Plantar Wart Removal Surgery After 3 Failed Cryotherapy Sessions: Switching to a Specialist Clinic

A patient came to us with plantar warts that had been treated at a dermatology clinic elsewhere — undergoing cryotherapy three times — but the warts kept recurring and the treatment was ultimately unsuccessful. She then switched to our clinic, which specializes in plantar wart removal.

A woman in her 30s who visited us after a recurrence following three rounds of cryotherapy.

She had received approximately three cryotherapy sessions at another dermatology clinic for plantar wart removal, but

the plantar warts continued to recur even after cryotherapy, and the pain in the sole of her foot had become so severe that she decided to seek care at our clinic.

Our clinic specializes in plantar wart treatment. Dr. Jo Ju-won, our director and a board-certified foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon, personally sees and treats all plantar wart patients.

In this patient's case, the characteristic black dots (thrombosed capillaries) of the plantar wart were clearly visible on visual inspection.

Ultrasound image of the plantar wart

The ultrasound showed the characteristic appearance of a plantar wart. The lesion was not deeply embedded, there was no heel spur contact beneath the wart, and blood flow within the wart was detected on Doppler ultrasound.

Given the significant blood flow visible on ultrasound, it was easy to understand why this patient was experiencing a considerable amount of pain from the plantar wart.

At our plantar wart specialist clinic, the removal procedure is performed under local anesthesia and does not require hospitalization. This helps reduce overall treatment costs and makes the procedure accessible even for patients who are anxious about anesthesia-related pain.

Rather than injecting anesthetic directly into the painful area, we administer a light local anesthetic only to the dorsum of the foot — the primary nerve origin point, located some distance from the painful lesion — before performing the wart removal.

In order to accurately identify the margins of the plantar wart and minimize the area removed, the outer skin layers of the wart are removed sequentially. This is a very important step in plantar wart removal surgery.

Because only the tissue within the wart margins needs to be removed, this is a precise procedure performed carefully to avoid entering the dermal layer of the plantar skin.

Plantar warts cause severe pain when standing or walking due to the pressure of body weight, resulting in significant discomfort — often painful enough to bring patients to tears.

Because the affected area is so painful, patients tend to offload pressure from that part of the foot when walking, which gradually alters their gait and can place excessive strain on the lower back, sometimes leading to accompanying back pain.

An electrocautery device is used to treat the blood vessels detected by Doppler ultrasound around the plantar wart and along the base of the dermal layer, thereby eliminating the viral blood supply to the wart.

Post-operative image showing sutures after plantar wart removal

Sutures are placed following wart removal surgery for the purpose of hemostasis and are removed one week later. The treated area will fill in over the course of about one month, so there is no need for concern.

Directions to Gangnam Standard Orthopedics — Plantar Wart Specialist Clinic

Approximately a 4-minute walk from Gangnam Station Exit 5.

From Gangnam Station Exit 5, head 275 m toward the Useong Apartment intersection, then cross one crosswalk in the direction of Paris Baguette Gangnam Station Seocho Branch. Immediately to your right, pass Son Sang-won Climbing Gym, and you will find us on the 2nd floor of the building housing Nuaju Gangnam Station Café and Cheongdam Witch Gimbap Gangnam Station.

※ Gangnam Standard Orthopedics is an officially registered medical institution authorized to provide care to international patients.