Mysterious things – verrucas: painful and, according to some doctors best left alone, which is odd. Even more odd is some doctors will tell you you most likely didn’t pick that verruca up at the public swimming pool like you thought. They’re not infectious you see? They’re caused by a virus that gets into your skin, and they’ll go away on their own if you leave them alone, though it might take them a couple of years. A Chiropodist, will tell you a different story though: they’re highly infectious, spread like wild fire, and swimming pools are excellent breeding places for them.
Confused? Me too!
When my kids were regularly visiting the public swimming pool, they had them all the time. When they stopped, they stopped getting them. Coincidence? I don’t know. What I do know however, is if you leave them alone they get bigger, and they hurt more. That’s not my imagination – they really do.
If you go to the chemist you’ll be able to pick up a kind of acid based gel. You dab it on and it takes the top layer of skin off. Then you scrape at the thing with a nail file – Yuk! It also hurts, as my offspring will tell you. After mucking about with this gel for the first few verrucas, I read up on natural remedies and decided to try a dab of tea-tree oil instead. The oil is an extract from the Australian Narrow Leaved Paperbark tree, and is a powerful antiseptic, horribly expensive, but worth every penny.
It worked a treat.
I just a dabbed the verruca every night with a cotton bud soaked in neat Tea Tree oil, then covered it with a small plaster. I could usually get rid of the thing in a couple of weeks – but you have to put the work in. So far as I’m concerned every parent’s emergency tin should contain a nit-comb, a bottle of malt vinegar (see previous post) and some Tea Tree oil.
The last verruca I dealt with though was a monster and pushed me into the realms of homeopathy. My son had discovered a huge verucca that I’d thought beyond the help of Tea Tree, so he was dispatched to the local sawbones who tried to freeze it off with liquid nitrogen (@$ck?) . This didn’t work. Understandably my son was a reluctant to bother the sawbones again, so we started with the Tea Tree. Then I heard of a homeopathic remedy called Thuja!
This is an extract from the needles of the coniferous Thuja Occidentalis tree, or White Cedar. Native Canadian Indians were in the habit of drinking the extract which was unusually high in vitamin C and found to ward off all manner of skin complaints, including the dreaded scurvy. Now, I’m not well up on homeopathy and you must forgive my ignorance here but my understanding is that it’s based upon the idea of taking something that will cause a specific kind of harm – like boils, for example, if imbibed in its undiluted form. Then you dilute it over and over until there’s basically nothing left but water- and this is the homeopathic remedy for curing that specific ailment – i.e. getting rid of your boils. It sounds a bit odd to me, but lots of people swear by it and I have a fairly open mind, so we tried a homeopathic preparation of Thuja which we purchased over the counter from our local Holland and Barret store.
The verruca had gone in a week.
Naturally I’m not qualified here, beyond having had to deal with the blasted things for the best part of a decade, and we must all approach them in a way that seems right to us, which means that if you’re in any doubt consult a doctor. Speaking for myself, I had good results with the natural remedies. They were fuss-free, pain free, and and they’d be my first response if I ever came across a verruca again.
I have never read something so positive! I am off to Holland and Barrett now to buy both oils – thanks I’ll let you know how I get on – I have have had my veruccas for over 7 years and they have multiplied!!!!
Hello Heidi, they can be a nuisance for sure. I certainly swear by Tea Tree Oil. The Thuja’s more of a tiny pill from the homeopathic section. I hope it works for you.
Regards
Michael.
you mean that you take a thuja pill by mouth to get rid of the verucca? ive had a verucca for seven years after trying various things but nothing worked so im very interested in this. how much thuja do u take if it is a pill? thanks Anna
Hi Anna. Yes, it was a homeopathic pill from Holland and Barret. http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=933&prodid=1051
I can’t remember now how often my son took it now – once or twice a day, I think – also treating the verucca by dabbing it with tea tree oil every evening. It seemed to work for us anyway.
Best wishes
Michael
Just bought thuga. Fingers crossed
Your posts gives me some hope that my verrucas may still go! I’ve had a number of mosaic warts on my feet since I was a kid. Twenty years later most are still there, so I really don’t buy into the theory that they’ll just go away on their own. Maybe for some people, but not for all! Over the years I’ve tried every medical remedy and have given up, none seem to truly shift the buggers so I started using tea tree a week or so ago. I think it’s helping the lesser verrucas, but the big clusters are just staying the same. Been taking a fish oil for hair, skin and nails containing l-cysteine too, anything that might help. May have to visit H&B for some thuja soon!
I have had varucas for the past four months, I am a teacher and spend most of my days and evenings on my feet. I have bought everything off the counter and really can’t see any change. I also had the buggers frozen but they just didn’t go. I put Silver N on them and they still didn’t budge! I am now trying Tea Tree Oil and really pray they go away. Your story helped me battle on!
Hi Mrs R.
My wife is a teacher. That’s one tough job. My respects. I do hope the tea tree works for you.
Mrs R, did it work??
My son has a nasty veruca on the base of his bg toe, and we are at our wits end in treating it, we are now on our 3rd prescription from the Dr, but he hates me going near his feet. I think I will be going to H & B tomorrow!!
I’d never heard of verucas, but Mr. Google tells me it’s the same thing as planter worts? When I last had them I just painted them with a lacquer-based fingernail polish, which stopped them from breathing. That Tea Tree Oil sounds like it might be good for other things, so I’l have to remember it…