Verrucas.... the common viral ninja
nicola keating Tue 13 Oct 2015 updated: Mon 26 Oct 2015
They appear from no- where but you soon realise they are there. They throb, pinch and become very very painful, but what are these little ninja like problems and how do we get rid of them?
Verrucae/warts are derived from the human papilloma virus (HPV’s). This virus generally affects children of school age due to communal, barefoot environments of changing rooms and the non-exposure to other virus’. This communal changing area is the common spread of the virus in all age groups due to swimming and sports etc.
Symptoms
Verrucaes can be mistaken for corns but have a cauliflower like appearance with black dots in the center. They are sharp when pinched at the sides and have a throbbing pain when weight-bearing.
Treatment
•Keep the verrucae covered to prevent spreading. . Your partner and kids may love you but that may diminish if you spread your verruca to them.
• Bleach your shower and clean your floors regularly
• Use over the counter verrucae treatment and a pumice stone to remove the hard skin covering the verrucae.
• These over the counter salicylic acid treatments are good and cheaper than visiting a podiatrist every week but diabetic patients or people with compromised circulation should NOT use these products.
• A podiatrist can treat the verrucae with stronger % acids which may help you get rid of the virus quicker but regular treatments to the podiatrist can add up and become expensive.
Verrucaes are such a nusiance, we can not tell our patients when the virus will go. They go when they go I’m afraid to say. I have suffered from them alot as a child and as an adult also, I understand how frustrating it is for patients when they have a stubborn verrucae.
If your fed up with constant treatments which add up, my advice would be to keep treating them yourself.Visit a podiatrist for an initial diagnosis and also to check in with them again for an update if it is getting bigger/smaller or fingers crossed.. GONE!