I used to love wearing heels all the time, and then I started getting terrible foot pain all the time. I visited my podiatrist, and she showed me how much damage I was doing to my feet. She showed me how much better my feet would be able to react if I wore shoes with proper arch support and convinced me to try some sensible shoes. It made such a difference. My boyfriend says I'm a whole new person - a new person who doesn't complain about her aching feet all day long. Now I proudly wear sensible shoes and enjoy my life!
Verrucas are warts which normally develop on the soles of a person's feet. These growths can range from just a few millimetres to several centimetres in size and are caused by the Human Papilloma Virus. Whilst verrucas are not dangerous, they can make walking quite painful, and a lot of sufferers find their growths to be a bit unsightly. As such, many prefer to have their verrucas removed by a podiatrist. Here are two common methods that podiatrists use to treat this health issue.
The only way to permanently remove a verruca is to destroy every single skin cell that has become infected with the aforementioned Human Papilloma Virus. The most effective way to do this is to trigger an immune response, which will release antibodies that will attack all of the infected cells.
Dry needling is one way to encourage the body to initiate an immune response. This treatment involves the podiatrist inserting extremely fine needles into the growths on their patient's foot. This then stimulates the patient's immune system and results in the production of antibodies that gradually kill off the skin cells.
Because this is a relatively minor procedure, local anaesthetic rather than general anaesthesia is used and the patient can usually return to their normal activities within a couple of days. In many cases, only one session is needed to completely remove the verruca.
Whilst some people experience mild discomfort for a few days following this procedure, it is far less painful than other verruca-removal treatments and as such, is a good option for those who have a very low tolerance for pain.
Cryotherapy
Cryotherapy is another option which podiatrists sometimes use to remove verrucas. This treatment consists of applying liquid nitrogen to the skin growths, in order to freeze them. The ice that develops inside the lesions as a result of the freezing process helps to disrupt cell activity in the virus-infected cells.
Cryotherapy has been shown to have a high success rate. However, unlike the above-mentioned dry needling, it can be extremely painful; most patients experience strong discomfort not only during the procedure itself but also afterward as the lesions thaw out. Additionally, this treatment needs to be repeated several times over the course of a few months in order to completely eradicate the infected cells.
As such, cryotherapy is normally only recommended for larger verrucas which have not responded to less painful forms of treatment.
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