To make appointments with these GPs purely to tell them it’s their fault?

[TheAngryBatBot]

5yo DD has had a wart on her hand for the last two years. To begin with I thought it would go away. It didn’t and it grew. I have never had warts and neither has any of the rest of the family - I have no experience of them. Googled, but as she was under 4 to start with, a lot of the treatments weren’t suitable.

When I showed the GP and asked what to do, she pulled a face and asked why I wanted to do anything with it. I muttered about being worried she might get teased, but the GP looked at me like I was made, so I accepted her response that I should do nothing. I felt pretty mortified for even asking.

Despite feeling like a complete tosser for wanting to sort out the bloody wart, I took her to the pharmacist when she was 4 and he gave us a gel thing to put on. This didn’t work, and a friend who had had warts suggested going back to the GP and getting them frozen off. So, I thought maybe I’d just had a strange experience and another GP might actually help. Well I got the same fucking response - a sideways, judgmental look and the feeling that he thought me a neurotic mother were all I got from this GP too. It’ll go away on its own he told me.

DD has had a bad spell of health lately, she has ricocheted from virus to virus and also unfortunately developed eczema on her face. Between the blocked, runny noses and the eczema she has touched her face a lot. Tonight I have discovered a fucking wart on her beautiful face. On closer inspection, she now also has 3 other smaller warts on her hand, along with the very large original wart. I am so upset. With myself for accepting what the areshole judgmental doctors said, but also with them. I don’t have a degree in medicine and didn’t know they could spread like that. Why didn’t they help me with the original wart? Why did they not consider the fact that they could spread?

I am a teacher and if I rolled my eyes and dismissed a concern raised by a parent which then escalated, I would have my arse handed to me, not only by that parent but also my line manager. I’ve got an appointment with another GP tomorrow who I really hope will actually help us properly with this (I’ve been told he is very good). But AIBU to want to make appointments with the previous two GPs, show them DD’s face and tell them that I hold them personally responsible for this?

Disclaimer: I would never waste GP time by actually doing this. But AIBU to want to? As I said, in my job I’d be hauled over the coals.

You weren’t without agency here OP. If you’d wanted to do something about it yourself, what was stopping you? You can’t just blame the doctor.

DD had a wart on her knee when she was three. Doctor wouldn’t touch it and kept telling me it would disappear. It didn’t - it kept getting bigger and every time she bumped it, or even put her tights on, it would bleed profusely. So I bought some salicylic acid and a freezing kit and removed it myself at home. It’s never returned. I decided to act because I didn’t agree with the doctor’s advice.

I had veruccas frozen off as a child and don't remember it being that painful. Just like having a stick poked into your foot v hard.

Wow just wow and this is why in a single nutshell why the NHS is fucked

Breaks in the skin make warts more likely to develop there. So keeping skin well moisturised will help.

The pale stools can sometimes be a sign of malabsorption and can be caused by a range of things such as lactose intolerance and celiac disease. So worth emphasising the stools issue.

Yes, you would be unreasonable.

Because most warts disappear by themselves after around a year. In an otherwise healthy little girl, you can very feasibly leave them well alone and the issue will resolve itself. Weighing that up against the faff of having them removed via cryotherapy, which can also be quite upsetting for little ones, it would not suggest that it immediately needs treatment. It is very rare for simple warts to spread to the face. So actually it is not necessarily poor clinical care to suggest leaving the warts. And it isn't their fault it spread- no way of knowing that would happen.

Some areas will not actually do cryotherapy to warts or remove them as it's deemed purely cosmetic.

That said, the Dr should have explained that to you, rather than making you feel silly for asking. That was unreasonable of them.

In addition OP- you should be aware that with cryotherapy there is a risk of scaring. If it is surgically removed, scarring is clearly a risk. Perhaps not such a big issue for the hands, but certainly a big consideration for her face.

In our area, the dermatologist would usually cancel any referral made to them requesting wart removal (and a significant number of other benign skin lesions) as they are deemed to be cosmetic. If you are struggling with her eczema a referral may be appropriate, if the usual first, second and probably 3rd line treatments haven't worked after a suitable length of trial.

scarring not scaring!!

You have to buy the warts. It's some daft old wives tale that people swear by.

I had over 30 warts on my hands as a child. I hated it. They tried everything and also did the red meat and burying it, lemon juice.

The only thing that worked for me was water from a well in the south west. It's a trek for you op but if you or anyone else is interested then please pm me

Can’t believe you went to the gp for a wart!

