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Well I searched here at the time (the grouped wisdom this community holds is great and occasionally bonkers) but all the threads are now closed so just thought I’d share the knowledge. I’ve been living with a verucca for probably 1.5 years and bazuka, then sanding down and repeating just wasn’t doing anything and making things worse as the gel just dries up leaving a ball on your foot!
So from the forum someone suggested scholl medicated disks and I’m amazed to say they’re working so far, after probably 2 weeks now yesterday I scraped away a whole load of dead skin and part of the verucca, all cleaned up and another dot applied, covered with a fabric plaster and we go again hopefully they’re going to kill the root off and the best thing, haven’t felt any pain from it working, salicylic acid is da bomb!
The doctors told me to use duct tape when my daughter had one. Just enough of a section to cover it.
Lo and behold we were dubious but it bloody worked.
I had a verruca for about 10 years. Tried every treatment from the chemist going. Tried duct tape. Tried a chiropodist. All without any success. A few months ago it just went if its own accord. It's so nice not to have a warty foot!
I had one as well, for about 8 years. Nothing worked. Bazuka just made it painfull. It wasn't painfull normally. Only time I might get some pain was after a long day pedaling.
One day I noticed it had gone. No Dear John note or fairwell. Just gone. Bliss!
Just got to wait for your body to deal with the virus. Lotions and stickers won't do it.
I had some sort of corn/verruca for years, and after a while the skin around it would build up causing pressure and pain, so i would trim it down, which would work for a while.
I used to trim it using a 12" butchers steak knife* 😆 mainly because it was razor sharp and i could rest it on my foot and make very controlled slicing.
Eventually i went to the a chiropodist who trimmed it down far enough to eradicate it. Apparently thats all it needed, was someone who knows what they're doing and all those years spent limping was just down to me never taking the correct action.
* and yes it was the same knife i used to cut peoples dinner with 😆 but i cleaned it each time.
Well wiped it at least 😉
I was going to suggest acyclovir (Zovirax), but a quick google on Pubmed says otherwise.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6724070/
Duct tape a knife AND acyclovir. That looks worth testing. Cochrane review gives 70% plus cure rate for duct tape.
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001781/full/es
Cutting it out with a compass point as I did for one on a finger at school, didn’t feature.
As above, the only thing that worked for mine, which was very persistent and in a **** of a place, was to cut it more or less to the core every so often with a blade ( I used the blades off a paint scraper, long 4" long stanley blades, flexible and sharp af) .
One day just realised it had gone, didnt even notice.
Digging it out with a pen knife after whisky isn't in the books either but it's gone. Also worked for a wart I had on the back of my thumb.....wierd looking mini tree root thing came out. Left a hole for a few weeks till it healed all good now though
I had one for years on my toes. Chiropodist finally got rid of it with by microwaving it repeatedly over a number of weeks. First zap (of 10 per visit) felt like a pin, the 10th hurts like an absolute bastard.
My dad pulled one out of my foot with tweezers when I was a kid (the bastard!). Hurt like crazy and like trail_rat says, it looked like a clump of tree roots.
Successfully treated several on my kids feet over the years and one on my own foot. Pair it down with a blade or pumice and then use one of the freeze kits which kills the cells harbouring the virus. Not guaranteed but worth trying.
Digging it out with a pen knife after whisky isn’t in the books either but it’s gone. Also worked for a wart I had on the back of my thumb…..wierd looking mini tree root thing came out. Left a hole for a few weeks till it healed all good now though
I did similar as a kid. I'd no idea what it was.
It worked but, bleed? My god, I thought I'd opened an artery.
Yikes yes well I literally got to a point where I decided I just haven’t got the time to be dealing with it. Then I read the post about the verucca dot and have been keeping replacing every 2 days as meant to and relieved to see it working.
I last had one at school and mates used to always laugh as I’d have a waterproof plaster for swimming and at some time in that lesson a plaster would be floating in the pool!
This time what’s caused it has likely been the old house we’ve moved into, and I spent lots of tai energy once we’d moved in walking in the downstairs bathroom with bare feet. A few months later when the bathroom was the next on the list I properly scrubbed with baking soda and lemon juice, the floor to see the colour that came out of it!
So although the floor was hoovered and mopped, it needed a mega deep clean and I think it must’ve been that that caused it!
