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General health

Has anyone had old verrucas frozen off?

19 replies

mummysmellsofsick · 09/04/2013 22:27

Does it hurt?
Does it work?
Does it scar?

I have a really old verruca- maybe 6 years I think. My doctor said the nhs wouldn't treat it so I left it and I've finally gone to a podiatrist who recommended cryosurgery.

It's going to be expensive and painful I think, I'd like some reassurances that it actually works!

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WeDigUpTheRoad · 09/04/2013 22:32

I've not had it done but am watching as I have a verruca I've had for a while and Bazuka etc haven't worked. I was thinking of asking my GP's surgery if they would deal with it. Do drs/nurses not deal with them now?

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PiggyPlumPie · 09/04/2013 22:34

Not sure about cryosurgery - my podiatrist didn't rate it. My verrucas were also old, about the same as yours I think.

I had them dry-needled where my foot was numbed and a sterile needle was basically jabbed repeatedly into the main verruca. The theory is that you introduce the virus further into your body which then responds to fight it off. Within a month or so, all my verrucae were completely gone!

They needed filing down weekly and it was sore for a couple of days but well worth the £50 it cost me.

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mummysmellsofsick · 10/04/2013 08:51

Oh interesting piggyplumpie. The podiatrist I saw said she'd recommend starting with the cryosurgery and give that plenty of goes before doing dry needling if it wasn't working. Was the needling painful? I assumed that's what she meant because she said it was 'more invasive'. I should have asked. Impressed that it worked on yours, I might go for that instead, as repeated trips for cryo that might not be successful doesn't sound like fun

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mummysmellsofsick · 10/04/2013 09:35

wediguptheroad no, in most cases I believe the nhs won't deal with warts and verrucae any more. My GP said no Sad

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EuroShaggleton · 10/04/2013 09:39

Hurt like hell
Didn't work
No scars

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mummysmellsofsick · 10/04/2013 16:36

Ok, thanks euro, I'm thinking dry needling might be better... Some places are saying offer a second free session if the first doesn't work because their success rates are apparently so high. Any other experiences of either?

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ExitPursuedByABear · 10/04/2013 16:39

DD had a 3 year old verrucas frozen off. She is a prize wimp and it didn't hurt and it worked.

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fubbsy · 10/04/2013 16:49

I had cryo and it worked. It did leave a scar, but tbh I am the only person who has ever noticed it.

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gallifrey · 10/04/2013 19:14

I've had cryotherapy on 3 verrucas and it hurt like hell!
I was laying on my front so I couldn't see what they actually did but it mainly involved holding a freezing thing on the verruca for a maximum of 2 minutes at 2 minute intervals. The podiatrist said that nobody can normally take the full 2 minutes but to try and as soon as it gets too painful she would stop.
I ended up being surrounded by podiatry students all encouraging me and I managed to take the pain for the whole 2 minutes!
Afterwards I was in so much agony I literally couldn't sit still and I couldn't walk properly on my foot for ages.
And they are still there and now I have 7 of the fuckers!

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PiggyPlumPie · 10/04/2013 19:50

Needling itself didn't hurt because of the anaesthetic in my foot! It was fairly ouchy once that wore off and hard to walk, obviously. Sore for a few days I guess, but don't remember it being too bad.

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Toasttoppers · 10/04/2013 19:56

This reply has been deleted

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eatyourveg · 10/04/2013 20:11

Have you tried wartner? its a DIY freeze thingy. Bit painful but it works and I always keep some in the cupboard now. Its very easy to use and the dc can handle the pain so I'm sure you could.

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jamtoast12 · 10/04/2013 20:13

Dd had the worst verrucas last year. Rig under her foot and she could hardly walk. We tried everything, it was very painful and all the treatment caused her lots of distress. So much so that she got another recently and I couldn't face treating it! I left it and within a couple if weeks it left on its own so I'd try leaving it alone. Ill never treat one again!

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CarpeVinum · 10/04/2013 20:22

I saw the whole thing in action, from my vantage point of holding DS down.

Doc wafted a long cotton bud thing (but bigger) that was "steaming"

He pushed it onto the bump.

I had to watch the verruca over the next couple of days with instructions to pop the resultant blister. Which was massive.

Then pour peroxide in the hole. (And it was a hole). Then apply a plaster.

It took a few goes but it did die. DS did not like it at all, but didn't cry. He was 10 at the time, and prone to crying when things hurt unbearably.

Never looked forward to going, but I didn't have to bodily pick him up and drag him there.

It was a right big bugger that yonks and yonks of OTC stuff hadn't budged at all.

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50shadesofbrown · 10/04/2013 20:24

I had verrucas on & off for about 20 years. Tried:
Cryosurgery - hurt like hell (8 verrucas on my heel) but worked.
Bazuka normal & extra strength - useless, just made them sore.
Silver nitrate - (I think, it was definitely silver something) reduced it but didn't completely kill it. It was a fecking massive bastard though. Warning - I spotted tiny dark marks on the floor of the bath after I had this done, it didn't dawn on me straight away, the silver stuff had permanently stained it.
Some stuff similar to Bazuka but a lot stronger, about 25% active ingredient, got it from the chemist - this was pretty good but it still got sore. Did work but you really need to grit your teeth.
Verruca treatment plasters - may work on tiny ones but mine were well established, they just got sore from the extra pressure, didn't make much difference.

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mummysmellsofsick · 10/04/2013 20:38

Apparently gaffer tape and home treatments do work on new ones but mine is over 5 years old, I'm not sure could be getting on for 10 years. It's very embedded. So leaving to go away itself is no longer an option.

Hmm. Phrases like 'hurt like hell' are not making me think I'm going to pay someone money to do something which may well not even work.

Has anyone else had dry needling? Or successful cryo on a v old verruca?

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gallifrey · 10/04/2013 20:51

I had cryotherapy after salicylic acid hadn't worked or the silver stuff.
I had to go to the hospital every week for about 3 months, I couldn't get my foot wet for 5 days afterwards. it was a nightmare and none of it worked. I must have had them for a good 10 years too. Even now I can feel them on the bottom of my heel and it's painful to walk on them.
I wouldn't bother having anything done to them if thet aren't painful x

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Sandie79 · 20/04/2013 17:43

I had a verruca for seven years, tried repeated cryotherapy, over the counter, everything. Doctor said that eventually they just go which I was a bit Hmm about but eventually it just went away. Which was a surprise as it was quite embedded, and I'd avoided sandals for years.

Currently, a load more have come back, and worse, I have a wart on my finger. It's been there about a year. There must be ten verrucas on my foot, but I read online that hand sanitiser works so have been rubbing it into the wart twice a day and two weeks later its visibly dying. Will try on my feet once I get rid of this, it seems like in some cases it actually works.

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mummysmellsofsick · 20/04/2013 17:58

Wow, hand sanitizer really?! Well it makes more sense than a friend of mine who went to an old man in her village who rubbed a copper coin on them and they went away! I think I'm going to chicken out of freezing them off but still thinking about trying dry needling

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