Verrucas
What is a verruca?
A verruca is a benign wart usually on the sole of your foot and this is caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). The infection may present as a single wart or as multiple warts. They can vary in appearance and size depending on their location.
A good test to see if you have a verruca is to pinch it and then push the lesion. If it hurts during a pinch and not during a push, then it is likely to be a verruca. Verrucae also commonly have small black dots in the centre.
Who gets verrucas
Adults and children both develop verrucas and they are not as contagious as you may think. It is fair to say that children are most likely to get a verruca but they can come and go very quickly. Once the virus manages to replicate in your skin, they can hang around for varying lengths of time. If adults develop verrucas, with no treatment, these lesions can remain for upto 10 years.
Treatment options
It is vital that before you treat a verruca, you ensure a correct diagnosis has been made. You should see a podiatrist to ensure you do have a verruca and to seek advice about which treatment will suit you.
Here at Supafoot Cheltenham we have 4 options to treat your verrucae.
Click on the service you wish to find out more about:
We are now offering the new brilliant SWIFT microwave therapy for verrucas.
What is it?
Swift is a new technology, developed in the UK, which has been licenced for the general treatment of skin lesions in Podiatry and Dermatology. Swift uses microwave energy which is delivered through a special probe applied to the skin to treat the affected tissue.
Microwaves are a form of non-ionising radiation, which means that they can’t cause damage to the DNA of living things. Microwaves sit between radio waves and infrared waves (at any frequency between 300MHz and 300GHz – Swift itself operates at 8GHz) in the electromagnetic spectrum.
How does it work?
As microwaves travel into the tissue, water molecules begin colliding and creating localised heat energy – quickly destroying all infected tissue within a predetermined depth.
75.9% of clinics reported successful outcomes in the research. Check it out for yourself: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1684/ejd.2017.3086
Does it hurt?
It is not uncommon for patients to feel a sharp sensation, similar to an injection. Unlike most treatments for verruca, pain felt during the treatment quickly subsides, and only in rare cases is there any prolonged pain. Before treatment your Podiatrist or Dermatologist may lightly reduce your lesion with a blade (debride)
Are there any Contraindications or Precautions to be aware off?
SWIFT is not allowed if you have a pace maker or are pregnant.
If you have diabetes, you should consult your podiatrist to see if this is safe for you.
What to do following the treatment?
There are no restrictions after the treatment session- you may continue with your normal activities.
Treatment Process
CLINICAL RESEARCH SUGGESTS MOST VERRUCAE RESOLVE AFTER 3 TREATMENTS. SIMPLE, EFFECTIVE, AND SWIFT…
Week 1
During your first treatment, your Podiatrist may lightly reduce your lesion with a blade (debride), before applying 3-5 very short treatments with Swift (usually 2 seconds in duration). This quickly raises the temperature within the skin, without breaking the surface – meaning no blisters, no padding, and no scarring. It is not uncommon for patients to feel a sharp sensation, similar to an injection, but unlike most treatments for verruca, pain felt during the treatment quickly subsides.
Week 4
Your second treatment for Swift will usually occur 4 weeks later. Some patients will see black spots appear beneath the surface of the skin after the 1st treatment, but the size of the lesion may remain the same. The Swift treatment works by reducing the depth, rather than the width. Your Podiatrist will provide advice on what to expect, but patients report a similar sensation to their 1st treatment.
Week 8
Your third appointment will usually be your last treatment appointment, although your Podiatrist will provide specific advice based on your individual condition. Of the patients who will resolve, 75% will resolve after this final treatment.
Week 20
Your Podiatrist will usually leave a gap of 12 weeks for the body to heal and cycle through the immune response. You should feel little to no pain from the verruca at this stage, and your normal skin should be returning where the verruca was.
Further Information:
Swift – a breakthrough treatment for verruca from Emblation on Vimeo.
If you require any further information regarding our SWIFT service please contact us.
Email: cheltenham@supafoot.com
Call: 01242 321242
K- Laser therapy can be used to treat verrucae, also known as plantar warts, which are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Laser treatment for verrucae involves using a specialized laser device to target and destroy the infected tissue.
During the treatment, the laser emits a focused beam of light that penetrates the skin and heats the tissue, causing the virus to break down and the infected cells to be destroyed. This heating process also initiates an immune response that is required for your body to clear the virus. The treatment is generally quick with little pain.
Laser therapy is considered to be an effective treatment option for verrucae because it is able to target the infected tissue directly, without damaging the surrounding healthy tissue.
What happens at my appointment?
Step 1: After a thorough assessment and deciding K-laser is the right choice for you, we will debride the hard skin over the top of the verruca using a gentle scalpel technique.