I had a course of antibiotics after slipping and gashing my shin. The verucca disappeared at the same time.
Before that a tried to pull it out and the bathroom looked like a scene from a Tarrantino movie.
Haha before I used the scholl disks I was picking at it with a knife myself and got it to the point where it bled so I can concur that!
The best thing with the disks is that they kill off the live blood vessels in the verruca. No blood!
All the treatments are basically trying to get your body to spot the virus. I had several massive ones for about 6 years, biggest size of a 50p, caused me problems walking and driving. Nothing worked, doctor religiously cutting it out every week, through to paying for needling (nerve block in ankle and then they stab it repeatedly).
What did work, was taking part in a trail for fertility when trying IVF, loads of folic acid, Vit d and omega 3. All gone in a week.
Banana skin placed on it then a plaster over it works a treat
On my little toe, snipped half way around it with some nail clippers then pulled the flap off with tweezers which took the root with it. Ive never seen so much blood come out of a small hole with such velocity. When it stopped I swear I could see the bone.
Was immensely satisfying.
Pair it down with a blade or pumice and then use one of the freeze kits which kills the cells harbouring the virus.
I'm trying that technique on a wart I have on my wrist at the moment (after not having had one for 30 yrs). I had hoped the freezing technique would be a one hit treatment as per when I used to go along to a dermatologist as a kid and they'd freeze them with liquid nitrogen. They would always drop off after one treatment, but this one is proving far more resistant.
As a child, my mum used a silver nitrate pencil on my verruca. Burned a bit, but went black and dropped off. No need for risky and painful digging around with sharp implements.
No need for risky and painful digging around with sharp implements.
Not as much fun though 🙂
Managed to kill off the one in my youngest's foot with some gel or another (might have been Bazuka), took a couple of months, nightly application, weekly 'sanding' with an emery board. lots of complaints (it looked bloody painful at times TBF).
I had a Wart on my knee when I was about 15/16 the GP Froze it with his magic spray thing, didn't work... It just clung on there for bloody ages.
Eventually I got pissed off and "Extracted" it myself with a pair of pliers, yanked the root and everything out in one go I found it oddly satisfying, eventually the mini-crater it left disappeared. Strangely enough my kids won't let be perform minor surgery on them, even if I clean my pliers first...
Had a Spanish mature student show me how to kill warts with a metal skewer heated on the stove when I was a teenager. Now I find a soldering iron works a treat for warts and verrucas and it puts me in the mood for a bacon sarnie too.
I’ve heard that salt is very good…
I once read an article in The Whole Earth Catalog about charming warts and verrucas away with a Swiss Army Knife, seems like the technique is still in use.
Had one as a kid and after some very painful and ineffective laser treatment at the chiropodist, the GP said use waterproof tape for a couple of weeks to suffocate it. Did that and it was very satisfying to dig out the dead matter leaving a big hole in my foot. Had the scar for years to remind me of fun times.
Slight thread hijack but I took my 14yr old daughter to podiatrist yesterday to sort out an infected ingrowing toe nail. I had previously cut it out but weeks later was still sore so we assumed it had grown back or I hadn't got it all out.
Got to appt yesterday, podiatrist scrapped off top layer of mucky skin, dug down and pulled out a dog hair. It was so satisfying, a 4cm dog hair fully enclosed in between her nail and skin. Out it came, immediate relief! A quick clean, trim and salt wash and she was off to play hockey 15mins later.
Apparently this is quite a common issue.
Had a Spanish mature student show me how to kill warts with a metal skewer heated on the stove when I was a teenager. Now I find a soldering iron works a treat for warts and verrucas and it puts me in the mood for a bacon sarnie too.
Having a cauterised vasectomy put me off bacon sarnies.....
😮
I'm assuming you have a dog?
Well it’s Saturday night so I’ll spice it up with a Verucca chat! So I’ve done the 12 weeks with the Scholl Verucca dots (that have Salicylic acid in them) and although they give a bit of a twinge every now and again and it did seem to be getting alot better it’s still there sadly and it seems to have rooted itself deep into my foot the bastard.
I dig with a knife as far as I can and cut the lifted dead skin off with a clean penknife (cleaned with alcohol beforehand) and scrub but it doesn’t half hurt, the idea of waterproof tape sounds like the next one to starve it, any other reports of success or anyone else on the journey at the moment?
