Verruca

[philmassive]

Anyone got any advice on getting rid of a verruca? I've just seen that DS has got 2 and I've never dealt with one before. Are they hard to get rid of? Should I stop him from going swimming or is that an outdated idea nowadays?

I am using bazuka on ds's verruca and wart. I havent kept him off swimming as they can take months to get rid of

Swimming is ok these days.

I am currently on a mission to kill two (on me.. joys of working with kids!)
I am using Bazuka extra strength. The most important bit is to emery board the buggers as much as possible.. I'm doing mine daily; before applying the bazuka. I have had mine for months but now I'm sanding them right down they are vanishing really quickly.. two weeks of treatment!

They are plantar warts (no actual difference between the ones on hands and verrucas on feet) and if you leave them they WILL eventually vanish on their own but it can take a year! or longer.

bazuka works well, my DD had 6 on one foot -gone within 10 days

there is still a sign up in the swimming pool asking people to wear verucca socks but bazuka seals it so should be fine

Thanks everybody. Looks like I'm off to buy some bazuka!

They can be a pain in the butt to shift. Often taking 5-15 years to go. They are caused by a virus in the skin and as you know there is pretty much no way of shifting a virus apart from letting the body deal with it.
I treat there as part of my job. Bazuka can work but you must use the emery board in the kit to 'sand' the area right down every time b4 you apply the gel. This may sound harsh but you need to make the verruca bleed b4 putting on the new spot of gel
No you dont need to stop them from swimming. While they can be unsightly and occasionally uncomfortably depending on where they are, no one ever died from one. You dont keep your dc in a hermectically sealed bubble when they have a cold so dont worry.
If they multiply and grow in size then you should see your gp for a blood test as it can indicate an immunity issue but this is very very rare.
Keep treating with Bazuka but dont worry about them too much. Good luck.

Thanks kunahero. Looks like perseverance might be key to getting it sorted then!

I just don't understand veruccas! My DS has had several on one foot for ages. A few weeks ago he finally let me get stuck in to removing them. I used strong gel, left it for 48 hours, used the emery board, even saw the black root and pulled it out with tweezers. Next time I looked, 24 hours later, it had grown back exactly the same. How does it do this? Why?

Bazuka is shite! It doesn't work. It isn't strong enough.

The only thing that I have found works is Scholl Verucca Plasters

They are 40% salicylic acid whereas Bazuka extra strength is only 26%.

Mine were gone in just over a month using the plasters. You must leave them on pretty much around the clock and cover them with a plaster so that they stay on. Also as others have said, use an emery board to remove the dead top layer before applying a fresh plaster. If you don't file down the wart, the treatment won't work.

the plasters are good if you can get them in exactly the right spot otherwise have been known to cause ulcers and infections.

Mandy, as with all virus' they are really hard to get rid of. you only need a miniscule piece left over to kick off again. verruca dont usually have a 'root' what you have probably removed was a thread of dried blood as capillary blood vessels can get caught in the lesion which is what gives them the 'black' spots though not always.

Some Gps will do cryosurgery on verruca, this can be effective but painful. freezing your skin down to -95'c is vound to hurt.

A few years ago a university did a survey of 500 verruca sufferers. Half were given varying treatments from surgery to acid to homeopathy and the other half were not given any treatment. A few years later the half that had had the treatments had more verruca than the half that were left alone!!

In my business as a rule i dont treat them unless they are causing discomfort or spreading rapidly,

Tiny bits of duct tape stuck on work really well - sounds ludicrous but in combination with emery board technique it's fab

Apologies for hijacking but I think DD has 2 veruccas on her toe at the moment - but they look v much like the kind of warts you would have on your hand (v raised) whereas I thought veruccas kind of went into the skin.

So, is it acceptable to just let the veruccas go on their own? They do not seem to bother her and I'd rather not be filing a 6 yo's feet if I don't have to.

We tried everything for DS1. Nothing worked. Dr suggested duct tape. You need to keep at it for about 2 weeks, but it does work and we got rid of about 6 in one go.

the plasters are good if you can get them in exactly the right spot otherwise have been known to cause ulcers and infections.

