Warts are usually a minor issue, except when they form on the soles of your feet. The painful warts make walking even short distances an unpleasant experience. Your Gainesville, VA, podiatrist, Dr. Mukesh Bhakta of Prince William Foot & Ankle Center, offers treatments that get rid of warts and end your pain.

What causes the warts?

Plantar, or foot, warts are caused by a strain of the human papilloma virus (HPV). You may come in contact with the virus while walking barefoot on a contaminated surface or through skin-to-skin contact with someone who has a wart.

The virus enters your skin through tiny breaks in your skin caused by a minor scratch or even dry skin. Once inside, the HPV virus causes skins cells to grow rapidly, eventually forming a raised wart. Although warts on other parts of your body may appear bumpy, plantar warts are often smoother and flatter due to pressure from your feet.

How can I get rid of a foot wart?

Wart removal products can be helpful in some cases, but they may take a long time to work and might damage healthy skin surrounding your wart. Your Gainesville podiatrist offers more effective treatments, including:

• Prescription Salicylic Acid: The topical product, applied at home, removes the wart layer by layer.
• Cryotherapy: Cryotherapy involves freezing the wart with liquid nitrogen. Warts usually fall off about a week after the treatment. Cryotherapy may be combined with salicylic acid treatment.
• Trichloroacetic Acid: The acid is applied after your podiatrist shaves away a few layers of the wart. It's also used in conjunction with salicylic acid.
• Immune Therapy: Injecting your wart with a foreign substance tricks your immune system into attacking and destroying the wart.
• Laser Therapy: If your wart doesn't respond to other treatments, your foot doctor may recommend laser treatment. The laser closes the blood vessels that feed the wart, causing the tissue to die. Several laser therapy treatments may be needed.

Do you suffer from painful, uncomfortable foot warts? Call your Gainesville, VA, podiatrist, Dr. Mukesh Bhakta of Prince William Foot & Ankle Center, at (703) 753-3338 to schedule an appointment.

Nail fungus can certainly try your patience. In fact, your nail may look unchanged, even though you applied anti-fungal medication every day for months. Laser nail fungus offers a quicker way to treat the stubborn fungus. Your Gainesville and South Riding, VA, podiatrist Dr. Mukesh Bhakta offers laser nail fungus treatment at Prince William Foot & Ankle Center.

How does laser nail fungus treatment work?

The topical medication you apply to your nail only penetrates the first few layers of your toenail. If you've just developed a fungal infection, or the infection is fairly mild, drugstore products may be helpful. Unfortunately, if you have a more severe infection, an over-the-counter product won't reach the deeper layers of the nail or the skin under the nail where the fungus flourishes, no matter how diligently you apply it.

Laser nail fungus treatment reaches deep under your nail to kill the fungus that grows on the nail bed. Precisely targeted laser beams heat the pigment that gives toenail fungus its unappealing yellow color. Heating the pigment kills the fungus immediately. Although laser light is very effective in destroying the fungus, it won't damage healthy tissues in your toe.

The laser that your Gainesville and South Riding podiatrist uses produces short bursts of laser energy called pulses. Each pulse produces energy that lasts less than a second, ensuring that your toe doesn't become uncomfortably hot during your treatment. Although your toe may feel a little warm and tingly, you will not be in pain during your treatment. Laser treatment doesn't cause any side effects. As soon as your treatment concludes, you can immediately return to your usual activities.

Will my toenail be clear after my laser treatment?

Although the fungus will be dead after your treatment, your nail will still look the same. Over the next several months, it will gradually become clearer as new nail growth emerges from the bottom of the nail.

Treat your nail infection with laser therapy! Call Gainesville and South Riding, VA, podiatrist Dr. Mukesh Bhakta of Prince William Foot & Ankle Center at (703) 753-3338 to schedule your appointment.

It's impossible to ignore heel pain when every step you take is so uncomfortable. Fortunately, Dr. Mukesh Bhakta, your Gainesville, VA, podiatrist at Prince William Foot & Ankle Center offers treatments that can improve your painful symptoms.

Why Do My Heels Hurt?

Heel pain can occur due to a variety of reasons, including:

• Worn-Out Shoes: Do you remember the last time you replaced your running or walking shoes? After months of use, the cushioning layer inside shoes becomes compressed. Although the shoes may look perfectly fine, they no longer support your foot adequately. As a result, you may develop a stone bruise in the fat pad under your heel bone, Achilles tendinitis (inflammation of the long tendon at the back of your heel), or retrocalcaneal bursitis (inflammation of the cushioning sac under the tendon).
• Plantar Fascia Inflammation: Is your heel pain worse first thing in the morning or when you stand after sitting for a while? If so, there's a strong possibility that you have plantar fasciitis. The condition occurs when the plantar fascia that runs along the bottom of your foot becomes inflamed. You may be at increased risk of developing plantar fasciitis if you are overweight, spend long hours on your feet, are over age 40, are a runner, wear poorly fitting shoes, or have flat feet or high arches.
• Bone Spurs: Bone spurs can happen to anyone, but are particularly common after you've had plantar fasciitis. In addition to pain, swelling over your heel may also occur. In some cases, it may be possible to feel a bony bump on your heel. You may be at increased risk of developing a bone spur if you have arthritis, are overweight, have diabetes, spend long periods on your feet, run or walk on hard surfaces, or have a gait abnormality that stresses your heel.

