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Curettage Wart Treatment

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What is curettage?
Benefits of curettage
Treatment process
Recovery
Alternative treatments
FAQs

For stubborn, chronic or complicated warts on the feet, our podiatrists offer curettage wart treatment to effectively remove the wart in one procedure, so you can finally be rid of this painful and frustrating problem.

What Is Curettage Wart Treatment?

Curettage is a simple, safe and effective minor surgical procedure that is performed by our podiatrists at our clinics. It involves your podiatrist using a specialised technique to ‘scoop’ out the wart from your foot while you are under local anaesthetic, making the procedure painless. We find curettage to have great success rates in our clinic, with studies also showing success rates of up to 85%.

We find curettage extremely useful for those who have extremely persistent, stubborn or atypical plantar warts, where non-surgical treatments have failed to relieve your pain or give you the results you want. Some patients also prefer to have their wart treatment completed in a single appointment, as opposed to having to return for several treatments using the other non-invasive options.

What Are The Benefits Of Curettage Wart Treatment?

Our patients often choose the wart curettage procedure because they’ve tried other solutions for warts for some time, whether that’s with their GP or using over-the-counter products at the chemist, and have become sick of waiting for their wart(s) to resolve with no results. 

Warts often present in painful areas that bear weight anytime we walk, like the ball of the foot, our big toe or our heels, meaning it causes pain or discomfort all day. In these cases, some patients don’t want to attend several other treatment sessions and wait for the wart to decrease in size over several weeks. They want it gone ASAP, which is what curettage delivers.

Benefits of wart curettage include:

• It’s performed in our clinic by our trusted, experienced podiatrists
  
• No referrals for specialist care are needed - we perform the procedure and take care of you during your short recovery
  
• The procedure is painless, performed under local anaesthetic
  
• Only one treatment session in total is required - no taking time off to return for weekly treatment sessions
  
• You will be able to return to work/school the day following the procedure, if not the same day depending on the size and position of your plantar wart
  
• Wart curettage has proven efficacy, both in our clinic and in studies
  
• This procedure is safe for children as well as adults
  

Wart Curettage Treatment Process

We start by cleaning and sanitising your foot following strict hygiene and safety protocols, before administering local anaesthetic so the area containing the wart is completely numb. Your podiatrist will circumscribe the edges of the wart(s), separating the affected viral tissue from the healthy surrounding tissue. We then take an instrument called a curette and ‘scoop’ out the whole wart - much like how you can picture an ice cream scoop. We then apply a chemical called phenol to the scooped area so it can act on any small remaining bits of wart tissue that have been left behind, effectively destroying the cells.

To finish, we apply antiseptic and sterile dressings that will support the optimum healing of your foot. You will be instructed to avoid getting the foot wet (like under a shower) for 48 hours, along with some other home-care instructions. We’ll check in with you and monitor your progress until you’re fully healed. 

Recovery

Your anaesthetic will wear off a few hours after your procedure. The total recovery time may take up to four weeks, depending on your medical history and the size and location of your plantar wart. Naturally, there may be some slight discomfort for the first couple of days following your procedure and pain relief may be taken to ease this as long as it is not aspirin-based. 

As with any treatment for plantar warts by any health professional, there can never be a guarantee that another wart will not arise on your foot in the future, regardless of the treatment approach. This is because once infected, the HPV virus remains inside your body and may present as warts at different times in your life. Treatment focuses on removing painful, uncomfortable or unsightly warts that have a negative impact on your quality of life, and is successful in achieving this for the specific wart in question.

This is a routine procedure performed in our clinic and we’re proud to offer it alongside our other wart treatment options so you can select the best treatment method for your needs.

What Alternative Treatments Are There For Plantar Warts?

When you come into our clinics with a plantar wart, you can be sure that your podiatrist will take the time to explain all of our range of treatment options, the benefits of each, and which may be most suitable for you based on your circumstances. We also offer:

• SWIFT microwave therapy: SWIFT is an automated microwave therapy that rapidly and repeatedly heats the infected wart tissue to up to 45ºC to get deep into the wart and destroy it.
  
• Multiple puncture wart treatment: here, a fine, sterile needle is repeatedly inserted into the wart under local anaesthetic to push viral cells into the deeper layers of the skin, triggering an immune response from your body to clear the wart.
  
• Cryotherapy: cryotherapy involves destroying a wart through freezing it, typically with liquid nitrogen.
  
• Topical agents: we also have a selection of topical agents (specified acids) that can be applied to the surface of the wart after we remove the hard outer layer of the wart tissue using a scalpel, exposing the wart tissue beneath. This is effective for those with many small, superficial warts that have only been present for a short time.
  

FAQs

Is curettage wart treatment safe?

Yes, we take every precaution when it comes to your safety throughout the procedure. This is a common procedure in our clinic, and as such, we’re very good at it!

Does curettage wart treatment hurt?

The only thing you’ll feel during the procedure is the momentary pinch of the local anaesthetic being injected into your foot. From there, the procedure is completely pain-free.

Can warts return after curettage wart treatment?

Warts can appear on the foot again following any wart treatment, and at any time. This is because once infected with the HPV virus that causes warts, it remains inside your body and may present as warts at different times in your life. There is no treatment available by anyone on the market that can prevent warts altogether. Instead, treatment focuses on removing the painful or uncomfortable warts in question that are currently having a negative impact on your quality of life, which it does successfully.