Step 2: We will ask patients to wear a mask as the treatment does produce a smoke.
Step 3: The treatment will last 30 mins or so and the pt will feel a heat sensation during the treatment. You will be able to carry on your normal day as there is very little pain afterwards.
You may feel some mild discomfort.
What are the risks:
Safety glasses must be worn at all times by the patient, clinician and any other person present due to the infra-red therapeutic beam posing a risk to eye health if exposed to the naked eye.
When will my verruca go?
In most cases we will eliminate the verrucae in two sessions (one every 3-4 weeks) but this will vary from person to person. It also depends on the effectiveness of your immune system.
You can book an online consultation here or call the clinic and book a consultation with one of the podiatry team.
Verruca needling is a simple procedure under local anaesthesia.
After you have had an initial consultation, your podiatrist will have outlined the various treatment options for you. Needling involves usually one maybe two injections and then a needling technique first described by Gordon Faulkner in in 1960’s.
A verruca is caused by a viral infection in the skin which can’t be detected easily by the body’s blood-borne immune system. Needling pushes the virus further into the body which allows a specific immune response to occur. This essentially means that if the needling procedure is successful you will be immune to that specific family of virus you have been infected with.
Needling is roughly 70% effective with the first treatment. Occasionally a second needling procedure is required.
Before and After:
Research:
Here is a good quality research paper detailing the efficacy of the procedure.
Testimonial:
If you choose ‘needling’ as your treatment here is a testimonial written by a patient who has shared their experience.
“For many years and every treatment possible to try and get rid of a cluster of verrucas that appeared on my left foot and got worse after a serious operation that I had to have. It was suggested that I contact Supafoot in Cheltenham, so I thought what the heck let’s give it a go, after all I felt that I had finally exhausted all avenues to get rid of them.
On 20th Dec 2017 I had an appointment and during the consultation my podiatrist suggested that I might like to try “ Verucca needling under local anaesthetic”. I was fitted in at the end of the day to have the procedure, and after a series of questions and paperwork the dose was administered. We had to wait for my foot to go numb so that the needling could be done. I have no idea how many times the needle went in and out but it went on for about 10 minutes. I really felt for her poor hand but me, well I didn’t feel a thing and was happy to watch what she was doing to me. Eventually the procedure came to an end and my foot was cleaned and dressed, I was advised that when the anaesthetic started to wear off that I might feel uncomfortable and in some pain. My podiatrist said that I had to keep the foot dry for 2 days and then take the dressing off and soak my foot in warm salt water and then redress it. It was a weird feeling when walking due to the anaesthetic but I knew that it wouldn’t last too long. I took a couple of paracetamols when I went to bed as I didn’t want to suffer unnecessarily. It was slightly uncomfortable the following day but nothing that wasn’t manageable. After this I soaked my foot daily to avoid any problems i.e. infections and dressed the area again. I went back 3 weeks later for a follow up appointment and I thought that nothing had worked as my foot was still black, that’s me being negative!! My podiatrist cleaned the area and debrided the area ( scraped off the horrible black stuff) which turned out to be just dried blood. After inspecting the area I was just as pleased as she was as it certainly looked better than it did before the treatment. A few tiny black marks but she was hopeful that they would go in time. Another follow up appointment today, 4 weeks later and Emma asked how it was “ I said take a look and you tell me” she was impressed as I was, the area looks great and apart from a few little marks which I hope will go as it has only been 7 weeks since the treatment was done.
After spending an absolute fortune on treatments and lotions over the years that hadn’t worked I would like to say “thank you Emma” and I really wish that we had taken before and after photos so that others could see the results.
Thanks very much Supafoot.”
Debbie Eccleston
Verrutop is a new type of wart treatment. Unlike Cryotherapy or other chemical treatments, Verrutop does not act by freezing or burning the tissue. Instead it denatures the viral protein and desiccates the wart tissue, which then falls off the skin, leaving intact skin underneath.
Treatment is normally quick and painless.
Clinically backed.
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.
Treatment process:
Firstly we debride the verruca using a scalpel blade. This may cause a small amount of bleeding but this is normal.
We then mask the surrounding skin and apply a tiny amount of the Verrutop liquid onto the lesion which may sting a tiny bit. We have found this works well on small superficial lesions, lesions on the top of the toes or fingers and/ or those lesions in some children. We repeat the procedure every 10 days or so. We ask you to apply surgical spirits daily to help with the drying out of the tissue and we advise you take zinc supplements as well to help to ensure you immune system is playing its part.
We will offer up to 6 treatments and if there is no improvement we will try something else.
Our clinics
Drop in and see us at one of our clinics or contact us.