Verucas

Question 1

Symptoms?

Answer 1

Small dark puncture looking marks that later turn grey or brown. Tiny black dots under the hard skin.

Have a rough and bumpy with a cauliflower appearance

Be round or oval-shaped

Be firm and raised

On the soles of the feet

Vary in size, from less than 1mm to more than 10mm (1cm) in diameter

Quite painful due to their location

They can sometimes be itchy

They may bleed

Question 2

Questions to ask?

Answer 2

What does the area on your foot look like?

Could you describe the appearance, does it look infected?

Does the affected area have black dots within it?

How long have you had it for?

Ask patient to go into detail on the appearance, is it flat or raised?

What symptoms are associated with it?

Are you experiencing any pain?

What treatment have you tried, if any? E.g. Plasters, gels, creams. < if have tried, ask how they used the treatments.

Have you had verruca’s before? If yes, how long before?

Have you spoken to any other medical professionals?

Do you know where you may have gotten it from?

Question 3

Red flags?

Answer 3

Extensive verrucae

Compromised immunity alongside multiple verruca’s

Persistent verrucae unresponsive to primary care treatment.

Uncertain diagnosis

If it’s a facial verruca

Question 4

Treatment?

Answer 4

Silver nitrate (topical):
- Stick- Avoca  

ADULT: Apply once daily for 6 days for verruca treatment. If your symptoms carry on or do not improve after this number of applications, you should talk to your doctor

Child: Apply every 24 hours for up to 6 applications, apply moistened caustic pencil tip for 1–2 minutes.

Salicylic acid (sometimes with lactic acid) Topical use:

Bazuka
Salactol
Duofilm
Salatac

Apply treatment daily for up to 3 months.
BUT this has many interactions with other creams