Combat Warts Naturally: Top Remedies Ranked for Effectiveness

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Amanda (Sterling, Ma) on 08/18/2014
★★★★★

Apple Cider Vinegar for Warts: This works! I had a wart on the top of my foot for 6 years! Like many of the other people who have posted on this site, I had it treated by the doctor and I treated it myself with the patches and every wart kit you can get at the drug store. It worked a couple times but then it would come back. I heard from some people that it may just go away. I also read that if I focused on improving my immune system that it would go away, so I did. But it just got bigger and then had 'babies'. So I did some research about surgery but I tend to lean away from western medicine. A month ago at about 3am I couldn't sleep and was thinking about how much I hated this stupid wart on me. I wanted it gone and knew I could find a way. I found this site and started reading all the feedback about how the apple cider vinegar was working for so many people. It sparked some major hope that I could potentially rid myself of these things and a month later, success!!!! I attacked the mother wart first. At the same time, I started treating a small one on the bottom of my foot and another between some toes. Every night (it was time consuming- but be persistant, you will be so happy once the warts are gone! ) I used an eye dropper full of ACV. Soak some balls of cotton that I pulled off of q-tips. I tried to make each ball the same size as the wart that it would go on. I used bandages called Nexcare, which were great because it kept the Apple Cider Vinegar from dripping and they stay on really well!! The warts first turned white. Then black spots. Then I used a pumice stone to filled the skin down a bit. A few times I got over zealous and it would bleed. I would only do the filing every other night. With the big wart, I notice the process repeat itself after I filed away a layer, it would turn white, then black again. By the way, it is painful too! I just kept thinking about how happy I would be once they were all gone:) I highly suggest taking a magnesium/calcium supplement like Calm. This will help you to sleep through the pain (besides the many other health benefits associated with taking a mag/cal supplement). I think I may have treated it longer than was necessary. I finally decided (around the 4week) to give it a break. I had come to the point where there really couldn't be more filed, and there were just crators left. Now there is new skin. It just looks a bit like there was a wound there. I am confident that with some rose hips oil the skin will heal up nicely. But first I am going to start treating the small 'baby' warts that are around where really big was. I promised myself a few things if it worked. 1)I would post the experience, 2)I would throw away all my flip flops - because I'm paranoid I will get another wart from them 3) I would buy myself a new pair of sandals! Oh and P.S. I started taking a zinc supplement and drinking ACV as I did the treatment for added immune support. Another thing, the pumice stone grossed me out after a few uses (because a lot of dead, infected skin comes off! ), so I tossed it and started using small rocks that I would gather from my backyard that looked rough enough to file the skin down:) That way I could use a new one each time!

Vapor Rub

Posted by Trishygirl (Wanganui, New Zealand) on 05/31/2014

Last week I had a cold and so I tried putting Vicks Vapor Rub on soles of my feet and between my toes to give me relief from coughing at night. I put socks on and went to bed. After 3 night of this (It did help with the cough) I noticed that a wart on my toe was nearly gone. A quick search on the web showed up incidents of it working for others. Hope this is helpful to others. Take care

Vitamin A

Posted by Barbara (Ottawa, CA) on 04/20/2014
★★★★★

I am trying Vit A at the time and it seems to be successful. Here is a link to the info:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274422

Garlic

Posted by Freethink (Lima, Peru) on 02/25/2014
★★★★★

Plantar Warts.

Abrade the exact spot exposing soft fresh skin. Slice fresh garlic and tape to said spot. Change two-three times daily wear sock, again at night with fresh application. (this if from my (traditional medicine doctor) naturopathic doctor. Keep it clean and as skin softens remove to expose fresh layers. Abrade with file, clippers, pumice file, the pumice is explicitly for limited use, discard after warts and get a new one. You must be meticulous!!

Improve diet, include bicarbonate and lime water.