As opposed to how easy it is to get a messy gel that you squeeze out of a tube in exactly the right spot? Or how about liquid nitrogen? Does that not cause skin damage too? It did on mine. The plasters were the least damaging thing I've used.

lolaladybird, Verruca nad warts are exactly the same thing. Both coused by the human papiloma virus. The main difference is that 'verruca' in certain paces on the foot are under constant pressure from being stood on and so cant grow outward like a wart on the hand so can only grow sideways or inward and becoming v painful.
It depends on wether the verucca are growing and spreading as to wether you just leave them alone. If they are causing your dc pain and discomfort then yes you should treat them.

There are 100's of ways of treating them from over the counter remedies from the chemist, to professional (and often expensive) treatments from health professionals through to taping little bits of garlic/banana skin to the area.

If you can affrod it then profession treatment/advice is always the best way to start. but do try a variety of treatments as youcan see different ways of curing work for different people.

Duct tape can work as can tea tree oil, as can marigold tincture, garlic, banana skins, bazuka, wartner, verucca plasters, cryosurgery etc etc.

good luck. happy to be pm'd if you want any more advice.

Kuna - thank you especially for clarifying the thing about verruca seeming to grow inwards, certainly makes sense. These warts are kind of under her toe where there is no pressure hence being quite 'outward'.

May well take you up on your kind offer of pm-ing if I have any more questions (are you a chiropodist by the way?)

I was a chiropodist but now a foot health professional! Dont ask. Its basically the same thing. Have been doing it for 10 years and running my own clinic reasonably successfully for 7.

Just keep an eye on them so that they dont spread and check other family members feet as they are high infectious.

Ah, you see that's what I love about MN - professional advice just by sitting at the laptop!

Had another look at DD's foot today and it is just one under her toe. Think I will need to deal with it otherwise, as you say, I'm worried it will spread as she shares a bath with her brother in the evening. Also, she kind of fiddles with it when she has no socks on (I know - quite yuck) so will have warts on her hands as well if we're not careful.

Ds ended up with 4. We religiously did the bazuka and filing thing to no avail and ds used to scream the house down. I persisted for well over 6 months as had heard that can take ages.

However, at swimming (where the looked at me like I had too heads when I asked if ok to swim - the answer was yes) a mum recommended the freezing over the counter type. I was cautious as instructions said it is painful but ds who had needed pinning down for filing said it didn't hurt at all and all 4 were gone within 3 weeks.

I've used something myself where you just put the cream on and peel it off the next day, keep doing it and it peels off a bit of the skin each time (I think that's the idea). No filing involved and it worked in a couple of weeks. Can't remember what it was called, will have to go and hunt it down. If it's OK for children, I will try that on DD.

Ooh, have just returned to this thread after ages to recheck my replies and it has grown quite interestingly since I last looked! I was persuaded by the pharmacist that it was worh trying the scholl home ice thing. I have done this over the weeks and they seem a little 'drier' iyswim but not really disappeared and now he has 4 in total and I'm not seeming to get anywhere. kunahero - Is it safe to try the bazuka now after trying the freezing? I don't want to do any damage.
I am also fascinated with the duct tape idea!

I tried everything with mine. Ended up going to a top dermatologist who dealt with West End dancers' feet. She said that you can try and try, sometimes it works, but after about 2-3 years your immune system kicks in and they just go. So after loads of treatments, dry ice, the works, after 2.5 years, it just went just like she said. I know, no good for right now, but there is hope!

Leave them alone, they go away eventually. Trying to get rid of them just makes them hurt more and costs money.

We bought that freezing kit - it worked a treat on the DDs, although one of DD1's veruccas needed a second treatment.

I'm sure they would have cleared up of their own accord, but the girls didn't like having them and wanted them gone.

Kuna,

It's not the same at all, if it was you would be HPC registered. There is a big difference between a degree course and your course.

Your either a podiatrist or your not a podiatrist.

Oh, and they are not highly contagious, people live with family members who have them without catching them.

And I would never advise plasters for them, that's just what you want isnt it? a child with a salycilic acid burn on it's foot.