Warts: Treatments and Home Remedies

Skin warts are common, and treatments are plentiful. If home remedies for warts don't work, you can move on to over-the-counter wart removers. If your warts still don't disappear, you can turn to treatment by a doctor, who can freeze or cut off the wart.  

Here are some home remedies and treatments for common warts, such as plantar warts on the soles of the feet or palmer warts on the hands.

Home Remedies for Warts

People try countless home remedies for warts. They rub warts with garlic, or apply a paste made of baking powder and castor oil. They crush vitamin C tablets into a paste to cover the wart. They even soak warts in pineapple juice.

But one home remedy, duct tape, has some solid research behind it. One study even found it more effective than commonly used freezing therapy. The duct tape is applied over the wart and is believed to cause an irritation, leading the immune system to kick in and clear the wart.

For the duct tape treatment, put a small strip over the wart and leave it in place for about six days. At the end of the sixth day, remove the tape, soak the wart in water and then gently debride it with a pumice stone or emory board.

Leave the tape off overnight, then repeat the process. Pack your patience: this home remedy may take two months to get rid of the wart.

Over-the-Counter Wart Removers

Generally, most dermatologists say it’s safe to try drug store wart removers – as long as you’ve confirmed that it’s really a wart. Sometimes calluses or corns are mistaken for warts. If in doubt, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

Many over-the-counter wart treatments contain salicylic acid. The success rate is about 75% over six weeks or so. Other treatments work by "freezing" the wart. After two or three treatments, each lasting about 10 days, the success rate is about 75%.

Over-the-counter treatments aren't recommended for common warts on the face or lips, and should not be used on genital warts, which are caused by a different strain of virus. See your doctor about treatments for those warts.

Warts Treatments From a Doctor or Dermatologist

If you go to a doctor, you can choose from many wart treatments. Some focus on destroying the wart and others on boosting your immune system so you clear the wart. Among the options:

• Liquid nitrogen to freeze the wart off
• Prescription strength salicylic acid, to be applied at home, to get rid of the wart
• Laser or surgery to cut the wart off
• Oral cimetidine (Tagamet), taken for two or three months, to stimulate the immune system, so it can fight the virus that causes warts
• Topical immune system stimulant such squaric acid, applied to the skin for several weeks, to help fight the virus

Immune therapy for warts can take six to 12 weeks to work. Removing warts with a laser or surgery is the fastest treatment, but also the most expensive and invasive.