Most clear on their own eventually. Treatment speeds it up, with realistic expectations.
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Warts and verrucas are caused by human papillomavirus infecting the top layer of skin. A verruca is simply a wart on the sole of the foot — the same thing, pressed inwards by your body weight, which is why it hurts.
They are harmless. They also go away on their own — around two-thirds clear within two years in children, though it can take longer in adults. That is genuinely a legitimate option, and worth weighing before starting months of treatment.
Two safety points that matter more than anything else here:
And one myth worth clearing up: the little black dots are not seeds or roots. They are tiny clotted blood vessels. Warts have no roots, and nothing needs digging out.
A genuinely useful distinction, since they are treated differently:
Human papillomavirus — low-risk types, which do not cause cancer. Warts on the hands and feet come from different types than those affecting the genital area, and hand warts do not become genital warts.
Diagnosed by appearance, and a clear close-up photograph is usually enough — which suits a remote consultation well.
Verruca or corn: look at whether the skin lines run through it or around it, and whether it hurts more when pinched sideways or pressed down. Getting this wrong means months of the wrong treatment.
Around two-thirds clear on their own within two years in children. If they are painless and not bothering anyone, waiting is entirely reasonable and avoids months of effort. Treatment is worth it where they hurt, spread, catch on things, or genuinely bother you.
Available over the counter, and the treatment with the best evidence. What decides whether it works is technique and persistence:
Almost everyone who says it did not work stopped at three or four weeks, or skipped the filing. That combination is the treatment; the acid alone is not.
Freezing, usually every two to three weeks over several sessions. Comparable results to properly used salicylic acid rather than dramatically better — and often used alongside it. It stings, and it can blister.
Genuinely studied, with modest and mixed evidence. Harmless, cheap, and reasonable to try alongside filing and acid, particularly in children who dislike the acid stinging.
Dermatology or podiatry for resistant, painful or extensive warts, facial warts, or anyone immunosuppressed. Other treatments — including stronger acids, curettage and immune-based treatments — are available there.
Warts and verrucas are not an emergency. Seek prompt medical attention for:
Book an appointment for:
Do not treat a verruca yourself. Salicylic acid and freezing both damage surrounding skin deliberately, and in a foot with reduced sensation or blood supply that is a genuine route to an ulcer. See a podiatrist or a doctor instead. This is the most important line on this page for anyone it applies to.
There is no exclusion from school, swimming or sport for warts or verrucas. Children should not be kept out of the pool. Cover a verruca and carry on — the virus is far too common to be worth restricting anyone over.
Warts are harmless, extremely common, and say nothing about hygiene or health. For most children the sensible approach is to file them, cover them for swimming, and let time do the work.
Most warts and verrucas disappear on their own without any treatment — around two-thirds within two years in children, more slowly in adults. Doing nothing is a legitimate and often sensible choice, and it costs nothing.
Salicylic acid preparations and home freezing kits are available over the counter for a few pounds, and salicylic acid is the treatment with the best evidence. It requires persistence — daily application for up to twelve weeks, with the dead skin filed down between applications — and the commonest reason it fails is stopping after a fortnight.
The NHS generally does not treat warts and verrucas, regarding them as self-limiting and cosmetic. That is not rationing so much as an accurate reading of the evidence.
Where money is genuinely wasted: repeated private cryotherapy, which has similar outcomes to salicylic acid at considerably greater cost and discomfort; and the various duct tape, homeopathic and “wart removal” products with no reliable evidence.
Where a consultation is worth it: if the diagnosis is uncertain — a lesion assumed to be a wart that is growing, bleeding, changing or painful needs a proper look, since some skin cancers are mistaken for warts; if you have diabetes or poor circulation, where foot lesions need care; or if you are immunosuppressed, where warts can be extensive and persistent.
NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary, Warts and verrucae, is the principal reference. It notes that most resolve spontaneously without treatment and that treatment is not necessary unless lesions are painful, unsightly, persistent or causing distress.
CKS recommends topical salicylic acid as first-line, applied daily with regular paring, and notes that treatment may need to continue for up to twelve weeks.
CKS notes cryotherapy is no more effective than salicylic acid for most lesions, is more painful, and requires repeated treatments — the basis for the cost point above.
CKS advises particular caution in people with diabetes or peripheral vascular disease, where salicylic acid and cryotherapy carry a risk of ulceration.
CKS sets out referral criteria — diagnostic uncertainty, immunosuppression, extensive or facial lesions, and any lesion with atypical features. NICE NG12 underpins the advice on a lesion that is growing, bleeding or changing.
Not necessarily. Around two-thirds clear by themselves within two years in children, and treatment takes months of daily effort. If they are painless and not bothering anyone, waiting is a perfectly sensible choice. Treat them if they hurt, spread, catch on things, or you simply want them gone.
Almost always because it was stopped too early or the filing was skipped. The method is: soak, file, apply, cover — every day, for at least twelve weeks. Most people stop at three or four weeks, or apply the acid to an unfiled surface it cannot penetrate. Persistence is the treatment.
No. Warts have no roots. The black dots are tiny clotted blood vessels within the wart, which sits entirely in the top layer of skin. There is nothing beneath to dig out, and trying to do so causes infection and scarring rather than a cure.
Two useful checks. A verruca interrupts the skin lines — the ridges of the sole run around it rather than through it — while a corn keeps them running straight over. And a verruca hurts when pinched from the sides; a corn hurts when pressed down. Getting this right saves months of the wrong treatment.
Yes. There is no exclusion from swimming, school or sport. Cover a verruca with a plaster or a verruca sock and carry on. Keeping a child out of the pool for this is unnecessary and unfair to them.
No, please do not. Salicylic acid and freezing work by deliberately damaging skin, and on a foot with reduced sensation or blood supply that is a genuine route to an ulcer and infection. Get it looked at by a podiatrist or doctor instead — this is one of the clearest do-not-self-treat situations in this whole area.
No. Different HPV types cause each, and warts on the hands do not become genital warts. Both are caused by low-risk types that do not cause cancer.
Get it examined. A lesion on the sole that has not responded to correct treatment over several months needs looking at properly, because some skin cancers on the foot are mistaken for verrucas and treated for a long time before anyone questions the diagnosis. It is usually nothing — but it is worth confirming rather than repeating the freezing.
August 23, 2026
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It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
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