Verruca Needling

What is verruca needling?

Verruca needling is a proceedure where the verruca / wart is punctured with a small needle to cause bleeding and stimulate the body’s immune system to resolve the problem.

Is it painful?

This procedure is performed under local anaesthetic and therefore does not hurt. A recent study found that patients experienced minimal post operative pain.

What is the advantage of this procedure?

There are many treatments for a verruca / wart although the results are mixed and the treatments are often painful. In addition, they often require several consultations.

Verruca needling is an effective treatment, often working following the first treatment. Patients can remove the dressing the within 1-3 days and continue as normal.

Is this suitable for multiple / large verrucae/ warts?

The treatment is appropriate for all verrucae / warts although often the largest is targteetted in the first instance?

If it does not work, what are my options?

The treatment can be repeated but any of the other common treatments can still be provided.

Will I need to take a pain killer afterwards?

These are generally not necessary and anti-inflammatories should be avoided as there is a theoretical chance this could reduce the body’s immune response to the treatment.

How successful is the treatment?

Until recently, there was very little information on success rates. However, a recent paper has demonstrated:

31 patients (69%) had complete resolution
3 patients had reduced size and pain
11 showed no improvement
There were no post operative infections or scarring
Only mild symptoms were reported – bruising, slight discomfort

The paper is available at: Verruca Needling

However, a more recent paper concluded that a single treatment was no more effective than removing the callous. This would indicate that a single treatment is less effective and that patients may need more than one treatment to get the better outcomes observed in the first paper.

How can I arrange treatment?

You will nneed to be assessed either:

In clinic or
by Video internet consultation

Please call 020 8502 1777 for further information.