warts (verrucae)

Warts (Latin: Verrucae)

As a foot specialist, Peter is regularly asked to provide help for children and adults with verrucas.

Peter can painlessly remove verrucas but it is better to do this when the virus that causes them (the Human Papilloma Virus [HPV]) has been eradicated first.

There are many over-the-counter remedies, which seem to have less and less effect on treating the current generation of HPV than in previous decades. Peter therefore does not recommend acid paints, freezing therapies, marigold pastes, banana skins or tea tree oils (yes, really, they are all found on the internet as verruca “cures”!)

Instead, Peter has found that the use of common duct tape works well in fighting verrucas/warts.

As an evidence-based practitoner, Peter has found good empirical success with duct tape, but more importantly, the use of duct tape in line with occasional scalpel removal by a Podiatrist has been formally studied and found to work well.

Simple duct tape treatment is more effective than liquid nitrogen freezing for common warts. A research study compared standard liquid nitrogen freezing (cryotherapy) to a treatment which consisted of covering the wart with duct tape. In the liquid Nitrogen group, 60% of the warts were cured, but duct tape treatment eliminated 85% of the warts/verrucae within the two month limit of the study. The warts that responded to treatment usually did so within the first month of either therapy (Archives of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine 2002;156:971-974).

The duct tape method seems to work so well in that it simply deprives the virus of Oxygen. The subsequent ‘dead skin’ can then be removed painlessly by scalpel at a later point.

The duct tape method in the evidence-based study cited above was carried out in this manner:

  • Cover the verruca with duct tape for a constant six days and nights
  • Leave the tape on and don’t remove it even for bathing
  • On the seventh day remove the tape, soak the verruca in warm water and gently file the dead top of it with a disposable emery file
  • Allow the verruca to dry and harden overnight, then reapply more duct tape for another six days
  • If the tape comes off before the sixth day, reapply it
  • Repeat this cycle for a minimum of six weeks and attend your Podiatrist for assessment and scalpel removel every six weeks.
  • Call your Podiatrist or GP at any time if you are concerned or in pain with the verruca.

If you or your child has verrucas and would like an assessment/treatment, please book in for an initial consultation here