do not require any follow-up care.
Swift® Microwave Plantar Wart Treatment – NYC
If you have a growth of any kind on your foot, schedule an appointment with Goldenberg Dermatology to ensure a correct diagnosis, and the most advanced, painless, state-of-the-art treatment.
Remember, diagnosing and treating plantar warts early on is the best way to prevent them from spreading. Call today for a consultation.
