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What is a Verruca

Nothing more spectacular than a plain and simple wart on the sole of your foot. In fact they are exactly the same as the type of wart you might get on your hand or finger but because they are on the sole of your foot, you keep on standing on them, and this can make them look different and as they can press into the foot it can make them painful. Usually they are round and slightly raised, and sometimes they have discolouration on the surface. Like all warts they are caused by a viral infection of the skin. While warts and verrucas are not dangerous you should always see your Doctor if you have one which bleeds, changes its shape or colour or starts to spread.

How are they spread?

It used to be thought that they were picked up in the same way as athletes foot, by simply walking barefoot where a sufferer had previously walked, but recent research tends to suggest this might not be the case, and they spread by the foot having damaged skin and picking up the virus that way. Skin to skin contact is also a way of passing warts or verrucas on.

Treatment & Prevention

Prevention

Don’t share shoes and socks as this is a good way to transfer the virus from foot to foot, and equally don’t share towels. Don’t touch someone's wart either as the virus can be spread that way as well.

Don’t let them scratch or pick at it as this can sometimes help to make one wart turn into several and can lead to unwanted complications such as an infection. Don’t try to cut the wart off yourself, as this should only be attempted by a medical professional and could lead to its spreading, or getting infected. Ensure your child is aware what the verruca is and the fact that they can be spread. Encourage them to use flip-flops or sandals in shower areas and changing rooms and, most importantly, when doing activities barefoot, to cover it with a waterproof plaster. As every parent knows, waterproof plasters are difficult to keep in place on any child who is swimming so consider using a rubber sock for swimming. These are available from chemists and ensure the foot stays covered.

Treatment

Now, this is where opinions differ, so lets look at all the options.

Although unsightly, warts and especially verrucas are not dangerous, so one option is to do nothing and let nature take its course. The verruca will often go away untreated although this may take several months.

A trip to your Doctor will confirm that it is a verruca and your GP or minor ailments nurse may suggest leaving it alone. They may however suggest one of several ways to speed up its disappearance. Your GP will also probably advise you that these treatments aren’t guaranteed and the warts may well come back.

Verrucas can be surgically removed but this is not a common option. A more likely suggestion is that the Doctor uses a super cooled liquid and literally freezes the verruca. This kills the infected skin cells and forms a scab which drops off after several days.

Other treatments are available and your GP will discuss these with you in relation to the location and severity of the verruca. Another method involves keeping the wart or verruca covered with tape from several weeks, but as stated earlier, don’t be surprised if the Doctor simply recommends letting time sort the problem out.

Finally there are many remedies available for verrucas through your chemist. Many of these involve several treatments at home and although they remove the wart they can take up to three months to do the job and require repeated applications. If you do decide to use one of these remedies to remove a wart then read the instructions carefully and discuss it with the pharmacist as they shouldn’t be used by people with certain medical conditions such as poor circulation or diabetes.

For more information on verrucas use the link on the home page to the NHS website.