Letherman pliers work particularly well...
It's been three months. Have you entertained the idea of a doctor?
As someone mentioned above, you're effectively agitating the area to trigger an immune response, with a lot of the treatments.
Nephew broke his leg and a verucca he'd had for years just dropped off whilst his leg was in plaster.
I dig with a knife as far as I can and cut the lifted dead skin off with a clean penknife (cleaned with alcohol beforehand) and scrub but it doesn’t half hurt, the idea of waterproof tape sounds like the next one to starve it, any other reports of success or anyone else on the journey at the moment?
More alcohol, and not the cleaning sort. You need the reknowned dual effects of pain relief and DGAF about doing stupid things to yourself.
Maybe warm up with a few clips of Jackass
Superglue and duct tape worked for me.
2 weeks to get rid of one i had for yesrs.
😆 I think duct tape seems to be the way, I’ll get it stuck on today! I’m assuming you use a bit a fair bit bigger than the verucca itself but don’t tape the whole foot up 🤣
Went to docs about 6 months ago who said they didn’t freeze them anymore…..probably down to cost! Typical..
An alternative way is to get treated abroad - on last years annual trip to the Croatian in-laws I was marched off to their local skin doctor - my partner often has little things done such as small mole removals etc.
She knew I had a 7-8mm one on the ball of my foot and insisted that their method of freezing it with liquid nitrogen would do the job. Sure enough, a nice lady in scrubs appeared wondering around with a big cotton wool bud on a stick, dipped the cotton wool in the liquid nitrogen and dabbed in on my verruca.
Flippin eck’ it hurt but after a couple goes it was done and I walked out with a sore foot for a couple of days. It went black and I was told it would just grow out to be replaced with new skin.
And it did. Cost about £100 or so. I definitely do it again; we’ll be taking my youngest to have her wart on the palm of her hand done, which the usual treatments aren’t touching.
Haha, I won’t be on a plane for a bit!
Just wondered who used duct tape, do you mean just keeping one piece on all the time even in shower? Or keeping changing it after a shower?
Do you use a small piece or a big bit? Cheers
Cutting it out with a compass point as I did for one on a finger at school, didn’t feature.
I had several for probably 15 years. I'd pick at them but figured they'd go eventually as they didn't really bother me. Then one appeared on a finger and that was irritating. I'd pick at it on the long train journey to work. One day I went a bit hard, hurt like buggery, but all the verucas cleared up soon after.
Warts are different. I grew one just above my lip! One treatment of 'black salve' (the stuff you're told is dangerous and should never use) and it went within three days and barely a mark left behind.
With regards to the size of duct tape we used a piece just big enough to cover the verruca on my daughter's foot don't need to cover anymore otherwise sweat just loosens it off.
Thanks Austy, I put some on last night and within 20 mins it’d worked it’s way loose. Guess it needs to be the proper silver tape? It was thick black masking tape type stuff I used
When I was about 15 I asked my mum what the funny looking thing on my foot was, she said just a bit of dead skin. 3 years later it was about an inch in diameter so I went to the doctor. Turns out it was a cluster of veruccas that had been growing there for the last 3 years. He smeared some gel on my foot and took out some kind of frozen metal rod and jammed it against the veruccas. The pain was incredible, the metal rod thing and the gel froze the veruccas which then stuck to the metal rod. When he pulled it away a big lump of veruccary flesh came with it, pain disappeared, job done!
I hobbled out to the car, got in, and by this time what was left of my foot had thawed out enough that I could feel the pain from the crater that was left. It REALLY hurt, but it worked - no more veruccas.
Thanks, that could have been anything 😆 , I’m trying the starving it of anything trick to see if it goes away.
I had a wart on a finger for a couple of years- tried the freezer, salicylic acid both scholl and Bazooka didnt work. I started using superglue, Which I would top up a couple of times a week and then trim back every week or so. It went in about 3 weeks.
I think the trick is to keep it as constantly covered as possible- trim then immediately recover, and put more on to keep a good 'shell' over it. It just fell off one day leaving smooth skin and no trace!
The one on my big toe had two freezing treatments they just made it bigger. Nothing since before start of pandemic. Just noticed it had gone last week.
