Combat Warts Naturally: Top Remedies Ranked for Effectiveness

Oregano Oil

Posted by Crystal S. (Carolina Beach, Nc) on 04/30/2015
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I had a large wart, a little smaller than the size of a dime on the back of my left foot for at least 7 years. It was also about 1/8 of an inch tall/thick. I tried the freeze off stuff, the "fast acting gel", acv, banana peel, all of it, and none of it worked. after some time with all of the treatments, they spread to a little cluster on my heel and other places on both of my feet. it got to where I was so self conscious of my feet that I never wore sandals anymore, I always wore tennis shoes, and even when I would go to a friend's house, I'd make sure to wear nice socks so they wouldn't see the little bulge on the back of my foot.

After years of not wearing sandals and really wanting to, I decided to really look into what to use. I tried the "fast acting gel" for weeks, and it shrunk slightly, but not anything really drastic. I was looking on amazon at essential oils, and came across Oregano oil. several reviews said that it was the best thing to use for warts, it's an all natural antibiotic, and kills the virus quickly. I ordered some, and gave it a shot.

Now, several people will say that you need to dilute it because it will burn you. I never had this happen to me, so, I can't testify if that's correct or not. I took pieces of cotton balls, torn up into roughly about the same size as my warts, and put a generous amount of the oregano oil - straight, no dilution - on the cotton ball, placed it on my wart and covered it with a band-aid. this worked, but I thought, "why not try it with duct tape?" when I did use the Apple Cider Vinegar for the warts, I noticed the most effect when I had the duct tape on it, because it suffocated it, and made it to where the only contact it had was the vinegar, or ointment you were putting on it, and it makes it really soak in and generally makes it work faster and kill it. so, I did that, and it really sped up the process. within 1 week, the wart was already skin level. I was totally amazed, and even more so: it didn't hurt! I was sold.

What I Did:

Whenever I would get home for the night, I would take my shoes/socks off, and I would tear my cotton ball piece and get my oregano oil and put it on there and duct tape it to my foot overnight. the longer you can keep this stuff on there, the better. but you may need to change it every so often. I found that I didn't need to do that. I just left it on overnight. in the morning, i'd take it off, and shower. Now, when you've worn the oil on your foot overnight, it really soaks into the wart, but it doesn't make it swell up like vinegar does. if you take a shower right after you take it off, your wart will swell up with the water, and it will hurt. mine hurt quite a bit. to where I would take it off a few hours before I had to get into the shower, so it wouldn't hurt so much, but that's up to you. then I wouldn't wear anything throughout the day, just let it dry up a little. then, when I would get home for the night, I would get my foot file out and file it down as much as I could. I would file it until it hurt, or it seemed I was getting no where. then I would put my treatment on, and rerun the cycle.

I would stop treatment for a few weeks if I was really busy or if I was too tired to do my ritual before bed, and it didn't seem to grow back or anything, just kind of waited for me to start back up. I was worried how I was going to get the wart out of under the surface of my skin. I had read on here about how after your wart is gone it's nice pink skin underneath, and that sometimes you'd have a crater. maybe it was because the wart was on my heel where there wasn't much flesh or meat behind it, but when I used the treatment, it seemed to pull the wart out of the skin, like it just came to the surface, and when I would file it, it was filing it away for good. I was concerned it would try to spread under my skin or something, but it didn't. once I saw that the edges were shrinking, that it was getting smaller width wise as well and height, I really attacked it, and wore the treatment every single night without fail. soon after, it was gone. my skin was really red like a burn underneath the wart, but it didn't hurt.

I did have one wart on the inside of my foot that I had tried several treatments on first since it was easier for me to see how it was reacting, and it was also in a meatier place on my foot. it would get this hard covering and I could peel it up, but when I would start to peel it up, the whole wart wanted to come out, but instead of coming out cleanly, it wanted to rip away (sorry if it's too much information) from the healthy skin. nothing else was working and filing didn't really do anything, so I got brave one day and had a sterilized pair of nail clippers and just clipped it out. it bled a little bit, but since it's healed, it's all better.

I can wear sandals again, and it's wonderful.

