Warts & Verrucas Treatment - Cryotherapy
What are they?
Warts or Verrucas are small, skin-coloured, rough lumps on the skin and they commonly occur on the hands or feet, sometimes in the genital areas but these latter type are beyond the scope of this text. A verruca is simply a wart on the sole of the foot.
What causes them?
Warts are due to infection with a common virus called human papilloma virus (HPV) as this stimulates excess growth of a hard protein (keratin) in the top epidermal layer of the skin, thereby producing the characteristic rough, hard texture of a wart. A weak immune system can also predispose to increased warts because the body is then less able to fight off the HPV virus.
How common are they?
Most people will develop warts at some point in their life, usually before the age of 20. About 1 in 10 people in the UK have warts at any given time.
What are the symptoms?
Warts are usually harmless and painless (although verrucas can sometimes hurt) but they can of course be cosmetically unattractive, especially on the hands. However, they often clear up by themselves but this can typically take months to years. Thus, we offer treatments to get rid of them more quickly.
Are they infectious?
Yes, because the infected skin cells in a wart will release thousands of viruses. Thus, close skin-to-skin contact can pass on the infection to your nearest and dearest. This is perhaps another reason for considering prompt treatment instead awaiting natural resolution. However, it can take weeks or even months for a wart or verruca to appear after you have caught the infection.
How can I stop them from spreading?
To reduce your risk of getting a wart or verruca:
| DO NOT | DO |
| Do not touch other people's warts; | Do cover your verruca with a water-proof plaster when swimming; |
| Do not scratch or pick at a wart as this may spread the infection to other parts of your body; | Do wear flip-flops in communal showers and pool changing areas; |
| Do not share towels, flannels or other personal items with a person who has a wart; | Do wear gloves if you have a wart on your hand when using communal equipment, e.g. in a gym. |
| Do not share shoes or socks with someone who has a verruca; |
Are there different types of warts because mine are not the same as my friends?
Yes, warts can vary greatly in size, ranging from 1mm to over 1cm and you may have only one or two warts but sometimes lots can develop on the same area of skin.
The main varieties are:
- Common warts (verruca vulgaris) have a firm, raised, roughened surface and can look a bit like a cauliflower. They can occur anywhere, but especially on the knuckles, knees and fingers.
- Plane warts (verruca plana) have a round, flat-topped, yellowish appearance and are found mainly on the back of the hands, especially around the nails and fingers.
- A Filiform wart (verruca filiformis) is a long, slender wart and is common on the thin skin of the eyelids, armpits or neck.
- Genital warts (condylomata acuminata) are found around the male/female genitalia or near the anus and are beyond the remit of our aesthetic clinics. However, they may be a sign of a sexually transmitted infection or, in rare cases, cancer. Thus, we would urge prompt medical attention from your own GP or the nearest genito-urinary (GUM) clinic.
- Verrucas (plantar warts) are warts on the soles of the feet. They do not stick up from the surface of the skin because your body weight makes them grow back into the skin instead. This means that verrucas can become quite painful. They often have a central black dot (the blood supply) surrounded by a hard, white periphery formed by the closely packed skin of the wart.
- Mosaic Warts are simply verrucas growing in clusters.
How can cryotherapy treat warts and verrucas?
We use the Cryoalfa a tried, tested and highly effective method employing liquid nitrogen to freeze the lesion to -89ºC to a depth of 3mm. Thus, the wart cells are destroyed, a blister develops, followed by a scab, which then falls off 7-10 days later. The treatment takes only a few seconds but can be painful due to the extreme cold. However, a local anaesthetic is generally not needed because contact with the liquid nitrogen is so-short-lived. Large warts sometimes need to be frozen several times, usually around 2-4 weeks apart, before they completely clear.
Are there any alternatives?
- No Treatment may be the best advice if you have no symptoms and you are not bothered about their appearance because the vast majority will resolve spontaneously, although it can take up to 2 years or more.
- Treatment may be advised when the wart or verucca is actually painful or cosmetically unacceptable, where you are concerned about passing them onto friends/relatives or when you are concerned about pursuing your interests, e.g. swimming, etc. The precise treatment options will depend upon a number of factors, e.g. the size, number and precise location of your lesions. Options include:
- Over-the-counter chemical treatments - a variety of creams, gels, paints and medicated plasters are available from pharmacies, usually containing salicylic acid as their active ingredient. However, as this can also destroy healthy skin, it is important to protect the surrounding skin by using petroleum jelly or a corn plaster to cover it. Always apply your chosen preparation by following the instructions on the packet, but stop the treatment if your skin becomes sore. Rub the dead tissue off the top of the wart regularly with a pumice stone or emery board. It usually takes up to three months of continuous treatment for the wart to go completely. Stronger chemicals can also be used to remove warts and are available on prescription from your GP.
- Surgical removal is usually performed under a local anaesthetic and the lesion can be either cut off with a blade or scraped off using a curette. The virus can also be spread by such procedures leading to more lesions.
- Electro-cautery is where the wart is burnt of using an electric current.
- Laser treatment using a pulsed dye laser can clear warts without damaging the surrounding skin by selectively destroying the blood supply and also the wart itself. The treatment is uncomfortable but rarely painful and thus anaesthetics are not needed but EMLA cream can be used for those with sensitive skin. Most people need only 5 treatments, but small, uncomplicated and previously untreated warts may resolve after just one session. The treatment is entirely safe and any observed change in pigmentation should settle in time.
What is the cost of cryosurgery?
This will depend upon the size, number, nature and distribution of your skin warts or verrucas but our charges start from only £50 per lesion.
