The Best Home Remedies for Warts
Warts are innocuous skin growths that develop from human papillomavirus (HPV) infections.
While warts are not harmful, they are contagious. Warts can fade away over time, but it can take weeks, months, or even years for them to fully disappear.
Conventional treatment options to get rid of warts include laser surgery, freezing, and chemical peels. While effective, these treatments can be costly and cause short-term skin irritation.
To avoid the costly professional treatments, it’s worth trying out natural home remedies to remove warts on your own.
Note: Not Intended for Facial Warts
If you have warts on your face or genitals, these remedies are not the best solution. The skin in these areas of the body is very sensitive, so it is best to consult with your doctor first before attempting at-home treatments on genital or facial warts.
Why do natural at-home remedies work?
A natural antiviral treatment can suppress the virus on the skin. Other treatment options use enzymes that can work to fight HPV.
Some remedies use naturally occurring acids to help remove warts from skin. The ultimate goal of any wart removal treatment is to alter your body’s natural immune response to HPV. No treatment can actually kill the HPV virus, however, so you may see warts return at some point in time.
The Success Stories for Home Remedies in Healing Warts
Although home remedies to remove warts have shown little to no reliable, scientific proof of effectiveness, countless people have reported success in using natural treatments to remove the unwanted growths.
Natural Wart Remedies Straight From the Kitchen
Apple Cider Vinegar
This common household vinegar is thought to work similarly to salicylic acid, a common treatment for warts that peels away affected skin.
Vinegar itself also contains antimicrobial elements that can help cure HPV, but studies are not yet conclusive.
To give it a shot, mix two parts apple cider vinegar and one part water in a small bowl. Place a cotton ball in the mixture and let it absorb the liquid. Place the cotton ball on the wart and cover it completely with an adhesive bandage. Leave the bandage on for three to four hours before removing it.
Always be sure to dilute pure apple cider vinegar with water as the natural acidity in the vinegar may cause chemical burns and skin irritation. Also, never apply vinegar to open wounds.
Banana Peels as a Wart Remedy
The high potassium content in banana peels is thought by some to combat HPV.
However, no empirical research has yet shown clear links between potassium and the treatment of viral infections such as warts. As such, scientific evidence cannot prove that banana peels always work to fight HPV.
If you want to see if it works for you, simply rub the inside of any ordinary banana peel on the surface of the wart every day until you see results.
Garlic
Garlic has long been used as a natural remedy for skin conditions such as corns, keloid scars, and corns. It is also frequently used for fungal, bacterial, and viral skin infections such as warts. The results of a 2014 study concluded that garlic extract made warts disappear within four weeks, and they didn’t return.
Allicin, the primary compound found in garlic, is known to have microbial properties. It works by fighting enzymes in many harmful pathogens.
To use garlic to treat warts, crush up one garlic clove and mix it with a splash of water. Take a spoonful of the mix, apply it to the wart, and cover it with an adhesive bandage. Repeat this process every day for three to four weeks. As an alternative, you can also try applying pure garlic juice or just rub a whole clove directly on the wart.
Orange Peels
Orange peel is another popular natural wart removal treatment option. It’s an easy and inexpensive remedy, but there isn’t any conclusive scientific evidence to support its use in fighting HPV.
To try it out, simply rub a fresh orange peel on warts one time per day. Supposedly, after applying for several weeks, warts will change to a darkened color and then fall off the skin.
Pineapples
The pineapple fruit contains bromelain, which is a mixture of enzymes that easily digests proteins. Many believe that bromelain can help fight warts by breaking down the protein compounds in HPV. While some data exists in support of the potential use of bromelain to treat certain medical conditions, at present, there aren’t any conclusive scientific studies to support the use of bromelain to treat warts in particular.
If you want to try using pineapple to treat warts, simply apply fresh pineapple flesh and/or juice to the affected areas daily.
Potatos
Some claim that juice from potatoes can work to “dehydrate” warts, but no studies have yet proven its effectiveness.
To give it a try, cut a small white potato in half. Take one of the halves and rub the cut flesh of the potato directly on the wart. Rub repeatedly until the wart is soaked in potato juice. For best results, repeat twice daily.
Dandelion Weed
When you think of dandelion, you probably think of it as a pesky garden weed. However, it is actually used in ancient Middle Eastern and Chinese medicine practices for its medicinal properties. The sap (or milk) of the plant is a traditional treatment for skin diseases such as warts.
A 2011 study on animals concluded that the extract of dandelion plants may help soothe skin irritation, decrease inflammation, and boost collagen production. A 2012 study also concluded that the dandelion plant has antimicrobial components that may be useful in removing warts, but more research is needed.
To try using dandelions, break apart one dandelion stem and squeeze out as much of the white, sticky sap as possible. Apply the sap to warts at least once a day for two weeks.
When using dandelions for wart treatment, be sure that you are picking plants that have not been treated with chemicals.