The bottle that I got was 1/3 fl oz. and it was around $8 online, and it took a bottle and a little bit of the other. This was for the large wart, and the cluster on the outside of my foot. I still have 95% of the second bottle, so a little goes a long way! Try diluting it first and see if that helps, but for me, I used it undiluted. this stuff is a life saver!

Banana Peel

Posted by Minja (Banja Luka, Bosnia) on 02/14/2014
★★★★★

15 years almost I am fighting this crasy verrucas on my feet. Every year older become bigger, and new ones appear! This year that verruca claster become painfull! I started wolking strange way trying to avoid pain. Since I am mum and breastfeeding only natural remedy is an option! I found this great site and messages of you all who tried banana peel. I started at evening. Put the peel inside on verrucas and bandage it with duct tape. In the morning I take it of and find black places where verruas are. Also I discavered new little ones growing from inside of foot. I took foot file, and as much as I could, tried to eliminate that black spots. After I was foot and put propolis drops on it. And put socks. On evening I wash my foot, took a foot file and also tried to take off as much as I could, that infected skin. And then put banana peel again. I REPETED that procedure 7 days, and all ot that bastards are gone! After 15 years I finally have nice, soft, clean foot! It works - that great banana really works!!!

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Blair (Halifax, Nova Scotia) on 01/19/2013
★★★★★

I promised myself I would write a review of this home remedy should it work, so here I am letting people know that if you do this right it will work to remove warts. I had had two ugly warts on my face for the last 5 years, one on my cheek and another by my nose, when I first got them I thought they were zits or something, then they weren't going away so I thought they were cysts, the last thing I wanted to accept was that they were warts, so I went for years with those ugly things on my face. I came across this webpage and all the stories of people with success in removing warts so I thought what the hell I am giving this a try. I picked up some cheap Apple Cider Vinegar it cost me less than $5, I used it full stregnth on small cotton ball the size of the wart by securing the cotton to the warts with bandaids. I wore this 24/7 for 3 days changing the bandaids and reapplying the ACV every 4 hours or so. The warts turned Red, then black. I kept on applying the ACV for another full day the wart by my nose peeled off, the one on my cheek hung on 1 more day but it too fell off. I am left with two pinkish color spots where the warts used to be 1 full week later. I suspect in a week or two the pink will vanish with more healing time. I did experience some stinging when I was applying the ACV, and I did burn skin around the wart by making the cotton ball too big a few times, if I ever have to do this again I will protect the skin around the wart by applying polysporin or vasiline to the healthy skin to protect it from the burning. I am so happy this cure worked for me, I just wish I had looked it up earlier and not spent years with bad facial skin. Good luck everyone.

Castor Oil and Baking Soda

Posted by Alt-rocks (Suffolk, United Kingdom) on 08/02/2012
★★★★★

Many years ago my youngest brother was constantly having to have thread warts burnt off from under his chin and neck area. He was very young and this was extremely painful for him. A retired nurse suggested that I might want to try using a slurry of castor oil and bicarbonate of soda on the area twice a day. It worked absolute wonders, they all fell off within a week, and twenty five years later he is still wart free. If I remember correctly, I used a teaspoon of castor oil and two teaspoons of bicarbs to create a sludge which I applied to his skin with a q-tip.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by Alice (Tucson, Az) on 08/03/2009

Just an update:

I moved from Sierra Vista to Tucson.

The wart COMPLETELY disappeared and has NEVER returned.

Also: while using the hydrogen peroxide to remove the wart, there was never any discomfort; the wart simply began and then continued to get smaller and smaller... until it finally disappeared. Unlike what happened with other remedies I'd tried.

Just thought I'd let everyone know the wart has never returned and I finally stopped using the peroxide.

Aloe Vera

Posted by J Girl (Tampa, Fl) on 05/08/2011
★★★★★

My son had at least 6 planters warts on his one foot which were painful and seemed to be multiplying in spite of all our efforts. Got some pure aloe vera gel (the whole plant not simply the inner milk/juice) at the health food store for about $12 for a small bottle and started putting that on his foot at night while he slept (no covering, just open to the air). Within 6 days they started to turn black as I read. After about 2 1/2 weeks they are all gone. Looks like a brand new foot. No pain involved in the whole process.

