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How to Get Rid of Warts
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Warts!!! Ugh! They are very unsightly and very embarrassing. And you don’t have to ever touch a toad to get one. If you have ever experienced having a wart, you know just how terrible the process can be for removing them. Here you will find home remedies as well as medical methods used to rid yourself of the discomfort and awkward feeling that accompanies warts.
1. The Causes of Warts:
Warts are caused by a single virus, of which there is many strains. This virus is the human papillomavirus or HPV. This virus is one of the most prevalent infections in the world – it affects approximately 40% of all humans. Because of the warts that result from HPV, it is often times referred to as “the wart virus”. Genital warts are the most known wart in association with this virus; however, all warts are a result of HPV. Each type of wart (common, plantar, flat, and genital) comes from a different strain. Common warts originate from HPV types 2, 4 and 7. Plantar’s warts come from type 1, in the plantar area of the foot. Flat warts come from types 3 and 10 of HPV. Genital warts are a result of over 30 different types of the human papillomavirus.
Warts are actual viruses living IN the skin. Blood vessels feed the wart, and therefore the virus itself, keeping it alive and present. This is the reason that wart removal can often times be very painful - the wart is attached to capillaries and embedded in the skin. If you look at your wart, you will probably see little black dots inside. Those black dots are actually the clotted blood vessels feeding your wart. Yummmmm.
Warts are spread when a non-infected area of skin comes in contact with an infected area, either through direct contact or contact with skin cells shed from the wart. It is presumed that the uninfected skin must have at least a miniscule tear in order for HPV to be contracted. In other words, if you have a wart anywhere on your body, and that wart comes in contact with another person’s damaged skin, that uninfected person could now have HPV. (This includes warts on the hands and feet.)
2. The Different Types of Warts:
Warts come in varying shapes, sizes, and appearances. Some are single bumps, while others form in groups. Following is a guide to the types of warts and what to look for when determining what type of wart you have.
- Plantar’s Warts: A common wart that grows on the side or bottom of your foot. Because they are located on the bottom of the foot, they are usually flat and painful due to your body weight pressing down on them. The wart is actually a lot bigger than what you can see. If you push down on the wart you will see an area that is yellowish in color which is the area of the whole wart. These warts are very contagious because this skin is so easily shed from your feet. Also, the virus likes warm and moist environments, including the gym-shower floor, so they are spread to athlete’s in the same manner as athlete’s foot. Athlete’s have the highest incidence of planter’s warts, and diabetics are also susceptible to them.
- Flat Warts: These warts are small and smooth, with a round or oval shape. They appear in large numbers – 20 to 100 at a time - anywhere on the body. In children, these warts are most commonly found on the face. In men, they can be present within a beard, and in women, on the legs. Flat warts can spread quickly from cuts while shaving. Also, scratching the affected area can cause the warts to spread in a linear fashion.
- Genital Warts: Genital warts are spread through sexual contact involving the genitals, anus or mouth. They generally form as tiny, soft, flesh-colored bumps. They can become hard and rough and also develop a stalk. Sometimes multiple warts may grow resembling a small cauliflower. These warts are usually painless, and disappear after a couple months, but they are incurable; therefore they can come back again and again. For information specific to genital warts, see our article How to Get Rid of Genital Warts.
3. Wart Treatments:
Over-the-Counter Wart Cures
Lucky for you, most warts will disappear by themselves, but if you want to speed up the process, there are many over-the-counter products you could try. These are all either used to freeze (a mix of dimethyl ether and propane) or burn (salicylic acid) the wart off, which will destroy the cells containing the virus. Some of these include Compound W (gel, liquid, pad and spray), Dr. Scholl’s (pads/discs, liquid), Wartner (pads, liquid), and Curad (pads). It is important that you DO NOT use OTC medications on facial or genital warts. These medicines are too harsh for these sensitive areas.
