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Original poster

Tips on getting rid of a very stubborn verruca?

60 replies

CiderBomb · 02/11/2013 15:47

I've had a verruca that's the size of a five pence piece, on the ball of my foot for about ten years now. I'm not exaggerating, I have tried everything to get rid of it. Bazooka and wartner didn't touch it, I went to a private chirpopodist about five years ago who tried to burn it off with some giant match stick type of things - that didn't work either, and I was left seriously out of pocket. I've tried duct tape, I've tried nail polish, I've tried tea tree oil and vitamins. None of them worked.

It's getting to the stage now where it hurts, if it didn't hurt I'd leave it be, but it does hurt and I've also now noticed that it looks like it starting to spread. I have two smaller ones on the same foot, and another one looks to be springing up on the other foot....

I would love to get rid of them all, I'm ashamed of my feet. I'd never go to a beauty salon and get a pedicure because the soles of my feet are so disgusting. I can't understand why nothing is working?

What else can I try?

OP posts:
Pogosticks · 06/11/2013 10:29

Ouch! Good luck. Just remembered I read (prob on mn) about someone having a verruca and their grandad bought it off them. He gave them a coin and it went...

BoohPear · 06/11/2013 10:34

I squeezed one once. It was epic. helpful

lollylaughs · 06/11/2013 10:54

Seriously the only way to get shot of it is with apple cider vinegar. I had one for about 12 years and also tried everything available to get shot of the fucking thing.

So just so you know in advance, it hurts like hell! Soak a bit of cotton wool in the vinegar and then tape it to the area at night before you go to bed. Don't suppose your dh will be all that charmed neither as it smells a bit. At first you wont feel anything, but after an hour or so it will start to throb. You can actually feel it eating into the bastarding thing. So do this every night until you see a hole where it has eaten it away. Mine took about 8 weeks so you need to be patient. But if you had it for 10 years, whats another 2 months Wink.

I would put a sock on over it as you don't want it all over the sheets really. I have been known to wake up in the night and take the plaster off as at times it hurts like a bitch. But, no pain, no gain hey....

When it looks like its gone, just carry on with the vinegar for about a week or two just to be sure its really gone.

Mine has, it was on the ball of foot and there isn't even a mark or anything there now. Its been gone about 2 years now Smile.

lollylaughs · 06/11/2013 10:55

Try not to cut it again Cider as that how you get the mosaic ones as they spread....

willyoulistentome · 06/11/2013 10:59

Duct tape worked for my son's. It was the size of a 5p. He had only had it for a year or so though. It took about 3 months to go and the duct tape made his foot a bit smelly underneath it, but it just literally fell out one day.

Thumbwitch · 06/11/2013 11:08

Oh good, glad someone's already mentioned Salactol. It's brilliant.

You need to paint it on, then every night pumice it off and re-paint. You must not get the salactol on your normal skin though, it burns.
Put it on thick - blob it on, it dries quite slowly but the thicker the better, then put a plaster over it after it's dried a bit. It goes opaque when it dries.
Pumicing off the old stuff every night helps because you get down to actual wart/verruca instead of the surface hard skin.

I had a big old verruca on the ball of my foot, didn't even realise that's what it was because I couldn't see a black centre, and my sports teachers all missed it as well. it wasn't until it spread and I ended up with 20 on that foot and 6 on the other, as well as the "queen", that I saw the GP who confirmed verruca and suggested Salactol. The little ones all went quite quickly; the big one took a while but when it came out it came out in one big plug (it was at least 8mm across) and left a nice clean hole. It had 5 "roots"! (actually blood source, which is why they're apparently black)

I don't know anyone who has had success with either Bazuka or Prep W or whatever that one is; but Salactol is pretty lethal to verrucae IME.

Original poster
CiderBomb · 06/11/2013 12:21

Right, well I've just ordered some salactol from Amazon. Should be here in a few days, I will try anything.

OP posts:
Thumbwitch · 06/11/2013 12:25

Just don't put it on any open wounds, Cider - honest to God, it's agonising. I got a bit slapdash with it when I was doing all the little ones, and when I peeled the stuff off, I didn't realise it had taken the top layer of skin with it - put some fresh on and SCREAMED, nearly wet myself with pain and had to sit there until my Dad came because I literally couldn't move, it hurt so much. He washed it off for me (I was about 14).

It's fine to put directly onto cut verruca, but really not fine to put on cut skin. I guess the hint is in the ingredients - salicylic and lactic ACIDS.

treaclesoda · 06/11/2013 13:02

I had one of these, had it for years, nothing worked. I spent months, and a fortune, going to a podiatrist once a week and he couldn't kill it either. Then someone recommended a different podiatrist who apparently has a good technique with these things. Anyway, one visit to her, she coated it in something that burnt like crazy for a week, next visit she worked her , agic with a scalpel and that was it gone, after ten years of annoying me.

