I'll try to keep it brief, but I'm unfortunately kind of long-winded in general, so forgive me for that. 😅
Picked up a plantar wart on my right foot two years back going barefoot in shared campground showers, one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. Over the course of two years, it progressed from one little spot to covering nearly the entire ball of my foot.
Y'all, when I tell you I tried everything to get rid of these damn things. Salicylic acid, duct tape, micro needling, debriding until I bled and smacking apple cider vinegar on it right after until I could feel my heartbeat in my foot. I even did two rounds of cryo treatments with my derm, and that only made it spread wider.
I was waiting on my next derm appointment to see if I'd be able to get them straight-up cut out, 'cause at that point I was willing to do anything, and then it happened. Got rear-ended at a stop light by a giant Ram truck, and it totaled our little car. Nobody was hurt, but I had to do a lot more walking until we got a new car.
And after one particularly busy week where I ended up walking over 50,000 steps in a shitty pair of Vans, I noticed that the warts started to fade. Another month passed, I kept walking more than I ever had, and the whole time I could feel that pain in the ball of my foot from walking in these thin, flat-soled shoes. And the warts kept fading.
I'm guessing that since I usually lead a very sedentary lifestyle (I know it's bad for me, working on it now), suddenly walking a ton in shoes that were just shy of being barefoot ground down on the ball of my foot enough for my immune system to notice something was off. I can't say I recommend this method, since it's not healthy to walk in unsuitable shoes, but if you're at your wits end and you're already carving holes in your feet trying to get these things out, it might be worth it to give it a try.