Banana Peel

Posted by Mike62 (Denver) on 02/06/2014

John: More people eat bananas than any other fruit. There has been only 1 recorded case of somebody being allergic to them. There are only 2 possibilities I can think of. A non organic banana might have some pesticides in the peel. Normally the pesticides stay on the exterior and do not get that far into the interior. The disease might not have been confined to the wart and might also be under the skin. Maybe the nutrients in the peel killed them and they produced mycotoxins that caused the reaction.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Dan (Sc, Usa) on 12/01/2013

I love how ACV can get rid of the warts I've had on the backs of my hands and fingers for years, permanently, in no time at all. All I did was scratch the wart up a bit with a clean sewing needle, then soak a small piece of cotton (perhaps torn from a q-tip), place that on top of the wart, and secure it snuggly with a band-aid. Then, for two days, I would re-soak that piece of cotton, replace the band-aid if necessary, and the wart would almost certainly be gone within 48 hours. But me being me, I usually continue to do it for an extra day just to be sure. From my experience, and from a few others whom I've convinced to try this, it works at least 90% of the time, or 100% of the time if they need to do it again a second time with a little bit of deeper scratching from the pin. This doesn't hurt! All you are doing is scratching the wart's thick outer layer so that the ACV can seep down into the root.

Fig Leaf Milk

Posted by Lynnd (Socal) on 11/13/2013
★★★★★

I can vouch that fig "milk" works on warts. Tried it on my husband when a fig planted itself in the yard. :-) The wart will begin to shrivel at first application. If repeated 2-3x per week, it takes longer but works, too.

Flat Wart Remedies

Posted by Cj (New Zealand) on 10/20/2013

My 12 yr old son also has flat warts (plane warts) and I've tried the banana peel and duct tape to keep them on but because they are on his back, when he's sleeping, the duct tape seems to come loose from the constant moving I guess.

There was a suggestion that castor oil rubbed into the warts helped, I did this a few times and admittedly they did seem to sort of "dry up" just a tad, but never really showed signs of disappearing completely. Back to the banana skin, a friend of mine told me she peeled the very top layer of the outer skin and just a thin layer of the inner peel off and applied that to her sons warts and they were gone within 2 or 3 applications. The greener the better. However, they weren't flat warts and so were easier to apply being a smaller area.

I will try again with the banana, this time using a much thinner layer and as green as possible - but it's coming summer here, and bananas don't stay green for long at the moment! I believe they are our best option so stick with it each night.

Turmeric

Posted by Lorraine (Indiana, Usa) on 09/20/2013
★★★★★

Please add Tumeric to your list of remedies for warts. For about year, I was troubled with a wart on the on my right palm. Resonable--though not excellent nutrition-would shrink the wart and cause it to blacken slightly. But it was still there. Due to other health concerns, about 6 weeks ago, I began taking moderately high dosages of tumeric/curcumin (4 capsules, 3 times per day) My wart is now absolutely GONE without a trace--not smaller--GONE!!!!!!

I do offer the following cautions: NEVER take curcumin on an empty stomach. It is best taken with plenty of healthy fats, and BE CAREFUL TAKING CURCUMIN IF YOU TAKE PRESCRIPTION BLOOD THINNERS... But this works!!!

Fish Oil

Posted by Mary (Port Orchard, Wa) on 04/27/2013
★★★★★

My daughter suffered from warts for years. I found that using vitamin. A 25,000 IU from fish oil got rid of them. She had them all over her face, hands, and feet. Most we're gone within a month or 2. She is 12 and did not always get ever spot. The one next to her eye took about 6 months. She didn't like the oil close to her eye. She put it on at bed time and she did smell fishy at night but the smell was gone the next morning. Just poke a whole in the soft gel and rub on.

Garlic

Posted by Dan Cruz (Edmonton, Canada) on 02/17/2013

Try to do this one: put the extracted juice of fresh ginger on the wart 3-4 times a day. Within 2 weeks you will see the results.