So, I'd say personal recommendation is the way to go, some podiatrists are better at these things than others.

Original poster
CiderBomb · 10/11/2013 23:04

Well I've got the salactol, I'm on day two of applying it. Can't see much of a different so far, but obviously it's still early days.

OP posts:
Thumbwitch · 10/11/2013 23:08

I think it took my big one a week to 10 days to go, Cider. The little one only took a few days.

drinkyourmilk · 10/11/2013 23:12

I was told on here that if you make it bleed it triggers your body's immune system again and it goes. I had one for 10 years. Made it bleed and it went within a week.
However I hadn't heard of mosaic verrucas. So erm. I don't know.

SlinkyB · 11/11/2013 08:58

I've had mosaic ones - they were frozen off pretty quickly by my GP a few years back. It's just the normal ones with long roots which seem to be very stubborn.

Good luck with the Salactol cider, let us know how you get on.

SpencerPercival · 11/11/2013 08:59

i am world expert on them ( self appointed) since s1 had MASSES for about two years

cut through the duct tape crap and banana shit
GO TO THE DOCTORS AND DEMAND FREEZING

he had three sample ones done about three times and ALL THE OTHER FUCKERS WENT
he had about 40 on each foot dotted about

SlinkyB · 11/11/2013 09:05

Spencer I had routine freezing sessions every few weeks/months for years and it did nothing to the stubborn ones. The mosaic ones went though.

Does anyone know if they still freeze them?

SpencerPercival · 11/11/2013 09:06

oh boo.

I had to pester a bit to get them done

krisskross · 11/11/2013 18:46

my DH will be glad i've told you that he had one the size of a 50p for about 2 years, it had loads of tiny heads and was slightly raised off his heel. he'd tried all the over the counter remedies and nothing worked. Nurse at the GP surgery then froze it every week for months and it didnt work. This was before we met. He still had it when we met. The nurse told him she could carry on freezing it but didnt think it would go til his immune system got stronger. He carried on with a pumice stone every day in the bath,,,,,then one day he called me into the bathroom.....it was amazing- it had just come off in his hand in one piece leaving a huge crater.....very satisfying. He swore at the time it was because we'd met and he was happy! (15 years on he'd prob put it down to the pumice stone Grin)

oh and the huge crater had heeled over the next day!

Earlybird · 23/02/2014 16:09

ciderbomb - did the salactol work for you?

Asking as dd has about a dozen on the sole of one foot, and I'm wondering how I should approach treating them.

Laetissimus · 28/02/2014 12:40

I had terrible verrucas for a few years and hated seeing them
I tried a small square of banana skin on each then duct tape over them (had to wrap a long plaster - the type you can cut to length) around my foot to keep them on
Change every few days
Mine disappeared!!
Worked but takes time

thefirstmrsrochester · 28/02/2014 15:25

I had one on the side of my toe for around five years, painful due to the positioning. I tried freezing, filing, duct tape, nail varnish, banana skin all to no avail. Gave up and ignored it the best I could and it just.....disappeared. There was no crater left behind, or mark where it had been. I'd read on here at the time that eventually your immune system finds it and attacks it. 19 years is an awful long time to wait though.

notapizzaeater · 01/03/2014 13:49

Ds had one that wouldn't go away, we tried freezing, duct tape in joy. Just used Wartner (in a tiny tiny tube) off amazon and amazingly it's worked, took about 11 days .

carolinecupcake · 02/03/2014 21:08

I had mine frozen off but my nephew used banana skins which really worked! You have to tape a piece over the offending area with the inside of the banana skin touching your skin.Change it twice a day. It's a bit fiddly and you have to be patient - it took a month- but one morning when my sister removed the banana skin the verruca fell out leaving a little hole which then healed up! Good luck - hope it works for you too!

galwaygirl · 02/03/2014 21:27

My cure is a bit extreme but mine coincided with a time when my immune system was really crap. 3 weeks in the Caribbean and both were sorted!

Mumsfret · 02/03/2014 21:30

If it's changed appearance in any way, please consider getting GP to take a look. Without wishing to alarm in any way, I lost an aunt to foot melanoma which started out looking like a verucca, and which she treated aggressively for years in an attempt to get rid of it. It's a rare condition, I gather, and hers had become an advanced form (would have been very treatable otherwise) but please just consider getting it checked out. That's all.

acsec · 02/03/2014 21:37

I had a crop of verucas on my left foot about 12 years ago - it was horrible! And painful!

I went to the chiropodist to have them frozen off - didn't get rid of them. Bought the home freezing thing and used it more than I should have, along with cutting away the dead skin and digging out the black roots with tweezers I got rid of all of them and have never had another!