Duct Tape

Posted by John (Solon, OH) on 12/26/2006
★★★★★

Duct tape on wart to suffocate it for a week and it will be gone. William Beacon was on David Letterman Christmas Day Eve telling people different uses for duck or duct tape. He told David Letterman if you put Duct Tape on a wart it will be gone in a week.

Hydrogen Peroxide, Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Smiggy (Sg, ) on 03/11/2025
★★★★★

I had a wart and for years it didn't grow or bother me but lately I realised it's growing slightly bigger.

I went through earthclinic for solution and decided to try with Hydrogen Peroxide solution (65) and Bragg apple cider vinegar.

I filled the cotten bud with hydrogen peroxide solution clean the wart. Then I let the wart soak in the solution for a couple of minutes.

After that, I soaked a new cotton bud with ACV and put it on the wart with a plaster.

It stink the skin but I get used to it. I noticed the wart got smaller and softer the next day and after 3 days, the skin of the wart broke and the wart is almost flat.

I will continue this therapy as I believed it can finally kill it at the root and unroot the whole thing.

Blackstrap Molasses

Posted by Leanna (White Rock, BC) on 08/11/2023
★★★★★

Any brand of Blackstrap molasses will do but I like using Wholesome foods Organic Unsulphured Blackstrap molasses. My brother and I got together recently and he had a wart he was trying to get rid of so I gave him some of my blackstrap molasses and 3 days later he said it fell off. I just said I told you so!

Duct Tape

Posted by Dan W (Northampton, MA) on 05/26/2022
★☆☆☆☆

WARNING!

Do NOT use Gorilla tape for Warts

I read about using duct tape to get rid of warts by covering them with it. I didn't have any duct tape, but I had Gorilla tape, which is stronger, so I figured it should work just the same if not better. I put a piece over one wart overnight and when I woke up, the skin around it was painful and discolored. The skin has remained discolored for 4-5 months so far. And it was painful for weeks afterwards.

Do NOT try this!!! Big regrets. The wart is still there, btw.

Potassium, Zinc, or Vitamin D

Posted by Missm (New Hork) on 09/07/2020

Hi Art,

Warts. I had a fairly large plantar wart on foot. I soaked with ACV everyday, but also used Cimetidine also known as Tagamet everyday twice a day.

The Tagamet did help remove the wart but guess what, it's also an immune booster! When everyone else got the ful, I did not get while on the cimetidine.

I found out about the immune boosting benefits on Life Extension. Cimetidine does work if you feel like you're getting sick from cold or flu, but you need to take on onset.

Not recommended as a daily viral preventative.

Matches

Posted by Lewis (Australia) on 06/04/2018
★★★★★

Matches, or a heated nail is a great treatment for warts. About as painful as freezing but works better! 10 seconds of sharp pain and the wart is gone, better than three times daily application of acids or other treatments that may or not work. Causes a localised blister that seperates the wart and surrounding flesh from the lower layers. 100% success rate if you can stop it from returning! I've used it several of mine and works great! Only struggles on the soles of my feet where the skin seems to be too thick. Might need more heat but candles with nails and matches might not get all the way through!

Salicylic Acid

Posted by Emily (Ca) on 05/06/2018
★★★★★

I tried EVERYTHING else.... ACV, iodine, freezing, propolis, colloidal silver, banana extract for the wart I had in my left nostril. Inside the nose is a very difficult place to treat since I can't put a banana peel in it and attempting to freeze it was very challenging. (The banana peel trick was the only thing that worked for my daughter's plantar warts.) The only thing that kept it mostly at bay was putting ACV and iodine on it 2-3 time per day. I had done this for around a year's time and if I stopped, the wart would reappear within days.

I recently found a tube of salicylic acid 2% for psoriasis at the dollar store and decided to try it, since I know salicylic acid is a common treatment for warts. So far it has done a great job and my wart is gone. I'm still applying it with a Q-tip 2-3 times per day because I'm so afraid it will come back since I've been dealing with it for so long... but I have a feeling it's gone for good. :)

Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by Scott (Pen Argyl, Pa) on 06/15/2016
★★★★★

I had this wart on my finger for years and tried several remedies, including freezing it off. Nothing worked. I purchased 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide for another ailment but decided to try it on this wart.