Home Remedies for Warts
There is a vast array of home remedies for warts to choose from:
- Duct tape. Cut a piece of duct tape to fit over your wart. Leave the tape on for six days, then remove it and soak your wart in water for a few minutes. Use an emery board or pumice stone to file the dead skin on your wart down. Dry the area over night then reapply another piece of duct tape in the morning. Continue this process until your wart is gone. This is believed to work because the irritation that is caused forces your immune system to fight off the virus.
- Garlic. Crush some fresh garlic, rub it directly on your wart, and cover it with a bandage. Apply new garlic every day and your wart will blister and fall off within as little as a week. Be careful not to get garlic on the surrounding healthy skin; it helps to apply petroleum jelly to the skin around your wart.
- Vinegar. Soak a cotton ball in vinegar and tape it to your wart with a bandage for at least one or two hours daily.
Dandelion sap. Pick a dandelion from your yard, break the stem open and drip the sap onto your wart. Do this daily until your wart disappears. The sap will mildly irritate your skin, stimulating your immune system to get rid of the wart. Do not use dandelions that have been treated within the past few years with an herbicide.- Vitamin C. Make a paste out of ground Vitamin C tablets and water. Dab it onto your wart and cover it with a bandage. The high acidity of Vitamin C will aide in eliminating your wart as well as helping to fight off the HPV.
- Banana or lemon peel. Cut a piece of the peel to fit over your wart and tape it on, inner side down before bed. The chemicals and oils in these peels will help dissolve and discourage warts.
- Papaya. Using an unripe papaya, make small cuts on the surface, allowing the sap to run out. Collect the sap and let it coagulate. Mix the thick sap with water and apply it to your wart morning and evening. An enzyme in the papaya will digest dead tissue.
- Basil. Tape crushed, fresh basil to your wart using waterproof first-aid tape. Do this daily up to a week and the virus-killing compound in the basil leaf will kill your wart.
- Castor oil. Rubbing castor oil on your wart every day will break it down, possibly because the oil keeps the wart moist, causing the tough skin to just come apart.
- Aloe vera. If you have an aloe plant at home, break a leaf off and rub the gel on your wart. Repeat this daily and your wart will disappear, perhaps due to the malic acid in aloe vera.
- Hot water. Because plantar warts are sensitive to heat, soaking your feet in hot (110- to 113-degrees F) water for 15 minutes per day can eliminate your warts.
(All the above home remedies, and many more can be found in the book Reader’s Digest 1,801 Home Remedies: Trustworthy Treatments for Everyday Health Problems)
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Um, I’ve Got a problem, I’m An 11 year old kid and ive aparrently have genital warts!(No i havent had sex yet!) How Can i get these w/o ever having sex??? I started with 1 wart and now ive got 13 warts, IVE TRIED EVERYTHING!!!!! they are really embarresing and i hate them what DO I DO?????
my son has had warts for two years about twenty on his hands and fingers some as big as a pea and they are getting worse well that was up to one week ago i was given some battery acid and they are now shrinking i have tried every over the counter medication freezing them natural cures everything and the one thing that works is free so try it give it afew weeks it doesnt burn or sting at all but it does work
hello, at the beging of year 7 i had a wart on my thumb, i hated it and since then i have just got more and more, i really hate them, there in noticed places too, i see people look at them and it upsets me, i also hate it when people notice them and point them out, its so embarrising! i really want to find away to get rid of them, is there a way that doesnt hurt? i also had a wart on the bottom of my big toe, it often hurt. i used some treatment from the shops it went in a couple of weeks. but i have one on my other foot and its slowly going with out any treatment? i had a big wart on my finger that went from warm water. i know somone that used alot of salt water and her warts went. i hope i find some thing, thanks for the help :)!
ive had a wart for just over a year now, ive tried treatments from the shops and they dont work! i HATE them, and when people notice them its so embarrising! im going to try duck tape. i hope it works!
