20/02/2024
Spot the difference between verruca and corns......
A verruca is a virus. It comes from the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). This is highly contagious virus and is passed through person to person contact. They are most commonly found on the soles of the feet or around the toe area. The virus thrives in wet or damp environments.
Most interestingly they can clear spontaneously without any treatment however they can also be persistent for years. For some people they can be very painful, with the feeling of walking in a stone or for others pain free.
A corn is a cone shaped piece of hard skin that often occurs on an area of pressure, such as prominent joints. Corns are formed by pressure and friction, this can be from shoes, seams, socks, lumps and bumps on your feet.
Corns often start as hard, dead skin and as the pressure increases it forms a conical high pressure area.
The hard skin of a corn is formed to protect itself from the unrelenting pressure and friction.
One of the main ways to differentiate a verruca from a corn is looking closely at the skin. If you look at the skin on your hand just now, you will see it it has a line pattern and texture, these lines are called striations. The verruca virus is very clever as it disrupts the line pattern of skin, causing the striations to be interrupted. You may also notice that verruca tissue has small black spots in the skin, these are the verrucas blood vessels.
An easy test to differentiate a corn between a verruca if you are unsure is to squeeze the skin around the lesion side to side, if the lesion is painful to squeeze, then this is most probably a verruca.
Please get in touch if you have any concerns or require help treating your verruca or corn
Emma 07921172184
www.solelyyoursfootcare.co.uk solelyyoursfootcare@gmail.com