Using one of those plastic bottles a prescription comes in, I mixed 3 oz of water and 5 eye droppers of the hydrogen peroxide. Whenever I thought about it, I soaked my finger in it for a few minutes. I didn't think it would work if the hp couldn't get to the wart through the thick hard skin covering it so I peeled some of it off. A week later the wart was gone. To be sure I kept the soaking up for 2 more weeks.

It's been 3 months and the wart has not returned. Other than peeling some of the skin off the wart, this was completely painless.

Iodine

Posted by Anon (Anon) on 06/05/2016
★★★★★

Yay for iodine for warts. The bump I had on my hand that looked like the other one that turned into a wart is nearly gone. Instead of making the mistake of scratching it, which is what caused the other bump to become a wart, I instead put a drop of Lugol's 2% on it and let it soak in. There was a dark spot from the iodine for a few days. After a week or so I put another drop on. The bump scabbed over and is gradually flattening out. It's nearly gone, it's been about two weeks. Thanks, God! And EarthClinic :)

Dandelion

Posted by Joshua (Vancouver, Canada) on 12/13/2014
★★★★★

I would like to add one more method of wart removal and that is to use dandelion milk/sap. A little back story on this is I had warts for years and most of them stayed the same size and only occasionally were they painful. I tried EVERYTHING from actually getting them burned off to duct tape and garlic, but nothing worked. Eventually I got a few small ones on my hands and a HUGE one on my foot. This was the last straw for me. Coincidentally at the same time, my mother remembered her grandfather saying dandelion milk/sap worked, and she remembered it working too. With out any hesitation I found the juiciest dandelion in my yard and snapped the head off to place on every last wart. The sap turned black and in a few months no one would have ever thought I used to have warts all over my feet.

To apply I have found the flowers have the most juice, but any part will do. The great thing with the dandelion method is that the sap sticks on for about a week before you have to reapply. A few times my skin would become quite sensitive to the sap but not for long. My brother and sister also had warts on their hands and feet and the weird thing was that we all got rid of all our warts at the same time using this method.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Kelly (Pinconning, Michigan) on 09/15/2014
★★★★★

My dad had a pretty nasty growth on top of his ear that I figured was a wart. So one day I decided I was going to use my hippy method on him to prove that ACV is the bomb. My mom only had the pasteurized stuff, so I soaked that in a little piece of cotton ball, applied it to the growth which I had previously cleaned with an alcohol pad, held it all there with a huge Band-Aid. Kept in on there for 3 days, changed it everyday.

By the third day it had turned black and was beginning to flake off. Mom decided to let it get some air. It pretty much fell off on its own after that. So use your discretion on how long you want to keep the vinegar on it- but I say HOSE THE THING if you can stand it. It worked so fast. Some of the surrounding skin was also flaking off, but maybe it was infected as well. I just looked at the spot- two weeks later- it's like that thing was never there. Just a tiny little scab is left and the surrounding area is nice fresh pink tissue. This thing was probably the size of 2 pencil erasers together and it's gone!

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Earth Clinic Friend (Forster, Australia) on 01/04/2014
★★★★★

I had a wart driving itself into the left side of my neck & was slow doing something about it...finally I got on to this site. I first used duct tape only on it for the first 3 days & then Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) applied twice a day with a cotton ball & band-aid for the next 3 days & it just fell off leaving no scars etc. Thanks heaps to this site!

Dandelion

Posted by Clare (Lytham St Annes, England) on 05/01/2013

The white milk from the broken stem of a dandelion applied to the wart clears it up in a couple of weeks - if it's small.

Dim

Posted by Joan (Loveland, Colo/usa) on 04/24/2012
★★★★★

My son had a large wart on the ball of his foot (about 2" round) and he had it burned out by a dermatologist and it returned, he tried all the alternative remedies but nothing worked. Finally, a podiatrist suggested the supplement - DIM. After 3 weeks of faithfully taking the pills according to the bottles instructions, the wart started to get smaller and smaller. After 3 months on the DIM, the wart was gone and has not returned. DIM eliminated any excess estrogen and balanced the hormones. Don't know why it works rid warts, but it works. Praise God.