Plantar Warts and Verrucas are the result of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) and commonly occur on hands or feet. The virus induces the growth of a small bump or plate. These are harmless but can be unsightly, cause embarrassment, and sometimes cause discomfort.
Warts will normally go away by themselves after a few years, or there are various ways to treat them. Topical applications are available from pharmacies but these are messy and time consuming and often don’t work. Other methods are to freeze them off with liquid nitrogen, known as Cryotherapy. This often needs repeated treatments and recovery time is significant. Another method is minor surgery where they are scraped off using an electrosurgical device. This is fairly aggressive and unpleasant, requires a local anaesthetic and a prolonged recovery period.
Laser offers a very effective alternative to these techniques and is fast and simple with a fast recovery time. There is some discomfort from each shot, but it’s over in an instant and recovery is normally completely uneventful. A burst of high power Pulsed Nd:YAG laser is used at the 1064 wavelength. This induces a deep thermal effect which kills the virus directly, and also zaps the underlying blood supply to the wart depriving it of further nourishment.
The wart will turn darker, and may go black, before reducing or falling away over the next week or two. Very rarely a blister may form. A powerful vacuum extractor is used at the treatment site to remove any airborne viral bodies released by the treatment, and masks must be worn by both customer and operator to avoid inhalation of HPV.
This is a NEW SERVICE, so we’re lacking before and after pics and video. But we know it works because we’ve tried it on ourselves and a couple of customers who have been in for other treatments. These will be added soon!
Please note that there are lots of different types of HPV. Genital warts or warts on mucous membranes are usually different and not something we offer treamtent for. We recommend you see your GP in the first instance for these complaints and would urge you to get medical advice promptly.