How Can My Gainesville Foot Doctor Help?

Your podiatrist offers a variety of treatment strategies that will ease your pain. Most stone bruises go away on their own, but they will return if you continue to exercise in worn-out shoes. In addition to buying new shoes, you may benefit from orthotics, custom-designed shoe inserts that cushion your feet and keep them properly aligned in your shoes.

Other possible treatments, depending on your diagnosis, may include anti-inflammatory medications, corticosteroid injections, orthotics or heel cups, and night splints (for plantar fasciitis.) If you have Achilles tendinitis or plantar fasciitis, you may benefit from shockwave therapy. The treatments send shock waves deep into your tissues to trigger your body's natural healing abilities.

Get back on your feet with a trip to the foot doctor! Call Dr. Mukesh Bhakta, your Gainesville, VA, podiatrist at Prince William Foot & Ankle Center at (703) 753-3338 to schedule an appointment.

Has your child been complaining of heel pain? Sever's disease may be the reason. Dr. Mukesh Bhakta of Prince William Foot & Ankle Center offers treatment for the disease and other foot and ankle conditions that affect your family's feet in his offices in Gainesville and South Riding, VA.

What is Sever's Disease?

Sever's disease, formally known as calcaneal apophysitis, is a painful inflammation that affects the growth plate in the heel. Growth plates are areas of cartilage found at the ends of the long bones in a child's body. As he or she grows, the cartilage is gradually replaced with bone.

The disease typically affects kids during a puberty-related growth spurt. It's most common in girls between the ages of 8 and 13 and boys between 10 and 15. During this time, it's not unusual for growth to occur very quickly. Sometimes, the heel bone grows faster than the muscles and tendons, which can cause them to tighten and place too much pressure on the bone. Fortunately, symptoms usually go away on their own after a few weeks or months.

What are the symptoms of Sever's disease?

These signs and symptoms often occur in children who have Sever's disease:

• Pain at the back of one or both heels
• Redness and swelling over the heel
• Stiffness first thing in the morning
• Trouble walking (particularly if your child has been very active)

Who get's Sever's disease?

Although any child can develop Sever's disease, it's more common in children who participate in sports that require jumping or running and may also be more likely to occur if your son or daughter is overweight or obese. Other risk factors include rolling the foot inward when walking, arches that are either flat or too high or differences in leg length.

How is Sever's disease treated?

Although convincing your son or daughter to stay off his or her feet for a few weeks may not be so easy, rest is an important part of your child's recovery. Your child's Gainesville or South Riding foot doctor may recommend exercises to stretch the muscles and tendons, heel pads or lifts to cushion the heel and reduce strain, or orthotics for flat feet or high arches. Shoes with plenty of cushioning will help reduce pain.

Does your child have any of the symptoms of Sever's disease? A visit to your Gainesville or South Riding, VA, foot doctor can help relieve his or her pain. Call (703) 753-3338 to schedule an appointment with podiatrist Dr. Bhakta of Prince William Foot & Ankle Center.

Avoiding the fungus that causes athlete's foot is the key to preventing the itchy, uncomfortable fungal infection. Our Gainesville, VA, podiatrist, Dr. Mukesh Bhakta of Prince William Foot & Ankle Center, treats athlete's foot, along with many other foot and ankle conditions.

What's the best way to prevent athlete's foot infections?

The fungus responsible for athlete's foot is very contagious. It can survive for weeks on surfaces and is often found around public pools and in public shower and locker rooms. If you swim at a public pool or work out at a Gainesville area gym, you can reduce your risk of developing athlete's foot by wearing sandals or shower shoes at all times.

Other ways to avoid athlete's foot, include:

• Decreasing Moisture: Sweaty socks and shoes provide the dark, moist environment the fungus needs to thrive. Adding talcum powder to your socks, spraying antiperspirant on your feet, wearing socks that wick away moisture and changing your socks throughout the day will help keep your feet drier.
• Alternating Footwear: Moisture can become trapped. Materials that breathe, such as canvas or leather, are a better choice than shoes made of synthetic materials.
• Washing Clothing, Bedding, and Towels in Hot Water: The athlete's foot fungus will survive a trip through the washing machine if you use cold water to clean your clothes. In fact, it only dies if clothing and other items are washed in 140F water. If someone in your home has athlete's foot, prevent the infection from spreading by washing bathmats, washcloths, towels, bedding, and socks on your washer's hottest setting.

How is athlete's foot treated in Gainesville?

An athlete's foot infection won't go away on its own, even if you keep your feet clean and dry as soon as you notice symptoms. Although over-the-counter anti-fungal creams can be helpful, the topical products may not be able to penetrate the deeper layers of the skins. If your infection doesn't go away or worsens, your foot doctor can prescribe topical medications that can reach the fungus deep inside your skin or oral anti-fungal medication if topical treatment isn't helpful.

Are you tired of living with athlete's foot? Call our Gainesville, VA, podiatrist, Dr. Bhakta of Prince William Foot & Ankle Center, at (703) 753-3338 to schedule an appointment.