UPDATE: Verucca is just about gone and wanted to share how I’d managed it as they really are awful things!
So Johnny is right I’d say, I’ve just had live with it for over a year, until I decided enough was enough as it was hurting when biking and I knew at that point it had to go! So my method:
Salicylic dots you can buy, on the verucca and then cover with a plaster and I used Elastoplast fabric ones as they mould to the skin well and keep that on for two days with the plaster
Every once a week scrub off the excess with a stiff emery board, then used a penknife I bought which i kept sterilised to cut away the excess skin and on some days got digging all the white out. Then applied another dot and plaster. I went the whole course doing this each few days which I think is either 9 or 12 weeks and still had it but the dots were definitely killing it as the roots were able to be cut into without bleeding.
So at that point I just covered it with a plaster and kept that one plaster on for around 5 days to totally starve it, didn’t even take off to shower and I’d say after 3 weeks it’s now almost gone….I think!
Pretty much what I did. Repeated 'corn caps' followed by vigorous sanding every couple of days. Bit painful after the first week or so, but that's how you know you're getting to the meat of it.
Lotions! Gaffer tape! Pah! Back in the dark ages, well the 1960s, I had mine removed by flame - yes flame, in a hospital. What a bastard that was, weeks and weeks of a gaping bloody wound until it eventually healed. Count yourselves lucky.
Back in the dark ages, well the 1960s, I had mine removed by flame – yes flame, in a hospital.
Flame??? LUXURY!!!
Chiropodist finally got rid of it with by microwaving it repeatedly over a number of weeks.
Can anyone advise on how to press the start button of the microwave. I can't reach when my foot is in it. Also, how do you close the door - leg is in the way.
Can anyone advise on how to press the start button of the microwave. I can’t reach when my foot is in it. Also, how do you close the door – leg is in the way.
Well, obviously you have to cut your foot off first! Which solves the problem of the verucca too.
Back in the dark ages, well the 1960s, I had mine removed by flame – yes flame, in a hospital.
FlameHospital??? LUXURY!!!
Daughter (and I a year or so later) just bazooka'd the F out of it - like an entire tube. Sorted it hers and mine over night.
I can’t believe yours went overnight! I find all basils gel does is put a white film over the bastard, almost to protect it from the elements and keep the thing bloody growing.
EDIT: Still got the damn thing, did think it was close to going after I just covered it with a plaster and left it for around a week, but nope.
Someone mentioned gaffer tape, so I think I might buy some duct tape, it has to survive showers ideally!
Cougar
Full Member
It’s been three months. Have you entertained the idea of a doctor?[color=red]Posted 3 months ago[/color]
I've successfully cut them out myself (messy and sore so not recommended)
Had a chiropodist get rid of one with trimming and treating with acid.
They've gone all by themselves.
And I've also got rid of them by iso g those home freeze kits.
For me, the best was the home freezing. Best to trim them first though, in my experience.
Bazuka hasn't worked that great for me either.
I had success with a Scholl wart remover pen after every other treatment had failed. It uses a pretty strong acid locked up in gel, and it stings a fair bit when on, but 3 applications over a week and then maybe 2 weeks for the skin to fully heal and it was gone for good.
After trying alsorts I painted it with black nail varish as id been told that worked, topped it up every few days for a couple of weeks when I got it off it had gone
Just wanted to re-update…
It’s very much not gone! The verucca dots did seem to do quite well, but then hit the 12 weeks I was meant to use it for and then started To just cover it with a plaster and it seemed to just stay as it was and now I’m back on soaking the skin, bazuka and digging. Close to getting a freeze at home kit, it’s about 1cm in size and really needs to bugger off but have to admit not sure I can deal with massive pain that keeps getting mentioned from others!
At the risk of repeating myself,
Cougar
Full Member
It’s been three months. Have you entertained the idea of a doctor?Posted 3 months ago
Posted 1 month ago
Four fox hake man, this is an eight month old thread discussing a (then) one and a half year old issue. A centimetre across? Good christ, get medical help already.
I had success with a Scholl wart remover pen after every other treatment had failed.
