Verrucas and warts are very common and are contagious so you should be careful when walking barefoot. They are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) that gets into your skin and starts to develop hard bumps of skin. As the hard skin builds on the bottom of the foot, the body's weight compresses it and this is what makes it painful. If left alone, verrucae can go with time but they can also get bigger and spread. It is impossible to predict how they will develop so you should keep an eye on them and try to prevent them spreading, especially to other people. Wart and verruca treatment can vary in severity and this depends on how painful they are and what treatments you have already tried. What is the difference between a wart and a verruca? Verrucas and warts are the same thing. We call warts on the bottom of the foot verruca, and in other parts of the world they call them plantar warts. They are all caused by viruses that enter the skin and start to develop hard skin, so there is no difference between them. There are different strains of virus that cause them to develop but the treatments remain the same. What is the fastest way to get rid of a verruca? Unfortunately none of the treatments available for verrucas are guaranteed because of their viral nature but there are different treatment options. The different treatments have different reported efficacy, they also however have different possible side effects. The least aggressive treatment is salic