x
I have had three warts in my life…maybe four. First one was when i was just a kid..had the doc burn it off. quite painful really underneath my thumb nail..ouch..one was a planter on my heal…oh how i picked that thing continuously till it would bleed..i wanted it gone…i went to walmart and bought some wart gel and it did nothing till i soaked my foot in really hot water several times a day, opened that sucker up with a needle digged as deep as i could stand…got the insides of that wart reallly nice and mushy..then i put some of that gel and a bandaid over it…seemed to work hasnt come back..but now i am 10 yrs later and i have one on my pinkie toe…so i am back at it again…awww. so nasty. so i got one started on my finger…before it could even root deep i dug it out by using a nail clipers on the skin…cause you could tell that the seed or virus was in the top layers of skin..i am so happy i caught it before it got bad…I hope this pinkie wort goes away..i cant even get a pedi now…
Well moral of the story is…WORTS SUCK AND WE ALL KNOW IT…FEEL FOR YA I DO.
A few years ago I’ve had a few small warts under my foot. They went away fairly fast after soaking + filing them down, but I jabbed my foot with the file by accident while filing one down and caused one of the warts to bleed, and now it’s been more than two years and I still have that one wart that I jabbed. It probably would be gone by now if I didn’t jab it with a file. Cryosurgery failed, nothing happened. Surgical excision failed and it was back before the wound could heal. Duct-Tape does nothing. Super glue does absolutely nothing. I had laser twice and it barely shrinks the wart and the wart quickly returns to its original size. I’ve been using OTC salicylic acid (17%) for what seems like ages. Sometimes the thick skin on top of the wart falls off revealing fresh wart (almost pink) underneath. The thick part of the wart came off yesterday, exposing some pink wart skin, and I poured salicylic acid on there like there was no tomorrow. I am in so much pain now, it’s burning. I can’t feel anything much other than the intense burning sensation. It’s been burning all day but I am willing to endure the pain with the hope that the wart is in more pain than I am. I want to it to die! DIE WART DIE! Been too long, die now!
Moral of the story: Whatever you do, DO NOT jab your wart with a sharp object, it sends the wart deeper into your skin making it much difficult to remove!
I seem to get one on my finger every once in a while. It takes awhile, but i’ve had success using the common salicylic acid. I put a small drop on the tip and let it dry up for a minute. Then I put a band-aid or a piece of scotch tape on it. You want to feel a sting or I don’t think it’s working. You might want to use a nail clipper to trim it down. Try not to get any acid on the surrounding area. Do this before you go to bed and before you go out the door in the morning. If you can, an application or more during the day may help, but I usually don’t have the focus to do this. BE PERSISTENT for up to a week! This is the hardest part. Eventually the wart area can be dug out and with some luck and patience, it will not come back. Don’t dig it out too early or you’ll be wasting your time. At least one successful removal occurred when I didn’t pick at it but kept up with the treatments for almost a week. I remember this because I tend to pick at the wart daily and I think this is a bad idea. You want to apply the acid drops on top of the already burned wart skin for a few days or else it can become too painful and you’ll just give up, let it heal and have to start all over again.
i was told i had the hpv viruse at eighteen and i’m now twenty nine and i have cervical warts and i have warts on my right tumb and my left thumb. why do i have have warts on my fingers? I have an eight year old son and he has warts on his hands and fingers. WHY DOES MY SON HAVE WARTS IF I DIDN”T HAVE AN OUTBRAKE WHEN HE WAS BORN?????????????????
Hey,
Now guys i have had 23 warts (20 of them were on my hand) and im only 13 all i did to get rid of them was went to the doctors every sunday and got them burnt off my hand. The first time it killed but after that it didnt it took 3 - 4 weeks for that…… Then i went to the doctor for the last 3 of my foot, he put the stick thingy on 1 of them and in 10 seconds it dissapeard!!!!! i was so amazed it didnt even hurt!!!!!!!!!!!
quicker way of taking it off peel it offf???
I’ve had exactly one wart my entire life, on the bottom of my foot. It has never spread, and it hasn’t caused me any pain. I’ve tried using things to get rid of it, but it’ll disappear and then show up in a couple months in exactly the same place. I’ve decided to let it hang out down there for a while before I go to the doctor. Enjoy your last days of freedom, little wart!