I've just used this on a wart that appeared on the inside of my thumb, right on the knuckle. It's very much the nuclear option. So I put a couple of drops on, let it dry then wrapped some fabric plaster tape around it. Jesus, it felt like I had trapped a small fire in there for about an hour afterwards! Repeated for 4 days like the instruction said, same pain every time. Stopped after the 4 days, kept it wrapped up during the day and uncovered at night. All the time it appeared to be forming a massive blister underneath, to the point where I couldn't bend my thumb and the pressure/pain was getting unbearable. I thought I must have done something wrong and was working out if I needed to seek medical help. So, as a last effort I stuck a pin in the side of it. You know those pimple pop videos on youtube with the minor volcanic eruptions? That's pretty much was happened. The pain relief was instant. Kept squeezing it for the rest of the day and then the next day I peeled off the dead skin (including the wart), just like every piece of medical advice tells you not to do. Wrapped up with some savlon for a couple of days and now all is healing well. There's two very obvious "holes" where the roots must have been but they look clear and new skin is forming.
I'm now building up the courage to start on a stubborn verruca that's been on my foot for a while and resisted all other treatments.
Not a chance I would ever use this stuff on a child (it says suitable from 4yrs!), but it really has worked for me.
We currently are using that stuff on a 5yo child. Only pain complaint had been when one toe touched the other before it had dried. The drying time estimate is a joke though. Takes way longer.
I used the home freeze kit on my 10 year old a few times but it didn’t work that well. However the verruca dits did the trick really well.
Managed to get rid of a couple on my 10yr old recently.
bazooka initially seemed to work but didn’t get rid completely.
Duct tape wouldn’t stay stuck
freeze spray worked and they picked off the remains about 3-4weeks later.
Like I said up there many months ago...I had truely massive horrible things that were treated for years and years with every remedy out there. Even nerve blocks and dry needling (if you think gouging out with a knife hurts...)
All of the remedies are trying to get your body to recognise the virus through agitation of various kind.
Mine were causing trouble walking and driving they had got so large.
I went on a fertility trial, drank loads of vit C&d, omega cod liver oil and folic acid. Gone within days after years of persistence
Not much help for you but I would recommend just trying different remedies until one works for you
Small bit just cover the black spot from the bottom of hell.
Banana works too
Wow thank you, I agree sorry for the revival! Just thought I’d comment about progress, thing is the doc says they don’t freeze them so I’m seeing what other people did and do. The thought of agonising pain I think is what’s putting me off 🤣, surely the pain can’t be worse than the very first time you bin it without kneepads on and land straight on them, you quickly learn to pad up!!
I do have to admit I hardly ever eat fruit unless it’s with icecream, or ever take vitamins so I think if I can increase all to naturally build my immune system that may help 👍 call me the pill popper!
My uncle was a consultant surgeon and took a no nonsense approach to removing veruccas from my cousin's feet. He numbed the area with local anaesthetic and dug them out with a soldering iron!
So another update, I mean who doesn’t appreciate one?! 🤣
So I think I needed to take the bazuka gel instructions less seriously, my fiancée who sees allsorts of injuries/medical issues with work said to me to scrape out as much as poss and then just soak the things in the gel… have done exactly that and left it on for 5-6 days before the skin around it becomes soft and can easily pull it off. Done it 3-4 times now and the difference is brilliant!
Looks like it’s nearly all gone, just get the occasional phantom pains but they’re so mild as it’s clearly suffocating it so it’s a necessary evil!
Going swimming tomorrow too so will make sure it’s fully covered, last thing I want to do is pass it onto someone else!
Also I got a really small one on the other bloody foot! Anyway I did the same and that also seems to have almost gone now too
Digging it out with a pen knife after whisky isn’t in the books either but it’s gone.
That’s funny, I’ve got a copy of The Whole Earth Catalog, and The Last Whole Earth Catalog, subtitled Access To Tools, and one thing I remember reading, was using a Swiss Army Knife to charm away warts and veruccas, basically by digging them out with one of the blades, which left a big crater, but got rid of the offending wart or verucca! 🤣
I tried going DEEP with a penknife which I bought especially but if the blood vessels aren’t dead it just bleeds so at least the Bazuka kills them off…
After 11/12 years of being unable to get rid of them no matter what, mine have just suddenly disappeared. One foot had a huge cluster on it but just gone.
Only two things have recently changed:
1) I've started running again, 3 times a week
2) Despite the running, my diet recently has been particularly horrendous
Who knows...