Home Remedies for Warts
Find an Easy, Simple Home Remedy for Warts
A number of home remedies for warts are very effective. The best thing about a home remedy for warts is they don't leave a scar like some medical treatments do. Zapping a wart with a lazer or freezing it is effective but it is also painful.
Warts are small growths on the skin. They are round or oval and may be elevated or flat. They are usually light in color - the same color as the skin. People sometimes mistake a mole for a wart and skin cancer can sometimes look like a wart. If you suspect a skin growth may not be a wart, consult a medical professional.
Warts do not have deep roots and you can't get warts by handling frogs.
Most people will have at least one wart in their life time. Children often have many warts that appear and then disappear after a couple of years. Warts can form on any part of the body including the bottom of the feet. Warts on the bottom of the feet are called plantar warts and they are more difficult to get rid of because of the thick skin on the sole of the foot.
What Causes Warts?
Warts are caused by a virus called papilloma virus. This virus is present in the air all the time and it enters the body through a break in the skin - a small cut or nick. It takes up residence and a wart is the result.
Because warts are caused by a virus, they are contageous. Touching another person's wart, could give you a wart if the conditions are right on your skin. You can also spread the warts on your own body by first touching your wart and then touching other areas of your body. Plantar warts are usually picked up in public swimming pools or locker rooms. The wart virus thrives in moist conditions. This is another reason for wearing shoes or flip flops when you go to the pool or the gym. (The first reason is
athlete's foot.)
Try These Home Remedies for Warts
- You've probably heard of the duct tape home remedy for warts. Duct tape works but so does any tape that is kept on a wart over a period of time. The secret to success with this remedy is keeping the same piece of tape on the wart as long as possible. That is probably where the duct tape thing started. Duct tape really sticks. Put a small piece of tape on the wart and leave it there for days. Change it only when you absolutely have to do so.
- One of the most mysterious home remedies for warts is hypnosis. Studies have shown that hypnosis actually works in making warts disappear. If you don't have a competent hypnotist in the family, you might try using a kind of self-hypnosis where you repeatedly tell yourself your warts are becoming smaller every day. The trick here is for the subconcious mind to believe or accept that the warts are diminishing. This is the technique used by parents in the past to get rid of children's warts. They rubbed the wart with a penny and told the child that this would make the wart go away and it worked because the child believed it would.
- Applying various substances to the wart twice a day and then covering it with tape to keep it from rubbing off works for many. Things to try are the inside of a banana peel, a paste made from a crushed vitamin C tablet, apple cider vinegar, raw potato, vitamin E oil, aloe vera, milk from a dandelion stem, caster oil, and oil of clove. Read about the amazing health benefits of dandelion.
These home remedies for warts take time to work. It may take weeks and even months for the wart to be completely gone and sadly, the wart may come back. If it does, start a treatment immediately.
You may want to opt for an over-the-counter treatment if none of these home remedies for warts work for you. Most over-the-counter treatments use salicylic acid and if they are not used properly they can cause irritation and sores on the skin around the wart.
Plantar warts on the soles of the feet can be very painful. If walking is very painful for you, you want the problem taken care of as fast as possible. It is probably best to consult a medical professional.
