03 Nov Verruca Treatments
Verruca are a wart found on the soles of the foot. They are caused by a common virus that infects when there is a break in the integrity of the skin. These are the most common Verruca Treatments we offer at Masterton Foot Clinic
Verruca are often confused with corns or callous as they are both often hard and painful to walk on. If you look closely, you’ll see the skin striations (think finger prints) go around a wart but will run through a corn. Corns tend to be most uncomfortable when pressed down with direct pressure, while a verruca will be most painful when squeezed.
Here are some treatment options we use at Masterton Foot Clinic.
Salicylic acid or other chemical treatments
Applying an acid will soften or macerate the hard skin in and around the wart while providing a disturbance that causes the immune system to fight the virus causing the verruca. While you can buy acid treatments from the chemist, they tend to work best in conjunction with seeing a podiatrist who can debride the hard skin on the surface, which will allow the acid to penetrate further.
It is a cost effective and relatively painless treatment option but will require several treatments to get on top of the verruca.
Liquid nitrogen
We use liquid nitrogen (-186 deg C) to temporarily freeze warts. When freezing at these temperatures, the podiatrist is trying to create a de-lamination or separation between the healthy skin below, and the wart above. This is done by creating a small blood blister.
It can be quite painful for a day or two while the blister forms, but is probably the most effective low invasive technique we use. Application of liquid nitrogen must be done by a trained clinician, as too much exposure runs the risk of scarring.
Off the shelf cryotherapy kits are sold in chemists.These use dry-ice or liquified CO2, which isn’t as cold as liquid nitrogen (-109 deg C). This makes it safer to use at home, but can mean varying results.
In the picture about you can see the verruca has separated/delaminated from the healthy skin below it. If you look closely you can see the wart has a white centre and the healthy skin is red and vascular. It is normal to expect this to seal over within a matter of days.
Surgical treatment- Blunt Dissection
In some cases surgery is the quickest and best option for treating plantar warts. This involves using a local anaesthetic to numb the area and a blunt dissection using a blunt scalpel is performed to completely remove the lesion. This is taught at the NZ School of Podiatry and is almost exclusively performed by podiatrists in NZ.
The benefits of this proceedure are that success rates are high, treatment time is minimal and patients are able to continue to walk afterwards albeit gingerly or with an aid. The risks of surgery are scarring and infection, both of which are reduced when performed by a well trained podiatrist under sterile surgical conditions- which incidentally is exactly what we offer at Masterton Foot Clinic! Healing time is up to 4 weeks.
Above is an image of a large verruce under the right forefoot.
…and then 7 days following removal
If you are wanting more information regarding the best approx to managing your verruca treatment, please give one of Masterton Foot Clinics podiatrists a call or book online for an assessment.