Guest Author - Carolyn Chambers Clark, RN, EdD

What causes warts?

Warts may be caused by a virus, although some experts question whether dairy products may be associated with them.


What self-care treatments for warts have worked?

Here are some wart treatments to try. All have shown promise. The trick is to find the one that works for you.

* Try going off dairy products for a couple of weeks and see if that works for you.

* Rub the inside of a banana peel on the wart. You can apply a tiny piece of banana peel just once daily before bedtime.

* Take a regular aspirin and apply the smallest drop of water you can to it, so any more water will cause the tablet to break apart. Try moistening your finger and touch the aspirin to the wart, cover with a Band-Aid or patch and repeat the process twice a day. To prevent skin irritation, use a Q-tip to paint the area around the wart with Vaseline.

* Put a splash of bleach in a cup of water and soak the wart in it. Follow with an application of tea tree oil using a cotton ball once daily for several weeks.

* Put a drop of citricidal grapefruit seed extract (also known as Nutribiotics' Traveler's Friend) on the wart. Avoid getting any on the skin around the wart; paint the surrounding area with Vaseline to protect it.

* Use tree pitch. This may take longer than the aspirin or grapefruit seed but adheres well to the wart. Try PAV (Pitch and Vaseline, plus olive oil), available from North American Tree Resin (NATR) at 800-422-4716.

* Try silver-gray adhesive duct tape. In a study of 51 patients between the ages of 3 and 22 with warts caused by the human papillomavirus, researchers found that tape occlusion therapy (the medical term for sticking duct tape on it) was more effective than cryotherapy, the most frequently used wart treatment. Of 26 duct tape treated patients, 22 had their warts disappear in 1 month. Of 24 whose warts were treated with cryotherapy (warts frozen with liquid nitrogen every 2-3 weeks), only 15 had warts that vanished.

The theory is that the duct tape stimulates the immune system to suppress the virus that causes the wart. Before trying this, or any of the self-care measures above,

CAUTION: First, make sure that bump is a wart and not something else. Once you're sure, cut the tape to fit only the wart; the tape may be irritating on the surrounding skin. Never put tape on the face or genitals.

Follow these directions:

1. Cut a piece of duct tape to fit the wart.

2. Apply and leave on for 6 days.

3. If it falls off, apply a new piece of tape.

4. Remove the tape on the 7th day and throw it away.

5. Soak the wart in warm water for 10 minutes.

6. Gently rub off the dead wart skin with an emery board or pumice stone.

7. Apply a new piece of tape the next morning and repeat steps 1 through 3.

8. Repeat the same process for 2 months.

*To remove plantar warts:

1. Apply castor oil to the wart twice daily

2. Cover with a Band-Aid

(You can also mix castor oil with baking soda.)

Both will cause the wart to start to blacken and then regress. First, little black dots will appear. It may take two weeks after the blackening of the wart for them to disappear.

*To remove genital warts

Apply aloe vera gel from the health food store once nightly for two months. You can also obtain this product from The Caring Company at 1(800)307-5858.

Unlike other warts, genital warts are considered precancerous changes so if you note them on your genitals be sure to start the treatment right away.

This article is for information purposes only. For treatment, consult your health care practitioner.