Hoo Boy...when you say "the pad of your foot" do you mean the ball under your big toe? I thought i had a wart but it was actually a callus on the ball of my foot and applied those nasty Dr Scholl pads over it, the skin became white and the raised, then I couldnt walk ! I had to go to the ER and they lanced it and a ton of puss and blood came out..painful...but not as painful as when I saw a podiatrist ( stupid me just picked thefirst one in the book closest to me) and he told me to soak it and apply Bactroban on it...I did that for a week and the puss still came out..he said it went from being an infection to an abcess and he needed to do an Incision and Draining but said Id be back to work in a few days...bullcrap...after the surgery I had a 2 inch long and 1 inch wiide HOLE in my foot and he did not stitch it closed,,,said it had to heal from thge inside out...they had to pack it 2 days in a row changing the packing twice a day( my sister and boyfriend)yup it was an outpatient surgery...it has taken me a GOOD YEAR to get back to normal and what am i left with? A painful callus i need to smooth down with a pumice stone weekly. So that is your SAFEST bet...stop applying crap to it and soak your foot in a warm tub or basin and then gently rub your foot with a moistened pumice stone and gently rub it til it smoothes out...dont do it too hard or too much because you can rip skin off..take your time with your feet and I am telling you it may seem like a pain to do this on a weekly basis but it TOTALLY beats what i went through...i wish we could post pictures here...Id show you those nasty nasty pics of my poor foot...good luck and please dont use anymore chemicals on your feet!