Really stubborn verruca

[uthredswife]

My 13 year old has a giant verruca under her heel. It's really painful to walk on and as a consequence she's not walking anywhere (she winces every time she puts weight on it). She's has 3 cryotherapy sessions but no improvement. She's also leaving duct tape on it most of the time. It's actually really upsetting seeing her in so much pain all the time. Anyone any ideas what to try next? I see needling and chemical type treatments on line. I'm happy to spend money to resolve this. She's actually begged us to get it cut out but I don't think that's an option any more. Thus far her GP has been treating her but I will bring her elsewhere. Thanks

Hi there, bearing in mind your child is 13, you may find that certain procedures are not recommended in ireland, as in uk. Taping is always advised as the first port of call, we don’t recommend acid treatment now on young skin, as this can make a mess when it isn’t really needed. Needling is the extreme, and can be painful,with regards to injections of local. If it were me i would try to get a recommendation of a local podiatrist/foothealth professional who could start by debriding the area to make things more comfortable and go from there. As it is the callus and pressure that causes the pain,Hope this helps.

It wouldn’t have been cut out. It would have been debrided, ie had skin removed from it by a scalpel. In order to cut it out, you would have had local anaesthetic, otherwise the pain would be unbearable and it would have done nothing apart from leaving you with a large wound under your foot, opening the doors to infection.

@WowIlikereallyhateyou Maybe. But it was removed; and I did have a fair divet. It took some healing. I can't remember how painful it was to be honest, the pain itself from the verucca was excruciating all I can remember is the utter relief. It was like walking in air. But to be fair we're also talking 25 years ago

Yes, a lot of things are done differently now. A divet would be from debridement and removal of callus.
If you had a large hole in your foot, required if the thing was cut out, putting pressure on the wound would have been excruciatingly painful, you definitely wouldn’t have been walking on air. I suspect the incorrect terminology was used when describing the procedure to you. At least you are free ofthe thing now.

So inspired by the talk of debridment I just spent 20 mins filing the top of it with a rough nail file. She tolerated it fine and says it feels a lot less painful to walk on.. The verruca is about 8mm in diameter however I'm wondering now if most of the pain is from the callus on top. I'll keep this up while awaiting the final cyrotherepy. If that doesn't work I have found a well recommended local podiatrist who offers all the potential treatments.

Again many many thanks everyone 😊

I don't usually post but I felt compelled after spending hours reading posts trying to get rid of my DD enormous verruca which has finally fallen out of her toe tonight. We tried everything, nail varnish, duct tape, bazuka, salactol, filing. We then bought a pumice stone and gave it a good rub ( not fun for dd). Unfortunately (or so we thought) it bled so instead of salactol I had to just put savlon and micropore tape over. Within a week they weren't hurting as much (she has three), they were shrinking and tonight the big one fell out and left a crater. So basically, what I think happened was the virus was suddenly found out by her immune system and it's like the best thing ever. So I guess what I'm saying is the recommendation to file them with emery boards, like yeah it's easier to tolerate but takes so long and you have to do it every night, and it still might not get rid, it doesn't ever introduce the virus into the body whereas a pumice stone more likely. I literally only had to do it that one time. Hopefully they won't grow back and that's it. Felt I had to share because I know the misery verrucas can cause.

Get it needled. My DD had a huge mosaic verruca that nothing over the counter would budge. Went to podiatrist who suggested the needling. The local anaesthetic injection went in near her ankle which she said was only painful for a second. She was about 12 at the time. It cleared up completely within a couple of months after that. As others have said, it makes the body’s immune system kick in & recognise the verucca needs dealing with!

My DH has them all over his foot and used Salactol and bought some tools (scalpel and scraper) and just kept at it. I think they only go when it really starts to hurt/bleed.

Yeah could be. Mine was actually on the side of my foot in a really odd place so it was pressure from my shoes that hurt more than anything.

Any thoughts on VerrucaTop as a treatment? It’s meant to be a new thing and seems to work without the pain.

Extra Strength Bazooka stuff worked for my daughter, and patience! It felt like nothing was happening for ages

Nothing worked for mine except time. 5 years and it eventually went. My immune system is shocking so not surprising really.

A GP recommended Salactol to me for a really stubborn verruca, probably about 20 years ago now. I had tried all sorts of things but it was the Salactol that finally got rid of it. Between me, DH & 2 children we have had numerous verrucae since & the Salactol has worked every time without fail.

@uthredswife i had this, so painful for nearly a year. Had it professionally frozen multiple times by the GP, tried every bazuka going. Eventually the GP cut it out.

injection in the foot to numb it. That stung like hell. Then cut it out, he said it went really deep. Left a big crater but instantly less sore than the verucca. He bandaged it and said it would be tender to walk on for a week and rest it. My arse! It was much less sore than having the verruca. This was last year and thank god the bastard hasn’t come back.

@WowIlikereallyhateyou they scraped the top off mine initially (after injecting anaesthetic) but it didn’t do anything so I went back a week later and they properly dug it out. Massive crater. Did the job.

A general surgeon could cut it out, sew it up and she would be relieved of it in a very short time.

Anyone have any thoughts on this photo? Day 2 of using apple cider vinegar aka the post above where the poster used a corn plaster with ACV soaked cotton wool in the hole. I’ve filed it with a pumice stone of a morning and then made sure the ACV is on it across the day. Do you think good things are happening? 🥴

Only thing that worked for DS was Bazooka max strength BUT we would use an emery board every evening to file the hard/thick skin, then soak them in warm water, then dry them and apply it whilst the skin was still soft. We had to do this religiously every night for a few weeks but it did work.

Chiropodist years ago on my boys foot (after all the chemical stuff from the doctor failed) put a bit of banana skin inside bit down taped it on really well said don't get it wet, went back a week later completely gone - Gods honest truth and it was a big beggar.

He bandaged it and said it would be tender to walk on for a week and rest it. My arse! It was much less sore than having the verruca.

OMG @Titwillow55 the relief is immense isn't it!

I had the world's most stubborn verucca. I think I had it for about 15 years! I tried all of the home remedies, freezing, I saw 2 different chiropodists and had an acid treatment (verutop). Nothing worked until I went to private skin clinic and plasma fibroblast treatment - 4 sessions over 4 months and it's gone. Not sure they would treat a 13 year old as its not very pleasant, but not as bad as needling!