They go away by themselves
No wonder they wouldn’t do anything
What a waste of their time

Try the stop nail biting solution on them. My son had about 12 warts over his hands. They just cleared up overnight

I’ve had a wart frozen off OP and it was as a last resort and I can tell you it was categorically the most painful thing I’ve ever had done, more so than childbirth even!

I had a google when DD has a long term wart a few years back and one of the top hits was an old MN thread recommending children’s multivitamins.

I’ll admit I was fairly dubious about the chances of success, but otoh figured it wouldn’t do any harm. Anyway - the thing went in about 3 weeks.

It’s possible it would have gone anyway as warts tend to go away by themselves after a while (a long while IME), but It’s probably worth a go

Let us know how it turns out.

No advice but hoping the little one health improves, eczema is hell

YANBU. Nobody should leave a GP's office feeling like their concerns have been dismissed out of hand. The professional thing for the GP to have done would be to explain that treatments are not routinely offered to children as they are painful and very hit and miss, don't have great success rates, and that left alone most warts will disappear by themselves. That touching other areas of her body won't cause her wart to spread, but that others can pop up elsewhere etc. Just spending 60 seconds giving you some basic information would likely have prevented you from making the second appointment and it would have meant you would not be feeling anxious and panicked now (which despite what some people are saying, is a perfectly normal reaction to watching numerous warts pop up on your child, including on their face).

It’s a pity you didn’t read the whole thread before getting your mean comment in HeatherJayne

Thanks for continued tips. Took her to the GP this morning - same old story. Been given another cream to try for the eczema (she’s still itching all over after the last virus) and a different antihistamine. Nothing can be done for the warts, fatigue and constant viruses, blood test isn’t needed. Dr recommended using less detergent, which I will definitely do, and getting some sun, which unfortunately I can’t arrange. Dermatology referral not required as these are all things routinely dealt with in general practice.

He was very nice and took his time to explain things but I still feel crap. I just want to do something practical that actually improves things for my child.

@Ali1cedowntherabbithole what multivitamin did you use? Asked the GP to recommend one but he couldn’t. We’re currentlyusing the bassets ones but I’m dubious as they are really sweetie manufacturers.

I think it could have been bassets that we used TBH, I think they were blackcurrant flavoured, but in truth I would guess lots of children's MV are pretty similar. DD was quite happy to take them anyway,

Fingers crossed they work for you.

If the GP is recommending more sun, he means vitamin D. I’m dosing my kids with specific vitamin D gummies (Peppa Pig shaped!) as they have a lot more bit D than the multi-Vits.
All the other vitamins she should be getting in her diet generally, but at this time of year, it’s basically impossible to get enough Vit D naturally.
I haven’t noticed much difference with my DC, but mega-doses of vitamin D transformed me over the past few months.

Are you using emollient enough?
One practical thing you can do, is apply it at least four times a day when you can, and at least before school, after school and before bed.
Most of the children with eczema I see, where its not well controlled, it's an issue over having a regime and sticking to it.
This has to be emollient as a minimum three times a day, and emollient based bath or shower additives as well as a steroid cream for short periods if it's bad.
Sorry op if you know this already

Thanks all.

Will get extra vitamin d ones from shop today.

I think I’m good with emollient for her face, but I wasn’t sure the itching was due to dry skin until I saw dr today - will start using on her whole body. What would you suggest for the bath? No GP has mentioned this. Been either using plain water or child’s farm wash stuff which is supposed to be suitable for sensitive skin.

There is no 100%effective treatment for warts or verrucas.

Yes there is. But you need to live in countries where Dermatology is a respected specialty to get easy access to treatment that works.

I think you’re overreacting. I had about 10 over my hands for donkeys years. It regularly touch my face and strangely they never appeared there.
They must have been on my hands for about 15 years.
After I gave birth to DS, they went, all of a sudden.

I also had genital warts (unrelated to the ones on my hands) and they were recurring for about 2/3
Years, they haven’t been back for 11 years.

I also had verrucas on my feet. Clusters on the balls of my feet. I’ve had them for a long long time. They’re finally just about going. I had a good few on each foot and now I have 2 tiny ones on my left foot which are on the verge of going.

Freezing them off is agony.

Try using a liquid Marseilles soap made from pure vegetable (preferably olive oil) to wash your daughter. It has miracle properties. Even Marseilles bar soap is fabulously good for atopic skin.

Go back to GP asap and get her seen by a specialist. This isnt right