Banana Peel

Posted by Dan W (Northampton, MA) on 12/28/2021

Are you kidding? I eat leafy greens every day and still have warts. They require external treatment.

Banana Peel

Posted by Carol (Elizabethville, Pa, United States) on 02/08/2013
★★★★★

I was so pleased when I found this site for banana peels. Several years ago a friend told me about there usefulness for getting rid of warts. It was good to know, but I've never had warts. A year or so after that our daughter was in a very bad car accident. Maybe because of stress or picking something up at the hospital (spent several days there with her). I found something on my back that looked like ring worm. About the size of a quarter and it burned and itched. Didn't go to a Dr. (don't like them). Decided to try the banana peel. My husband cut a piece and put it inside down over the mark, covered it with gauze and taped it down. Next day it was better. Continued this for three more days and the thing was gone. Haven't had a return of it. Have also tried peels on sore throat. Put the peel on your throat and wrap with a towel or something to keep it in place. Sleep or rest for awhile. See how it feels a few hours later.

I've only been online a couple of months, but I love earthclinic. I've always been one for alternative remedies and love having them at my finger tips. I've learned so much. Oh, I tried the oil pulling. Had an abcessed tooth and was using clove oil, which worked beautifully, but had to keep applying it. Started oil pulling on January 26, 2013 and three days later I didn't need the clove oil anymore. Don't have to put it on over night or anything. It's great and the pain is gone. Teeth are white. Also noticed my neck doesn't seem to sag as much. Don't know if that is from the constant movement for the 20 minutes of oil pulling or the oil itself doing something.

This is a wonderful site. Thank you. Carol from Pa

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Jolene (New Mexico) on 11/03/2013

Aloe vera will take care of any skin that is irritated by the apple cider vinegar.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Madeline (Brooklyn, Ny) on 12/01/2012
★★★★★

it worked! Siamese twin small warts on my ringer finger. I wet the cotton part of a bandaid with ACV and covered the warts. Used the bandaids that have sticky parts 360 degrees around the cotton part, which helped to keep the ACV moist longer. I changed and reapplied this set up whenever the ACV dried out or my bandaid seemed soaked with water from just normal washing of hands or dishes. I was probably diligent enough to wear this setup 80% of the time until it was gone, in about a week. I tried soaking the cotton ball and adhering it with a bandaid, but the sting was intense, so I just stuck with the bandaids. My warts were pretty small so this seemed ok. As others have said, it turned black within days and some skin layers began to fall off. Sometimes I would file it down if there was loose skin. Then it turned into a blood blister, which I popped. I guess I had to see if the wart was under it! It was not. The wart is now gone! It has been 5 weeks. I wish doctors knew this! It would alleviate so much unecessary wart angst.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Reallyworks (Philadelphia, Pa) on 11/12/2012
★★★★★

I promised myself that I would take the time to write a detailed note if ACV ever cures my plantar wart on my heel. I am AMAZED it did. 3 years of almost anything possible: freezing, cantharidin, CO2 laser, pulsed dye laser, bleomycin - and finally ACV got rid of this unbelievable nuisance.

I will not write too much about the past treatments, it was a long and frustrating journey. I will just say that CO2 laser was a BIG mistake. (A few years ago I had a good past experience with pulsed dye laser and I thought that only one type of laser exists; the dermatologist I went to did not fully explain the procedure and when I saw smoke coming out of my foot it was too late - he used a CO2 laser on my heel- painful, useless and makes the wart MUCH more difficult to treat). I spent a year trying pulsed dye laser after I finally found it at Temple University but this time it did not work. The wart continued to grow and became unbearable. I still believe in PDL but it was probably the CO2 laser that made the wart very difficult to treat.

So, after I almost lost all hope, I came across this site as well as a mention of ACV in the Mayo clinic site. I decided to give it a shot. My wife is a physician/researcher and she made fun of me, as this is not a scientifically proven method- but I had nothing to lose.

