Verrucae
Verrucae
Verrucae are warts in the foot. They are problematic because the skin is thicker on the feet and pressure of walking pushes them into the skin. They can also be present for some time before being noticed because they are not on view all the time.
There is no one treatment that works for everyone and treatment can be unpredictable. They are harmless and the first treatment option is to do nothing if it is painless. Sixty percent of verrucae can resolve within 2 years without treatment.
Verrucae and warts are caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). The virus lives in the body’s cells making it difficult for the immune system to identify and react.
Treatment aims to either stimulate the immune system into reacting or destroys the skin containing the virus.
At A&A Podiatrists our approach is typically gentle and slow, using the tried and tested salicylic acid method or newer Verrutop (Nitrizinc Compounds) methods, we also freeze with cryospray and will also use the dry needling method (see the next tab/section for details of this). If you are seeking more aggressive treatment or expecting the verruca to go after the first treatment then please research other Podiatrists. No treatment is 100% effective and there are no known treatments in the literature that can guarantee a rapid resolution. Other Podiatrists may use the Swift treatment – using microwaves to ablate the verruca https://treatverruca.com/science/ and the course of treatment costs £375. Cryotherapy using Liquid Nitrogen or Nitrous Oxide is another treatment we do not use (we use Cryofreeze which is not as cold) these cost upwards of £85. Using a local anaesthetic, lasers can be used to burn verrucae or even cut them out.
Various acids are applied as a first line treatment- commonly salicylic acid but at a much higher concentration (60%) than in bazooka (14 or 26%)! This is applied every 2 weeks for 2-4 sessions and works in around 70% of the time. It is tolerated well by children. However it requires the dressing to remain in place and dry for 2-4 days for optimal results.
Alternatively we could freeze it with Dermafreeze which freezes the area to try and cause frostbite. This is best when there are one or two solitary verrucae or they are on the toes or a wart is on the hand.
For multiple verrucae, patients who are very active or resistant verrucae we will offer dry needling. This method stimulates the immune response to fight the infection. It requires one or two treatments if it’s going to work and has from 65% to 90% effectiveness. Dry needling information.
You can find out more about Verrutop Information – and a short video about verrutop about it too.
In all cases we will discuss the treatment suitable in your case and devise a sensible plan of attack. As such it is difficult to provide specific information on a treatment approaches until we have discussed and assessed.
