A young college-going girl came to me complaining of pain in her left foot due to ‘corns’. On examination, it was clear that this was a case of plantar warts. Plantar warts are sometimes difficult to distinguish from corns and callosities. Plantar warts usually have little black dots on their surface which are the ends of capillaries. Corns do not have them. Plantar warts are usually multiple as they spread to other parts of the foot, while corns are only found on weight-bearing areas. In cases of plantar warts, the striations on the skin go around the lesion unlike in corns where the striations continue across the top layer of the corn. Warts on other parts of the body grow outward, but on the foot, due to the pressure while walking, they grow inward and cause great pain.
She had a tendency to develop boils on the buttocks and in the groin region. This was worse from sweat and friction and would bleed on scratching. She loved sweets, fish, chicken and ice cream and was completely averse to tea. She perspired the most on the neck and her sweat had a sour odour. She slept on her abdomen.
She was a plump, cheerful, friendly girl and laughed a lot, very easily.
Knowing the propensity of Antimonium Crudum for corns and warts, I started by giving her Antimonium Crudum 30, three times daily for a week. She started improving and I continued with the same dosage for 2 more weeks, at the end of which her foot was showing distinct signs of improvement and she was pain-free. After a month I gave her a dose of Phosphorus 1M which I considered to be her constitutional remedy.
I didn’t see her for a number of months when she remained well; about a year later I called her for a follow-up photograph. She remains well and happy, her tendency to boils has also disappeared.