Here is what I did every night:

(1) Shave the wart with an emery board. I found that the pumice stone is not effective. Also, I found that it is best to do it on a dry skin.

(2) Cut a piece of gauze and SOAK it in ACV. It needs to be dripping wet. Put it on the wart, secure it with a cloth tape and then cover everything with a duct tape. Do not press to hard as it will drip all over. My theory is that other destructive methods did not work because they were applied every 3-4 weeks and this thing just keeps penetrating and kills the skin/wart.

After the first few night (~5) all you see is a puffy white circle. I kept going. At some point, it starts to burn BADLY a few hours after you put it. The wart also turns black. More and more black every day. Keep going despite the pain. I used to go to sleep and it woke me up. It is VERY painful. No way you can continue sleeping. When I woke up in pain, I just removed everything, washed my foot and went back to sleep after a few minutes. In the morning, I put Mediplast (40% salicylic acid) it helped soften the skin for the next "treatment" at night and it is also an analgesic agent.

I kept doing this until I could not stand the pain anymore even in the morning (it was very hard to step on the foot). It took 2-3 weeks. I stopped then and allowed it to heal. After the first round I noticed that the wart had gotten MUCH smaller but it was still there. I was encouraged. I did another round of treatment for about 2 weeks. In the second round it took longer for the ACV to start burning and the black mark was much smaller. It did become painful though and at some point unbearable and I stopped.

Today I went to the podiatrist and she confirmed that the wart is gone. I am still in SHOCK. The described is my personal experience and not any recommendation for anybody to do anything. I will look at this forum in the next few days and try to answer questions, if any.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Reallyworks (Philadelphia, Pa) on 11/12/2012

Forgot to mention that in my case the wart did not "fall off" bu itself nor I was able to pull it out. The wart turned black and I kept filing it with an emery board. Eventually, after I stopped the ACV (due to untolerable pain) and kept filing the skin, the dead/black skin was slowly removed and a new/pink skin was visible. So no dramatic tales of pulling the wart out. Just a slow process of killing the skin/wart and filing it away...

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Jim (Oakland, Ca) on 12/04/2012
★★★★★

I'd just like to add that I had a similar experience to Reallyworks. I had a deep, nickel-sized plantar wart on the ball of my foot for three years. I had it frozen twice by a podiatrist and then cut out (also by a podiatrist -- very slow and painful healing process) and all three times it came back. While trying to treat this wart (with filing and salicylic acid) I infected the tip of my right middle finger and got a large wart there too. I finally came across this site and started treating both warts with ACV. I bandaged the warts with ACV-soaked gauze nightly for about two weeks, and they turned black and eventually could be sloughed off. The finger was very painful during initial treatments, but my god, what a relief once they both were gone. My insurance company and I were billed well over $2000 for the medical procedures, and I probably went through four bottles of Dr. Scholl's salicylic acid before finding out about ACV. Really bizarre that docs don't tell patients about this extremely cheap and effective treatment!!

Potatoes

Posted by Sayward (Columbia City, Indiana, Usa) on 10/25/2012
★★★★★

(I'm sorry, I've been a fan of the site for a couple years, and just now have something to add. I'm not sure if this is even how to go about submitting my information, so sorry if it's extra work for someone.)

About 7 years ago I bought a pair of flip-flops from a dollar store and wore them the whole summer. Problem is that the thong portion had a rather nasty plastic seam, which cut my first toe.

My toe healed, and I went about my life. About 2 years later, I discovered what I thought to be a corn on my toe. I'm not one for doctors, so I just let it be. But it grew. And it grew. And it grew. Then it began to spread.

5 years after it's appearance, I went to the doctor for a completely unrelated issue. In passing, I asked the doctor about my 'corn'. He looked at it, said "It'll hurt if I cut it out. " and left.

