Skin Problems

Corns and Callus can become uncomfortable and painful, treatment for these problems can improve your overall well being.

Corns are circular areas of hard skin and press into the layers of skin causing discomfort.

Calluses are a build up of hard skin where pressure and friction occur.

Other such skin problems include Athlete’s Foot, Cracked Heels and Verrucae.

Verrucae

A verruca is a benign lesion caused by the human papilloma virus, of which there are many variants. Commonly these are HPV-1, HPV-2 and HPV-4. The virus causes changes to the skin cells at the top layer of the skin (epidermis).

Infection is established through abrasions to the skin. As the viral replicates and migrates to the surface the cells change, and you get a production in cells called prickle cells. It’s these cells that create the typical wart like lesion. They are contagious but not everyone will get them.

Some verrucae may disappear on their own, however they can become troublesome if they are spreading, growing larger and becoming painful. We recommend coming to see us if you have tried over the counter treatment with no success. We offer a treatment called Verrucae Needling which has success rates of up to 70%.

Verrucae Needling

Verrucae are caused by a virus that infects the cells in the upper part of the skin known as the epidermis. Verrucae are contagious and are contracted when a viral particle comes into contact with a skin cell. The virus will reproduce effecting neighbouring skin until noticed by the naked eye.

The immune system will often not detect the virus as the verruca is restricted to the epidermis and has mechanisms that suppress immune recognition of the infection. The virus needs to have a trigger to stimulate the immune system into healing the verruca virus.

Needling is a successful treatment that works by triggering the immune system to recognise the infection and destroy the infected skin cells. As the new skin comes through it will be clear of the infection and the verruca will resolve.

This procedure is performed under a local anaesthetic. Once the area is numb, a sterile needle makes multiple punctures in the verruca, pushing cells from the epidermis into the dermis and hypodermis creating the stimulation.

Where several verrucae are present, it may only be necessary to treat a single one, as this will then trigger a reaction to other infected cells. For most verrucae one treatment will destroy the virus. A follow up appointment will be arranged approximately 6 weeks after the procedure where the Podiatrist will check the treatment was successful. Occasionally a second treatment is necessary.