I’ve just got my first wart on my middle finger half way down. It’s so annoying :@ I pick at it constantly but the evil thing has just grown bigger! :O I’m gonna get some wart stuff from the shop later
might add some of the garlic remedy, and during the day have crushed garlic with the bandages on top.
right now, I’m trying a combo of apple cider vinegar, lemon peel and duct tape.
Leave pieces of lemon peel in a cup of apple cider vinegar for a day.
Personally, I took an exacto knife, and cut off the top layers of the warts (i have 6, and only one bled but it didn’t hurt… I cut too much by accident)
So before going to bed, and after filing or removing some of the top layers of skin, cut pieces of the lemon peel to about the size of your wart. Apply the inside of the peel directly to your wart, and hold it in place with duct tape.
In the morning, take off duct tape and peels, throw away. Take a shower, bandage and socks after your shower.
The bleeding wart HURT 5 minutes after taping the peel, but it seems to be the one that’s leaving the fastest. The others started hurting the second night. All the warts hurt when I walk until i put bandages and shoes. For some reason the shoes cushion it all and you can walk with no pain
this is my 3rd day, I’ll let you guys know if they died finally!
I tried the patches with acid by dr.S, I tried the feeze off thing nothing worked. Turned my skin white a couple of days and the warts actually multiplied. I only had 4 when I started. I now have 6.
i have 17!!! warts and i am only 13.i have had them for about 5 years. i hate them so much i have tried filing them with a nial file. didint work. i have use all off those things that u buy from the chemest and doctor. i have a bf and when we hold hands it is so embarrising.
:(.
THERE IS ONE TIP THAT I KNOW OF… AND THAT IS ON THE FULL MOON ( check ur full moon chart 2 see the time and every thing ) TIE AS MANY WARTS AS YOU HAVE ON SOME STRING.. for eg. if you have 10 warts tie 10 knots in the string then dig a hole and burry is.
it didnt work 4 mee i tried it 2 night’s ago
but it might work 4 you. GOOD LUCK.
ohh and does any1 know a really really quick way 2 get rid of them i will DO ANYTHING! i have even thought about cutting my fingers off!!
NOT JOKING!
dude my boyfriend told me i have a wart on my ass the other night after we had sex. He told me you get warts from black people touching you. I was so offended. Cause one, i’m not racist. And two it hurt my feelings that he was pointing out to me my imperfections.
I have a wart on thumb right next to the nail - it’s been there for atleast a year now - I HATE IT!
IT’S SO UGLY!!!
GRRRR!!!
I’ll try anything I can to get rid of it so thanks for all the tips!!
I have a wart on my hand near a finger is attached to my hand..
Any Suggestions To Get Rid Of It? (That Works Really Fast)
Hey Guys! I had warts on my feet ever since I was like, 5 or 6. At first I didnt think much of it cause it started as one big one on my big toe [on the bottom], then next thing I knew it I had maybe 97 clustered around it and some more startin on the bottom of the foot part. Luckly I didnt suffer from much pain, but it was still embarrassing! I ended up wearing socks all the time. I tried the duct tape and even though it did remove many of the warts, it was unpleasent and smelled horrible. I felt like no matter how clean I kept my feet and changed the duct tape, it smelled horrible and the healthy skin was peelin off like nothin. BUT it did help. I say Duct tape and will power cause when it came to the fact that I had maybe 4 left, I just tried to forget about them. Now I am wart free! Good Luck to you all! Dont give up! There is a cure somewhere! Just remember, if you have a great personality and people already like you for the way you are, they will still like you even if they find out you have warts! True friends will stick with ya no matter what!
I had 30+ warts all over the bottom of my feet in 6th grade, plus one on the tip of both of my index fingers. I constantly picked at the ones on my fingertips, until one day one of them just fell out, litterally. No blood, no pain, just a little hole in my finger that went away in less than 24hrs. Shortly after all the warts on my feet disappeared, I was left with only one small one on the inside of my ear. A few years ago, I had one on a finger again, I used a store bought wart remover and it went away, but now I have one on my thumb, and still the one in my ear. I think I will try the vitamin c solution on both that I have now. Hopefully it works for me!