Turns out it was a humongus nasty ugly plantars wart. Which by the time your site allowed me to discover the grisly fact, it had multiplied to both feet and 3 toes.

Apple cider vineger didn't do a dang thing. Nor did banana peels, peroxide, nail polish, wart removers or duct tape.

I became rather ashamed of my toe. Until recently. When, thanks to my loving boyfriend, I discovered the hot ticket. POTATO PEEL. Yup. You heard right. I took a small peeling of a potato and taped it onto my foot, changing the peel every day.

After 7 years and multiple dime sized warts, my toe looks just as beautiful as it did before I bought those cheap sandals. No pain, no burning, no problems.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Mel (Atlanta, Ga) on 09/14/2012

Its 12:39 am and I have to share my success with the use of raw apple cider vinegar to get rid one wart that quickly turned to 3 warts on the bottom of my foot (the soft part of the bridge of the foot) because I want those suffering from wart pain to be very diligent and follow these simple steps but they must be done every single day in order to get rid of the problem. I am posting this variation of suggestions that I read from members of this website. Thank you all for sharing because I was miserable for 6 months with a wart that made me not want to walk anymore because of the pain I felt every day.

A little background on me: I am a female, 37, 5'3", weigh 125lbs, procrastinate, do not take conventional medicine unless I am in pain, I won't go to the doctor unless I am in pain or cannot improve condition with natural remedy and food, and am a vegetarian that does eat some fish and limited amounts of dairy. When I was self treating I was making anywhere from 2-3 green leaf blends with a piece of fruit every day (I figured it would help my immune system).

How the wart started: when it first started I saw a little black dot and I thought it was a splinter because it burned. I ignored it for a month thinking it would go away but since the burning feeling remained I took a sowing needle and dug it thinking that I could remove the splinter and this was silly of course for many reasons and I do not recommend this ever because of infections etc. ). So fast forward 2-4 months and I now had a callous because of my digging. At this point I had no idea that I had a wart and since the pain would subside when I shaved the "callous" I thought I would eventually be ok. I used the callous / wart removers but the acid made it look white, caused more pain and brought no relief so I stopped. Silly me at one point I thought it was a corn but the pain was unbearable and so I finally decided it was time to go to the podiatrist.

Six months after this ordeal began I am sitting in the podiatrist's office and after a quick look he immediately diagnosed me as having a plantar wart. I explained to him that at the time it was one and now it became 3. He explained that it spread because of the constant rubbing of my foot on my foot ware (sandal straps). He said I must keep it "taped up" in order to control the spreading and that I was to keep my foot covered even when I showered to keep it from spreading. His suggestions for treatment were: acid, laser and surgical removal. I was so desperate that I set up an appointment for surgery in 2 weeks time even though it would cost me $350.00 US dollars, it would leave a hole in my foot, I would be at risk for infection, I would have to stay off my foot for a week and then allow more time for the healing of the hole which depends on how fast your skin cells regenerate (lengthy). That was the level of my desperation and the desire to do anything to get rid of my problem. Luckily I had time to go home and think about it.

So I turned to earth clinic and read about plantar warts only to find out they are virally caused or caused by injury or trauma to the area. Since it is viral then it meant that I could potentially spend so much on surgery only to have it return and I was not about to waste money but I did feel defeated and had a cruise planned in 3 weeks time and I really wanted to get in the pool, wear sandals and be normal again.

