Many patients go to Podiatrists because they have verrucae and have tried over the counter treatments but these have been unsuccessful.

Some verrucae are extremely stubborn and sometimes will not go away on their own or with first line treatment options. 

Verruca needling sounds a bit scary, but it really isn’t. It is a procedure that many Podiatrists offer to try and help resolve more stubborn or problematic verrucae.  

It is a procedure carried out under local anaesthesia, usually in the form of an injection into the ankle, or into the toe (if the verruca is on a toe). 

Once the foot or the area to be needled is numb, then needling is carried out, which involves carefully puncturing the verruca multiple times with a sterile needle. 

A verruca is caused by a viral infection in the skin which can’t be detected easily by the body’s immune system.

Needling causes a more acute inflammatory response and trauma at the site of the verruca and underlying tissue which allows a cell mediated immune response to occur.

This essentially means that, if the needling procedure is successful you will be immune to that specific family of virus you have been infected with.

We often see warts on the hands, or smaller verruca on the feet disappear too when a larger verruca is needled. 

Needling is roughly 70% effective with the first treatment. Occasionally a second needling procedure is required and this unfortunately may still not work. This is the difficulty with verrucae, as there is no guaranteed cure. 

You will usually be advised not to drive afterwards as you will have a numb foot or toe and you will need a dressing on the verruca and one or more review appointments to check the site and the progress. You will need to get specific advice and a management plan from the Podiatrist you see. 

Verruca needling usually costs several hundred pounds depending on the clinic you attend, each will have their own pricing structure. 

If this is something you are interested in, you can find a podiatrist near you on our directory. 

The pictures below show a verruca before needling, after 4 weeks and then after 2 months. It can take time for the verruca to disappear after it has been needled as demonstrated in these images.