How are Verrucas treated?...

Verrucas are difficult to treat.

Many different treatments have been tried, and several are in common use. For simple cases the most common treatments advised are:

• Watchful waiting - recognising that the problem may self-resolve
• Salicylic acid - applied manually (see below)
• Cryosurgery - freezing with liquid nitrogen

Household remedies:

Duct tape occlusion therapy
The wart is kept covered with duct tape for six days, soaked and debrided with a pumice stone, then the process repeated.



Banana peel
A piece of banana peel is taped over the wart and subsequently dead skin is cut away.

Garlic
A sliver of garlic is taped over the wart and subsequently dead skin is cut away. The active ingredient may be Allicin which is known to also be an antiobiotic and anti-fungal.

Celandine
Rub with greater celandine.

Note: as plantar warts are contagious precautions should be taken to avoid spreading. Infection may lead to warts forming under the fingernail (subungual) and around the fingernail or on the cuticle (periungual). These may be more difficult to cure than warts in other locations.

Vaccination for verrucas

Although immunization is available for the HPV strains causing cervical cancer and venereal (or Genital) warts, there is currently no vaccination treatment for plantar warts.