So after reading numerous posts on earth clinic I came up with this treatment: ITEMS YOU NEED TO START: raw apple cider vinegar, duct tape or thin foot tape with the soft cover (Dr. Scholls or store brand) buy the roll so you can cut it accordingly, thick foot tape/ padding, hydrogen peroxide, aspirin pills (small bottle will do), cotton balls, metal razor (the old fashioned type) or a surgical knife with sharp blade, alcohol, a little disposable cup, plastic knife or stirring tool and plastic bags for the trash. TREATMENT FOR 3 WARTS (one was dime size and the other two were each a 1/4 of the dime):

1) at night or before bed clean the affected area with alcohol

2) cut a piece of the cotton ball- small piece and not bulky and large enough to cover the entire wart

3) in the cup put a few drops of the ACV --use this to dissolve an aspirin (the aspirin helps reduce the swelling) and end up with a slightly watery paste

4) dip this piece of cotton in the ACV & aspirin mixture and make sure the cotton is thoroughly soaked but not dripping wet & squeeze the excess

5) apply this wet cotton on the wart

6) use a generous amount of the thin tape to cover the entire area & try not to have air pocket gaps -OVERNIGHT THIS MIXTURE WILL REDUCE THE SWELLING AND MAKE THE WART SURFACE -kind of like a surfaced volcano

7) the next day in the morning remove the patch and clean the area with alcohol and dispose of the old patch etc

8) the skin over the wart should look white, be soft and not be painful to touch if that is the case then take the razor or surgical knife- please please sterilize with alcohol before using & use the instrument to shave off the "dead" white skin don't be overly ambitious and shave your healthy skin -the process takes time- as it took me 3 weeks to completely eliminate all 3 warts

9) during the day if you have a wart on the bottom on your foot as I did then having the ACV patch is not practical and I do not recommend it instead give your foot a rest and use a strong and sticky patch (the thicker one was really sticky) to cover the entire area and make it easy to walk with the cushion of the thick patch

10) Before bed remove the day patch & you will peel off some more "dead-white" skin

11) repeat steps 1-8

12) on one of the nights you do not want to use ACV you can use hydrogen peroxide and it will do the same but this burns so I only used it 2x throughout my 3 week treatment

13) repeat steps 1-12 until you have shaved enough of the "dead white" skin where it is finally leveled with the healthy skin

14) at this point you will start to see what looks like the root of the wart little black dots which is actually coagulated blood --the skin above these black dots will look very stringy & kind of shredded looking- maybe it was the case for me since I used the over the counter acid when I thought it was a callous

15) this part gets tricky because you will have to be careful when shaving and keep making sure that your sticky tapes are helping removing the "dead" skin. I highly recommend the razor that is bendable so you can curve it when shaving the root area with the regular razors this is not possible-eventually you will get to the part below the black dots and you will see that is actually healthy skin

16) just in case there might still be affected skin you can still do the ACV treatment

17) at this point the pain should be gone and the skin will look weathered with the outlines of where the wart(s) used to be you might not be 100 sure that it is gone but you will be symptom free

18) once I was sure it was gone I used raw organic coconut oil to help heal the skin and moisturize --I did end up getting a fungus I guess because of the moisture (the skin peeled but it quickly went away with the daily application of the coconut oil mixed with a drop of tea tree oil

19) a month after I stopped treatment my foot looks like I never had a wart --This treatment works but you have to be diligent and never falter and you will be renewed once again in body and spirit as I am now.

Urine

Posted by Red (Greater London, Uk) on 08/18/2012

Dear Reggina, I have the same problem as you had, that is warts around the neck and face. When did you start seeing change? Basically how long did you apply the urine for? Thanks a bunch, well and truly appreciated.

Nail Polish

Posted by Isabelle (Mahopac, Ny) on 08/15/2012
★★★★★

i read that warts need air to live, so I thought that perhaps cutting off the air supply would get rid of a wart I have on my arm, and one on my leg. I applied a coating of clear nail polish on the warts every day, and within a week I could see shrinkage of the warts. both are almost completely gone now... I hope this helps others.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Kyle (Suwanee, Ga) on 05/27/2012
★☆☆☆☆

After living with a deep plantar wart on the ball of my foot for a year and a half or so I tried the apple cider vinegar cure. After sleeping with a cotten ball soaked in apple cider vinegar duct taped to my plantar wart for weeks the wart remained very much the same and it was very painful.