Top Tips for Verruca Treatment

Top Tips for Verruca Treatment Health By Dr Daisy Mae

Gruesome, miserable, nasty, painful – common words used when people describe their verruca. A verruca is a wart which is growing on your foot – officially termed a ‘plantar wart’ – and it’s caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The HPV virus lives happily for long periods on damp floors, such as those around swimming pools or communal showers. The virus enters the skin and then travels into the deeper layers. It causes keratinisation – keratin is the hard protein in hair, skin and nails – which is why warts feel hard to the touch. Although 80% of verrucas regress spontaneously over two years, they can be persistent and resist treatment. The virus is adept at escaping detection by your body’s immune system. Diagnosis A verruca is a single, slightly raised patch anywhere on the sole of the foot. The skin may be pale, yellowy/skin-coloured or have a cobblestoned appearance, sometimes with some central black dots. Verrucas are sometimes painful when pressure is applied, for example when you walk or if you squeeze them between finger and thumb. Management without treatment The first step is to take good care of your foot/feet so that you minimise pain and avoid spreading the virus, both on your own feet and to others. The British Association of Dermatologists has a useful guide available at tiny.cc/foot-care. If you’re generally healthy and not in pain, it’s worth doing nothing as most veruccas will disappear spontaneously. However, you should seek medical help if you have diabetes or a weakened immune system e.g. HIV infection, chemotherapy, radiotherapy etc. Active treatments If you decide that your verucca can’t just be left to recover by itself, there are forty-one recognised wart treatments. First Choice Treatment: Salicylic Acid (SA) SA kills off the outer skin layers, causing them to peel away. It also helps the immune system detect the virus. SA has proven to be more effective for veruccas than a placebo (dummy) treatment (Cochrane Review 2012) e.g. in one study, 49% of verrucas had disappeared after treatment with SA compared to 23% using a placebo. Second Choice Treatments These are not routinely offered on the NHS. • Cryotherapy: a liquid nitrogen spray freezes and destroys infected skin cells. Clearance rates of around 65% are reported. It’s sometimes painful, and there’s also a 30% chance of recurrence. The Cochrane 2012 review concluded that cryotherapy was no better than SA at treating verrucas, was painful, and caused blistering and scarring. • Other local options: many other agents have been used such as silver nitrate, Cantharidin, phenol, glycolic acid, pyruvic acid and trichloroacetic acid (TCA). • Surgical removal: surgery is not usually advised because verrucas often recur afterwards. • SWIFT is a new microwave treatment for the verruca. It’s quick, relatively painless and seems to be effective on stubborn verrucas. See www. treatwithswift.com. • Laser therapy aims to destroy the blood vessels supplying the verruca, plus the heat causes local tissue damage. 80% clearance rates have been reported. • Immunotherapy: various treatments claim to stimulate the antibody response to speed up viral destruction. Where to Obtain Verruca Treatments From 1st April 2019, the NHS listed verrucas as one of the seventeen treatments it will no longer provide, so these are options other than your GP. • Visit your local Community Pharmacy • Find a Podiatrist: cop.org.uk/find-a-podiatrist • Find a Chiropodist: iocp.org.uk • Private Consultant Dermatologist: www.bupa. co.uk/health/payg/dermatology

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Phone Photo Tricks

Are your smartphone photos just not good enough? Simple tricks can make a huge difference – for example, if something’s too far away, don’t use your camera app’s digital zoom but get closer for sharper pictures.

An important factor in getting a good photo is lighting. That changes throughout the day: on a bright day, noon is usually the worst time to take pictures because there’s not much shadow, and if the sun’s in front of you your subjects will appear much darker and more indistinct than when the sun’s behind you. If you’re shooting in the evening, get as much light as you can onto your subject: if things are really dark you’ll often end up with noisy, poorly detailed pictures, or you’ll have to use the flash and end up with unnatural results.

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People often wonder how they come to find themselves in an abusive relationship. It can happen to anyone, regardless of their sex, wealth or background. Abuse is not always physical; it can also be emotional, psychological or financial. It usually starts off slowly through a process of manipulation, which can go unnoticed until it becomes unbearable for the victim, causing them to feel powerless, dominated and alone. Financial abuse in particular is often the precursor to other forms of abuse and has nothing to do with money but instead, is all about controlling the other person and using money to do so. The Family Team at Leeds Day see many cases where one partner has complete control of the finances. Often one spouse has given up work to look after the family and is given ‘pocket money’ to pay for things such as bills, groceries and after-school clubs, leaving nothing for themselves. Often this role is taken on by a wife but this is changing over time. Sadly many wives endure the situation until a certain point in their lives, such as when the children leave home, when they feel that they can then focus on their own needs. However, the long lasting effects of abuse should not be overlooked. There is no doubt that it is a difficult subject to talk about. Many clients are a shell of their former selves when they come to us, having not spoken to anyone about their situation during their marriage but no one should suffer in silence. Often clients feel liberated and empowered following their decision to divorce their controlling spouse. There are also various remedies available through the Courts to protect against domestic violence, including orders regarding harassment, threats of violence and the occupation of the home. A breach of these orders can result in a fine or even imprisonment. To make a successful application to the Court for a protective order or an injunction, called a non-molestation order, time is of the essence. The Court can also make an order that a violent partner must leave the family home immediately in circumstances where there has been actual harm. Either way, it is vital that the person seeking help speaks to a legal advisor as soon as possible.

If your partner makes you feel threatened or anxious or if you feel you are in an abusive relationship, please call our Family Team on 0844 567 2222, email us at family@leedsday.co.uk or call the National Domestic Violence Helpline, which is open 24 hours a day and can be reached on 0808 2000 247.

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