What does a verruca look like? Verruca
Sometimes people will confuse a wart from a ‘corn’ but they are two completely different things, with different causes and treatments. It is important to get the correct diagnosis and treatment, with Podiatrists (such as Active Footcare) very experienced with dealing with both corns and verrucas every day and they will be able to easily tell the difference between the two and know how to treat it.
How are verruca’s caused?
A verruca is caused by a virus, whereas a corn is a build-up of hard skin due to excess pressure on an area of skin, which can be caused by friction in shoes on top of your toes, or perhaps the middle of your forefoot from pinched skin, due to a collapsed transverse arch.
Corns can be traced back to constant friction from an outside force, such as tight shoes, or a biomechanical problem in your feet such as collapsed arches or retracted toes.
This means you can catch a verruca but you cannot ‘catch’ a corn. Your Podiatrist can safely and painlessly remove a corn plus identify what caused it and how to help it from coming back, including footwear choices to protective toe sleeves or custom orthotics.
A verruca on your foot can –
- Look either raised or flat and be pale/white
- Have one or more tiny black ‘dots’ in the centre
- Be painful when you stand on them or squeeze them
Another type of wart (known as verruca Vulgaris) is common on your knees or fingers, can be –
- Hard and raised
- Rough and misshaped, almost like a ‘cauliflower’
- Less than a few millimetres to the size of a dirham coin
- One or more could be grouped together
Other types of warts include ‘plane warts’ that tend to occur on the legs and be more yellowish, smooth and flat. Another type of wart is ‘periungal’ warts that occur under or around the nails of the fingers or toes. They are quite rough and can affect the shape of the nail, causing discomfort. Mosaic warts tend to grow on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet and grow in groups, or clusters and have a ’tile’ like pattern.
Get in touch with any questions
If you have any more questions about verruca treatment, please do not hesitate to contact Active Footcare today.