Natural Home Remedies for Warts
If a wart has appeared, don't panic: You may have a magical elixir somewhere within your home. Garlic, vitamin C and other common kitchen items can be used as home remedies to treat warts -- some suggestions are below.Home Remedies from the Kitchen
Mix up baking powder. Mix baking powder and castor oil into a paste, then apply it to the wart at night, covering it with a bandage. Remove bandage the next morning. Repeat as necessary.
Soak in baking soda. Dissolve baking soda in water, then wash your wart-plagued hand or foot in it. Let your hand dry naturally, with the baking soda still on it. Repeat often, until the wart is gone.
Get strong with good foods. Eat foods that strengthen the immune system, such as garlic, sweet potatoes, whole-grain breads, sunflower seeds, and rice.
Get garlic. Rub crushed garlic or onion on your wart. Or, eat fresh garlic. If you don't want to smell like an Italian cookery, try swallowing 3 garlic capsules three times a day -- or munch on some breath-freshening parsley afterward.
Heat it up. One study found that having patients soak their plantar warts in very hot water was helpful because it softens the wart and may kill the virus. Make sure the water is not hot enough to cause burns, however.
Home Remedies from the Supplement Shelf
Cover it in vitamin C. Crush 1 vitamin C tablet, and add water to make a thick paste. Apply it to the wart, then cover. Vitamin C is mildly acidic, so it may irritate the wart enough to make it go away. Apply a paste made of crushed vitamin C tablets and water.
Wrap it in vitamin E. Break a vitamin E or A capsule, rub a little of the oil on the wart, and cover it with an adhesive bandage. Repeat three times a day. Remove the bandage at night to let it breathe, then start over with the oil in the morning.
Try castor oil. The acid in castor oil probably does the trick by irritating the wart. The oil treatment works best on small, flat warts on the face and on the back of the hands. Apply castor oil to the wart with a cotton swab twice a day.
Home Remedies from the RefrigeratorCut up carrots. Finely grate a carrot and add enough olive oil to it to make a paste. Dab the paste on your wart twice daily for 30 minutes for two to three weeks.
Make a fig mask. Mash up a fresh fig and place some on your wart for 30 minutes. Do this daily for two to three weeks.
Fight it with foods. Eat foods that strengthen the immune system: broccoli, red meats, oranges, onions, scallions.
Use lemon juice. Squeeze a little lemon juice on your wart, then cover it with fresh, chopped onions for 30 minutes once a day for two to three weeks.
Put it in pineapple juice. Soak your wart in pineapple juice. It has a dissolving enzyme.
Home Remedies from the Windowsill
All kinds of aloe. Break open an aloe leaf, and soak up the clear juice from the inner leaf on a cotton ball. Apply the cotton ball to the wart, and cover with a bandage. Repeat daily until the wart is gone.
Hopefully one of these home remedies will help alleviate your wart. If not, there is a chance it will go away on its own -- or you can always seek medical attention.
|
For more information about skin issues, visit the following:
- Herbs can help fight off warts in two ways -- they can bolster your immune system to prevent warts and they can help diminish a wart once it develops. Find out more in Herbal Remedies for Warts.
- For natural ways to treat other wart-like foot problems, check out our Home Remedies for Calluses and Corns section.
- Dealing with dry skin? Visit Home Remedies for Dry Skin.
- To correct oil skin naturally, try the ideas in the Home Remedies for Oily Skin article.
- To learn ways to prevent psoriasis outbreaks and treat ones when they do occur, read Home Remedies for Psoriasis.
Timothy Gower is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in many publications, including Reader's Digest, Prevention, Men's Health, Better Homes and Gardens, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. The author of four books, Gower is also a contributing editor for Health magazine.
Alice Lesch Kelly is a health writer based in Boston. Her work has been published in magazines such as Shape, Fit Pregnancy, Woman's Day, Reader's Digest, Eating Well, and Health. She is the co-author of three books on women's health.
Linnea Lundgren has more than 12 years experience researching, writing, and editing for newspapers and magazines. She is the author of four books, including Living Well With Allergies.
Michele Price Mann is a freelance writer who has written for such publications as Weight Watchers and Southern Living magazines. Formerly assistant health and fitness editor at Cooking Light magazine, her professional passion is learning and writing about health.
ABOUT THE CONSULTANTS:
Ivan Oransky, M.D., is the deputy editor of The Scientist. He is author or co-author of four books, including The Common Symptom Answer Guide, and has written for publications including the Boston Globe, The Lancet, and USA Today. He holds appointments as a clinical assistant professor of medicine and as adjunct professor of journalism at New York University.
David J. Hufford, Ph.D., is university professor and chair of the Medical Humanities Department at Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine. He also is a professor in the departments of Neural and Behavioral Sciences and Family and Community Medicine. Dr. Hufford serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine and Explore.
This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), Publications International, Ltd., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider.
Learn more about what ails you. Here are some common symptoms.
A comprehensive guide with three thousand articles, including images and multimedia.
