Verruca treatment success story
Do you have a verruca that just won’t go away, despite throwing everything you can at it? Or perhaps you have a verruca so painful, it’s affecting your lifestyle. If so, it’s likely you’ve heard of Swift, and maybe even read about it on this website. So, you know what Swift is, but how do you know if it really works? The following patient case study just might help answer that question for you.
Sarah, whose name has been changed for the purposes of this case study, first attended my clinic in February 2020. Not only had she suffered from a verruca for about 5 years, but she also had a complicated medical history. Although only in her early 30s, she’d suffered acute sudden renal failure following the birth of her daughter and had undergone a kidney transplant less than a year before coming to see me. After an organ transplant you need to take tablets for life to stop your body rejecting the new organ. These tablets suppress your immune system which means if you pick up a virus it can take longer to fight it off.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the verruca was due to her medication. However, a verruca is not a sign of a poor immune system. In fact, the verruca virus cleverly ‘hides’ from your immune receptors (little cells which tell your immune system to activate), so, your body is completely unaware of it. Swift treatment triggers the body to create a protein to prevent the verruca from hiding, enabling your body to fight the virus. Despite the medication, Sarah’s body would still be able to make this protein. It’s just that it was likely to take longer for her body to fight the virus compared to someone not taking this medication.
Starting treatment
Sarah’s verruca was one of the largest we’ve seen in clinic. It was centered on a high-pressure area on the ball of her foot, which meant that the hard skin produced by the verruca was causing her a lot of pain. She had tried nearly every over-the-counter product, but to no avail.
On the first appointment I debrided the hard skin before the Swift treatment. We do this with all our patients so we can monitor what is going on beneath the hard skin. This caused some bleeding, but this is quite common. Tiny blood vessels – capillaries – are trapped within the skin layer as the verruca develops. Verrucae can also bleed due to the pressure from the callus in the tissue structures beneath the skin.
Maintaining treatment
Including the first treatment, Sarah received 3 Swift sessions – the recommended dose for adults – spaced 4 weeks apart. During each treatment, I “zapped” the lesion a number of times, to cover the whole affected area.
Although the verruca looks the same size at this point, Sarah was in a lot less pain and the verruca was forming less hard skin. Looking at the before and after photos, you may notice that the skin on left-hand side had become thinner (not as yellow as photo one). Also, the top right-hand corner was looking much pinker, as well reducing in skin depth.
So, why wasn’t the verruca gone after 3 treatments? It can take up to 12-16 weeks after the last treatment for the verruca to disappear. Particularly large, deep, and long-term verrucae, like Sarah’s, can take longer to resolve. Due to the size and duration of her verruca, as well as her mediation, I decided to treat it with Swift once again.
This photo is taken 8 weeks after the 4th Swift treatment. Although it still looks about the same size, the verruca itself is considerably thinner. We know that all verrucae get thinner before shrinking widthwise, so this was a positive sign. There was also less of a callus, and new skin was beginning to form (right-hand side). At this point, I recommended waiting to see how it would improve.
Completing treatment
We scheduled 3 more review appointments. Each time the verruca was getting thinner, with less callus build up. You can see that the verruca is much smaller and new skin has formed around the edges.
The verruca has now completely gone. The skin still needs to settle, but this is to be expected after being distorted for 6 years.
Sarah shows, it doesn’t matter how strong or weak your immune system is, or the size and depth of your verruca. Swift can work with your body to clear up even the most stubborn of verrucae!
Thanks to “Sarah” for agreeing to let me share her success story and use her foot in this case study.
If you want any more information on Swift, or any of our other treatments, please get in touch. Check out more of our success stories on Facebook and Instagram.
Do you think you might have a verruca? Give us call on 01635 791301 or book online to get a definitive diagnosis and start a treatment plan that’s right for you.
