The treatment of verrucae with homeopathy

This article by a Postgraduate Trainee (Dept. of Case Taking and Repertory, National Institute of Homoeopathy, Govt. of India) an Assistant Professor (Dept. of Surgery, National Institute of Homoeopathy Govt. of India) and another Assistant Professor (Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Midnapore Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, Govt. of West Bengal) might not be available online (Clinical Medicine and Health Research Journal, Volume 03, Issue 03, May – June 2023 Page No. 444-446) but it is I think worth discussing. Here is its abstract:

Warts are one of the common dermatological disorders caused by human papilloma viruses encountered in our day to day life. These are cutaneous or mucosal infection needs proper care and treatment to prevent its transmission and complete healing. Although mostly warts are dealt with the therapeutic approach, i.e. on the basis of its peculiar type and location but it can even be successfully treated by constitutional approach. This article is regarding a case of warts treated successfully with Rhus Tox followed by Ferrum Met selected as the simillimum and proved its effectiveness in a short period of time.

As the abstract is not very informative, let me show you also some sections from the paper itself:

The patient presented with warts on right wrist for 1 year. There were plane warts at back of wrist, which was smooth, slightly elevated and skin coloured. There was no history of warts or other benign skin disease in the family. This case treated with individualized homoeopathic medicine showed complete resolution of the warts. There is no cure for wart in conventional medicine except removal of them with various methods. Although it does not rule out the chance of recurrence, later on may deep organic disease. That is why a substantial number of warts patients resort to Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), especially homoeopathy.

In this case, Ferrum Metallicum 0/1 was selected as a ‘similimum’ based on totality of symptoms, repertorial analysis and consultation with Homoeopathic Materia Medica, which was given more priority in this case. After seeing improvement, succeeding potency was prescribed. After Ferrum Met 0/4 all her complaints including warts disappeared. Thus, the outcome of this case of Plane Warts of the lady shows the success of individualized homoeopathic medicine in treatment of wart.

Conclusion:

This case report suggests homoeopathic treatment as a promising complementary or alternative therapy and emphasizes the need of repertorisation in individualized homoeopathic prescription. This case shows a positive role of homoeopathic in treating Warts. However, this is a single case study and requires well designed studies which may be taken up for future scientific validation.

This case report reminded me of an exciting and quite lovely story: at Exeter, we once conducted a wart study. It was a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial where the verum group received distant healing and the controls nothing at all. After planning the study, I was no longer involved in its running. As I happened to have a wart at the time, I offered myself to my team as a patient. They checked me out and admitted me into the study. For the next weeks, I either received the distant healing energy or nothing; neither I nor my team knew which. My wart was photographed and measured regularly.

And then it happened: shortly after the treatment period was over, my wart had gone. Everyone was excited, especially the UK healing scene. But we had to wait until the trial was finished, the results were calculated, and the random code was opened. The result: no difference between verum and placebo! We concluded that distant healing from experienced healers had no effect on the number or size of patients’ warts.

And my own, very personal wart?

It had disappeared spontaneously – I had been in the control group!

I know Indian homeopaths have a thing about healing warts (we discussed this before) but I am afraid the conclusions of this new paper ought to be re-written:

This case report does not suggest that homeopathic treatment is a promising complementary or alternative therapy. It shows the natural history of the condition in the disappearance of warts.