A pain-free way of removing a verruca? (Scholl Seal and Heal Verruca Removal Gel)

Member Name: dippykitty

Product:	Scholl Seal and Heal Verruca Removal Gel
Date:	21/04/09 (301 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Has worked on my small verruca, pain-free

Disadvantages: Is taking longer to get to work on my large verruca (although it does seem to be working)

I have had a stubborn verruca on the bottom of my right foot for several months now. I've no idea how I picked it up as I haven't been swimming for years! It's not painful but as a verruca is hardly the nicest thing on earth, I was pretty keen to get rid of it.

The Idea
The basic idea behind this gel is that it will form a protective barrier over the verruca to help it heal and stop dirt and bacteria from coming into contact with it. After repeated applications, the protective barrier should come off on its own accord, taking the pesky verruca with it. I liked this concept as it sounded painless and relatively fuss-free.

The Gel
The gel is a clear one. You don't need to use much of this at any one go so even though the tube is quite small, it should last long enough to have a good go at blitzing the verruca. Be careful when applying the gel as it's not supposed to make contact with your skin. This is a lot easier said than done, and I have often found myself having to wipe excess away as it's quite difficult to get the gel only on the verruca.

When I first apply it, I can feel a bit of a cold tingling sensation around the verruca but it's not uncomfortable. Hopefully this means that it's getting to work! The protective layer forms almost straight away as the gel dries. To be honest, it looks a lot like the type of surface debris that gets left behind when you apply something like this, as opposed to an actual protective layer.

Does It Work?
I have been using this gel twice a day for around 10 days now. My verruca has shrunk in size a little bit but it still looks much the same. The only notable difference is that it now looks like a bit of dead, dry skin rather than a verruca. I've no idea if this is part of the healing process or not, but it doesn't look as bad as it originally did. It has definitely hardened up a lot so I can see how it might just drop off at a later date. The packaging states that it may take up to twelve weeks to work properly so this is obviously not a quick fix that will get rid of your verruca in a week or less.

As well as the main verruca in the middle of my foot, I also have two smaller ones near the toes. After ten days, one of the smaller ones looks like it has dropped off, and the other small one seems like it's going to follow suit soon (hopefully!). Based on this, it seems that a smallish verruca may respond in a fortnight or less, but bigger ones are going to need up to the twelve week window.

I'm giving it three stars for now as it is having a good effect on my small verruca. If it also works on the bigger one, I will come back and update both the star rating and the review to reflect this.

Summary: It does work (on a small verruca at the very least)