Gone or not?

Nimeth

Hi!

Hoping someone can give me some help with this. I had/have(?) a verruca on the bottom of my toe. Last week I froze it, then applied some verruca gel on it. After soaking it for 30 minutes in warm water and tea tree oil, I managed to pull the whole thing off, black bits and all. Yuck, I know.:o I was left with a hole of red raw skin, which bled a little bit when I filed around the edges to get off the remaining gel.

Pharmacist told me when I bought the gel to keep applying it for up to 10 days after the verruca has come off to make sure that it doesn't come back, which I'm doing at the moment. I peeled the gel off last night to find that a yellowish/white area underneath where the verruca was. It's still flat to my foot and doesn't hurt at all, so basically I'm just not sure if it's come back or not. There are some dark spots around the edge and one in the middle but I initially thought it was raw skin where it had bled. OH says that it's unlikely to have come back but I can't find anything out on Google to be more sure.

Anyone know how I can tell for sure?

ailuro2

Keep at it till there are no black bits and the skin is the same texture as the rest of it - though if you're unsure about putting more strong chemicals on skin that might be normal you could try the duct tape method ( google it, there's also a thread here on MSE somewhere)

Nimeth

I do intend to keep going till it's normal, I'm just a bit frustrated that it seemed like I'd finally nixed the little b*gger and now not sure if I really did or not.

Alas, I seem to be allergic to duct tape and plasters of any kind. Annoying really, as it seemed to be doing some good initially.

jenniewb

From what I understand, the wart lives from your blood, so its likely you would have black dots like you say where the blood had dried. Its annoying and an emotional mindfield (or was for me when I had warts on my thumbs 10 years ago then molloscum all over my arms last year) but the best thing to do is to wait for it to heal again. Going at it full pelt before your skin has recovered will only cause you alot of pain and may even cause you scarring. It takes longer to wait for it to heal but does put you in a better position to try to deal with it properly and for your skin to help itself recover faster when its not so dismantled in the first place!

How does the freeze stuff seem to work for you? Because if its not working, it could be worth visiting the doctor/nurse at your local surgery for treatment. The tools they use are far more harsh and work better with warts and verrucas which don't seem to respond to lesser treatments.

Garlic, onion and apple cider vinegar are also rumoured to be good for treating warts and verrucas, I hadn't tried either 10 years ago, just had saylicit? (sp!) acid over them, got my weight back up (I had been anorexic) and they magicly vanished when my health improved.

Last year I ended up resorting to homeopathy when even the doctor was taken a back at how rapidly the molloscum was spreading, said it would take 6-8 months to stop growing before getting better, I wanted to see a skin specialist but wasn't referred, I saw a homeopath in a knee jerk reaction (I was hoping if I went back to the doctor and said "see...? this is causing me to panic so much that I even resorted to homeopathy!!" that she'd refer me) it was free as Nelsons Homeopathy in London were celebrating their 250th year and I hadn't expected it to work. Homeopathy is one of those controversial issues... The Homeopath suggested two ointments to apply (these were made in front of me, I could see actual things going into them, not just water!) and the whole thing went within 2 weeks. Prior to which it had been expanding fiercly and itching like crazy for the previous 3-4 months! I hadn't expected anything to work, was totally amazed with it working, would now definetly be an option I'd look into if something like that happens again as the itching and the spreading were so rapid, stopped me sleeping, had to keep my skin covered in bandages...I was seriously thinking it would never end! Not just a physical issue, its also an emotional one when it affects you like that.