Verruca
Description
Verruca or Plantar warts are viral infections affecting the epidermis. They invade the skin through small or invisible cuts and abrasions and appear anywhere on the skin. Children, especially teenagers, are often more susceptible to warts than adults, some people seem to be immune.
It is also possible for a variety of more serious lesions to appear on the foot, including melanomas.
It is therefore wise to consult a podiatrist when a suspicious growth or eruption is detected on the skin of the foot in order to ensure a correct diagnosis. The Verruca is often contracted by walking barefoot on dirty surfaces where the virus is lurking. The causative virus thrives in warm, moist environments, making infection a common occurrence in pool and gym changing facilities. If left untreated, warts can grow to an inch or more in circumference and can spread into clusters of several warts in extreme cases covering large areas of the
foot. These are often called mosaic warts. Like any other infectious lesion, plantar warts are spread by touching, scratching, or even by contact with skin shed from another wart. The wart may also bleed which may facilitate spreading. They are often mistaken for corns or calluses – which are layers of dead skin that build up to protect an area which is being continuously irritated. The wart, however, is a
viral infection.
What we can do
Remove the dead skin and advise on over the counter treatments Over-the-counter preparations contain acids or chemicals that destroy skin cells indiscriminately whether or not they are infected with the virus. Thus they can destroy surrounding healthy tissue. Self treatment with such medications should be avoided by people with diabetes and those with cardiovascular or circulatory disorders.
We therefore advise self treatment initially only in a healthy person with no complications. For best chances of success, it should only be started after the dead skin on the surface of the verruca has been removed to allow the active chemical access to the actively infected cells below the surface. After an advised duration (Normally 4 weeks) if there is no improvement then often you will be advised to try other in clinic treatments with stronger acids.
Other Treatments we offer include:
Verrutop:
Verrutop is a Class II Medical Device for specialist application by Healthcare Professionals.
Verrutop is not intended for home use by members of the public as difficult to treat warts and verrucae need specialist attention to prepare the surface prior to treatment.
Verrutop is a new type of wart treatment. Unlike Cryotherapy or other chemical treatments, Verrutop is a combination of organic and inorganic acids, the acid base is not designed to either burn or stimulate an immune response but to create the production of nitrite on the wart or verruca which produces a desiccating effect, drying up the cells containing the verruca virus and reducing residual viral DNA. The verruca just dries up and falls off, leaving intact skin beneath.
Treatment is normally quick and painless.
Verrutop is supported by a large number of clinical papers and poster presentations at major conventions involving hundreds of patients with multiple warts. There are also a growing number of individual case reports and user feedback is extremely positive.
Cryosurgery where the verruca is frozen.
Cryosurgery involves the use of liquid nitrogen, which is extremely cold and has an operating temperature of -196 C. It can either be applied using a probe or spray. The liquid rapidly freezes the water content causing ice crystals to form within the cells around the area of application. The rapid cooling effect along with the low temperature of liquid nitrogen allows accurate treatment to the affected area with less damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. Whilst cryotherapy is an effective form of treatment; it may need to be repeated at periodic intervals to completely eradicate the verrucae.
Needling
This is a routine procedure which is carried out under local anaesthesia. It is commonly used to remove verrucae. The procedure has a 90% success rate. However, there is a small chance that re-growth may occur. There is also a possibility of infection if it is not looked after properly. You may experience slight pain after the procedure. The verrucae is then punctured using a sterile needle multiple times. This causes a bleed (haematoma) directly under the verrucae and surrounding viral tissue. The area will then be dressed and monitored until it heals (approx 4-6 weeks).
It should be noted that verrucae are particularly stubborn and there is no definitive treatment that is guaranteed to work in all cases. Your podiatrist will advise you of a treatment plan most suited to your verruca and your lifestyle.
What to expect at the appointment:
Similar to most wart treatments your Podiatrist will carefully remove some of the dead skin from the surface of the Verruca prior to application. This is done using a scalpel and the nature of verrucae is that often little blood vessels come to the surface, so it is not unusual for them to bleed a bit. This can usually be stopped and the treatment applied. On occasion it may bleed more profusely which would mean the treatment cannot be applied and you will need to come back for a short appointment on a later day (or possibly even later that day.)
A small amount of Verrutop solution is applied by a capillary tube at 1 to 2- weekly intervals and clinical studies show a clearance rate of around 40% with a single application and up to 90% after 6 applications. It is virtually pain-free but as there is some acidity it can sometimes give a stinging sensation for a short while. It can be used in children as young as 6 years of age. After treatment your podiatrist may decide to cover the area or offload it but this is not essential.