Do I Have A Verruca?

Do I Have A Verruca?

Verrucas are a nuisance and can take a long time to resolve. I often get asked how long will it take for my verrucas to go away or how many treatments will I need? The answer is I don’t know! 

Here are the answers to frequently asked verrucae questions:

What is a verruca?

A verruca is a harmless virus that lives in the layers of the skin, it comes from the same family as warts. Verrucas often present with small black dots which are blood capillaries and can be rough in appearance, they are contagious and can sometimes be painful, uncomfortable and unsightly causing embarrassment. There are many types of verruca which can present differently.

What causes a verruca?

A verruca is caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) they spread when the skin comes into contact with contaminated areas.

Verrucae are often found in communal areas such as swimming pools, gyms and changing areas. 
The virus skin cells are found on the floor which is then passed onto others in the same area.

Verrucae are especially painful or uncomfortable if they are on the sole of the foot.

How can I prevent a verruca?

Do

• Wash your hands after touching a verruca
• Change your socks daily if you have a verruca
• Cover your verruca with a plaster or use a verruca sock when swimming
• Take care not to cut your verruca

Do NOT

• Share towels, socks or shoes
• Walk barefoot in public places if you have a verrucae
• Scratch or pick your verruca

Should I treat my verruca?

If you have a verruca it is advised to keep it covered in communal areas to prevent it spreading. 
If your verruca is not causing any discomfort, pain or embarrassment we advise not to treat it. As a verruca is a virus it will resolve on its own with the help of your immune system, however this could take weeks, months or even years.  

Treatments such as gels, plasters and creams are available at pharmacies, however you need to be careful these do not irritate the healthy skin surrounding the verruca and the treatment is not always successful.

How can we help?

We can help to treat your verruca and minimise symptoms at our chiropody clinic. 
We always advise that our treatments may not resolve the verruca as it is a virus and the immune system response will resolve the virus.

At ACE chiropody clinic we can remove the skin overlying the verruca and apply a chemical to try to get an immune response for the body to react to the virus. This can be a long process and you will need to return weekly for treatments.

We also specialise in verruca needling, this involves injecting a local anaesthetic at the site of the verruca to numb the area.  A sterile needle is then used to puncture the verruca which aims to infect the deeper cells with the verruca virus to stimulate an immune response. This treatment requires 2 follow up appointments to review the verruca after the needling procedure.  This can be effective with a high success rate compared to other verruca treatments. Usually the verruca only needs to be needled once. This is great for people who do not have the time for weekly treatments. This treatment is £200 which includes the needling and your 2 review appointments.

More information: Verruca Needling Leaflet.pdf