Verruca Needling

This treatment is only available to patients 16 years old and over.

Needling, for verruca, is a relatively simple procedure and has been used for over 40 years, first described in 1966 by Gordon Falknor, an American podiatrist, who in eight months treated 126 verrucae with only two recurrences.

The verruca is essentially a collection of skin cells infected by the verruca virus. These infected cells remain in the outer layers of the skin, away from detection by the body’s immune system; this explains why verrucae can be so resilient.

The needling procedure is carried out painlessly, under local anaesthetic which is used to numb the affected area. Once both the patient and the podiatrist are happy the area is sufficiently pain free a needle is used to cause repeated trauma to the verruca. The aim of this is to implant the virally infected cells deeper in to the tissue where it is quickly detected by the immune system and an immune response is stimulated.

In the case of multiple verrucae, only one lesion needs to be treated (the ‘mother’ lesion) which may then result in the spontaneous resolution of all verrucae (‘satellite’ lesions) due to the systemic nature of the body’s immune response. Unlike treatments using acids, needling usually only requires a single application.

Post-operatively the lesion has the appearance of a dry blood blister and most patients experience little, if any, discomfort. A scab forms after the treatment which takes about 4 weeks to drop off.

No treatment is, however, 100% but the body of clinical evidence supporting the effectiveness of this treatment is growing all the time.

Patients comments: "Thanks you so much, my foot finally after many years feels great. The needling procedure, although slightly uncomfortable, was definately worth all the trouble. Would recommend this to anyone and would endure the whole process again if needed!"

Click here to read Verruca needling post operative advice