Natural Remedies for Warts

Warts - Usually small, painless growths that form on the skin as the result of a virus known as the human papilloma virus. They are contagious and can be very embarrassing for the person infected by them.

Having warts is very frustrating - and treating them can be even worse. There are several different natural remedies for warts that do work, and they seem to work better then freezing them or cutting them out.

Freezing warts does sometimes work, but it can simply cause your skin scarring and a lot of pain. The reason they fail is because if the doctor does not leave the "wand" on your skin long enough, he/she could simply be causing them to spread even more. As soon as the virus starts to get attacked, it tries to spread and find new skin to infect.

I found this to be true for me and my kids. As soon as we started treating them, if we didn't continue until they were completely gone, they simply got worse.


Duct Tape and warts

I first heard about using duct tape to treat warts from my medical doctor. She suggested I try it for plantar warts I had on my foot. I guess with plantar warts, freezing is pretty useless because the roots usually go so deep into the skin.


I have tried duct tape on both plantar warts and warts on my daughters hand, and although it did seem to work for my foot, it didn't really work for my daughter.


So in essence, would I recommend someone try duct tape to cure their warts? Yes. I would. But if after 2 months if you still have them, I would try something else.


Apple Cider Vinegar

If you start using apple cider vinegar on your warts, you may notice the wart begins to immediately look different. The vinegar really dehydrates the skin, and dries the warts out. It does seem to help...but from what we've noticed, it really only seems to burn the surrounding skin until you can't fathom putting another drop on your skin, and bandaids..forget about it!


This is a treatment that can be tried in combination with the duct tape. But for us, it was too harsh for our sensitive skin.


Australian Tea Tree Oil

I would give this treatment 2 thumbs up! It isn't as harsh to the surrounding skin as the vinegar is, and it works very quickly. The Tea Tree Oil is wonderful because it is non-drying, doesn't burn and we saw noticable results in a few days. The odor is quite potent...it isn't bad, but it isn't good either. I would recommend using this treatment as often as possible, but particually before bed. If you work from home, you could use it any time of the day, but I wouldn't use it when going out in public. I personally think the smell is too strong.


For this treatment we put a few drops on a bandaid, and kept the infected skin bandaged up 24/7. This is to the virus from infecting other skin, but also keep the warts suffocated. This treatment can work in conjunction with the duct tape as well.

Garlic and Warts

A chiropractor recommended to me to use garlic on my daughters hands to get rid of the warts. You can use fresh garlic cloves and simply rub some on the wart and then cover with a bandaid, or you can take garlic supplements. I have not yet tried this treatment, as I really do not care for the smell of garlic, but I have heard it really does work. Right now, the tea tree oil is working great, and that is stinky enough!