A wart is usually an insignificant affection, but when it grows in a confined space, as under the hard, thick covering of the sole, it may cause so much discomfort, it may be so persistent and so refractory to treatment and develop such an ugly appearance as even to simulate malignant disease.
It is not a frequent affection, as I have in my private practice seen only seven cases of it in about five thousand cases of diseases of the skin. In a careful search of the literature of diseases of the skin, mention has been found of only sixteen cases. But I have reason to believe that neither of my own private histories nor the literature give a true indication of the real frequency of the affection. People afflicted usually consult chiropodists and, after being treated, or maltreated, the wart disappears, either as a consequence of treatment or spontaneously.