A Case of Verrucae Resolution by Homoeopathic Medicine: A Case Report

: 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


Introduction:
Warts are very commonly found in practice, called as 'masse' in Hindustani & 'anchil' in Bengali 1 . Human papillomaviruses (HPVs), tiny DNA viruses, are the culprits behind warts, which are benign epidermal neoplasms. Verruca planaor flat warts are flat-topped papules that are pink, lightbrown, or light yellow in color and range in size from 0.1 to 0.5 cm. Although there might only be a small number, generally there are many of them. HPV-3 and HPV-10 are the major causes of flat warts. The lips, the forehead, the backs of the hands, and shaved regions like the beard area in males and the lower legs in women are typical locations of involvement. In conventional medicine treatment includes topical salicylic acid preparation, imiquimod cream, blunt dissection, cauterization. Cryotherapy etc. these treatments may cause scarring, hyperpigmentation & recurrence 2 .

Case Proper Patient details:
A 55-year old Muslim female of dark complexion and thin build belonging to a poor socio-economic status reported at NIH OPD with warts on right wrist. There were plane warts at back of hand, which were smooth, slightly elevated and pale colored.They were round, with one large wart measuring 7 mm and several smaller warts measuring 1-2 mm. She had low back pain as associated complaint since 10 months & general weakness since 3 months.

History of present complaints
The biggest one appeared 1-year back & increased in size gradually. Afterwards the smaller ones appeared. She took allopathic treatment without any noticeable improvement.

Past history
She had typhoid in childhood, treated with allopathic medicine.

Family history
No significant history found in both maternal & paternal side.

Mental General
Mild natured.

Physical General
Appetite: normal, 3  At firstvisit she presented with backache & the pain was severing so based on acute totality, RhusToxicodendron 1M/ 3dose was prescribed. Then on third visit, after repertorisation with Boger Boenninghausen's characteristic Repertory 5,6 , Ferrum Metallicum was chosen, as it covered generals, as well as particulars symptoms. After consultation with the homoeopathic materia medica 3,4 , it was prescribe which gave the significant relief to the patient.

Result:
At first visit she got Rhus Tox 1M which relieved her backache to some extent, but there were no change in wart or her weakness. She was on placebo for next one month. Then on third visit, after repertorisation Ferrum Metallicum 0/1 (16 doses) was prescribed after which sizes of wart stared to decrease, back pain, weakness stared to improve. On the 6 th visit, no wart was visible in affected wrist. On examination, wrist skin was in normal and healthy condition (In Fig.2).  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.