What are your Options?
Needling not for you? To help you decide which treatment suits you we have put together this quick guide
There are several treatments on the market place and you should research each before making any decision over your treatment pathway.
Here's a quick guide and some tips about what to ask your practitioner.
What you should ask in your consultation?
As a patient you are possibly more focused on 'will it work' and 'will it hurt' and then 'what will it cost'.
Bearing this in mind you should always ask your practitioner 3 important things
Protocol - How will treatment be carried out?
The guide below gives some indication of current information on protocol by treatment. However, the Foot Clinic does NOT offer any of the treatments below, so it is up to you to check with your chosen practitioner.
Always ask - how many treatments / sessions are required? How often?
Efficacy - how successful is this treatment?
Again we have tried to give an indication of efficacy, but not all treatments have available statistics. This does not mean that they do not work, just that robust research is yet to be carried out.
Always ask - how successful is this treatment IN YOUR CLINIC.
Timescales - How long from the first intevention is resolution likely to occur?
The time is takes is hugely important. You should not expect overnight success. It is accepted that verruca and warts take on average 5 months to fully resolve from the point of the first intervention.
Our guide to treatments offered for Verruca and wart resolution
The following is an overview of what is on offer elsewhere - you are responsible for doing your own research.
Laser therapy - due to the variety of laser machines on the market, there is little information on protocols for delivering laser therapies for verruca. Please check with the practitioner regarding number of applications and time scales as well as efficacy within their clinic. Should not require anaesthetic
Acids - do not have good evidence but as practitioners we have access to higher concentrations. Always exercise some caution if you go down this route as applying an acid to the skin will result in a wound and not just to the verruca area.
Cryotherapy - has good evidence but the protocol for application can vary from practitioner to practitioner. Again caution is needed as freezing agents often travel beyond the area to be treated. If you have peripheral vascular disease, neuropathy or anything that affects your ability to heal then this is not for you.
Microwave Therapy - is valuable for multiple verrucae across both feet and does not require aneathetic. It involves a minimum of 3 separate sessions, spaced 4 weeks apart. A paper sponsored by the manufacturers (Nov 2023) suggests <60% resolution after 3 sessions, increasing with a 4th (65%) and 5th (70%) sessions.
Do Nothing - you do not have to do any treatment as verruca and warts are benign lesions that will cause you no harm. It is worth considering managing them with regular filing and foot / hand cream to keep the areas hydrated.
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