16 Natural Remedies for Warts–Including a Crazy One That REALLY Works!
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Are you burdened by a stubborn wart? Here’s an assortment of natural remedies for warts, including one unbelievable one that really worked!
Would YOU try it?
I’m always on the hunt for natural remedies to treat ear infections, sinus infections, headaches, and more.
I’m just not a fan of prescription meds, or even OTC medications, mainly since one of the things that contributed to my health issues (including candida) is the overuse of meds and antibiotics in general.
So when warts surfaced in our home, I was not about to just run to the store to get an OTC wart remover – and I for sure wasn’t ready to pay $30 (how did it get that high?!) for a physician copay to have it removed from my son’s foot.
Warts are not a pleasant topic.
If you’ve ever had a wart, you know how hard it can be to get rid of it.
And it’s worse if you’ve got more than one wart. Once they start spreading they can really be tough to get rid of.
About 1 month ago I was helping my youngest get changed for bed. I don’t remember now what happened or why I noticed it, but I saw two small “somethings” on the sole of his foot, near the heel.
I wouldn’t have thought much of them, except for the fact that I remembered having a plantar’s wart when I was a young girl.
It was painful and it took a long time to get rid of it.
I think we went to the store and got an over-the-counter wart remover and I applied it over and over again.
And they’re gross.
Back to my son.
I took a closer look at his foot and scraped a little of the surface off of the skin.
It felt hard underneath, and I could see the tell-tale little brownish-black dots in the center of a pattern.
The dots are called wart seeds sometimes, but they really are little blood clots.
Blech.
Anyway, he clearly had two of them.
Then, my son showed me a “callus” on his toe.
Hmmmm…..
It was a big one. But was it really a callus?
I went to the internet and found a site with great diagnostic information to find out if he had a callus or wart on his foot.
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How to Know If You Have a Wart or a Callus
To tell know if you have a wart or callus, you will need to press down on the thing (whatever it is) and find out when you have pain.
- If it hurts pushing straight down on it–it’s a callus.
- If it hurts putting pressure on the sides (by squeezing it)–it’s a wart.
Sure enough, we had a wart. No pain pressing down, but when I squeezed it, my son wasn’t happy.
Now it was time to try to get rid of warts.
Time to Get Rid of the Wart
A long time ago, we had tried using oregano oil before on a wart on my husband’s finger.
One day we were on a road trip. I put the oregano oil on it and within 3 hours it went from being a raised wart to being level with the rest of his skin.
It really worked great for a natural wart remedy, but we weren’t consistent enough to get rid of it, so it’s still there.
So I tried the oregano oil on my son’s foot for several days.
Again, I wasn’t consistent enough and no surprise–nothing happened.
I really wanted to be consistent with the oregano oil, but life was getting in the way.
So I hopped back on the internet and even asked my fans on my Facebook page for their ideas. (hop on over there if you haven’t already, K?)
Well, let me tell you, there were loads of ideas….
Natural Remedies for Warts
Following are some remedies that others suggested, plus some others that we didn’t get to try.
OTC Topical Treatments
(not going there again)
Super Glue
Doesn’t sounds very healthy to me.
Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
I did this once for a wart on my hand. It ended up burning the surrounding skin and was super painful.
Banana Peel
The inside of the peel. It turns out that the inside of the banana peel has some kind of enzyme that can help address warts.
Cutting
Some people try to just cut their own warts off (Not an option. No way.)
Removal By a Physician
Sounds like a good option, but I’ve read over and over that the wart often comes back. This was the case for one of my son’s friends.
Thuja
Thuja Oil, Thuja Extract, or Thuja Homeopathic pellets. A reader mentioned that this worked well, but I haven’t tried it yet.
Vapor Rub
It’s true. Some people report that using Vicks® or a Homemade Vapor Rub works great for addressing warts.
Tea Tree Oil
I didn’t try this one, but a friend told me that she tried it and it worked great!
Echaveria
One reader wrote in to say that this plant, also known as the common garden ‘hens and chickens’ and often grown in succulent gardens and rock gardens. Simply break off a leaf and squeeze the juice onto the wart morning and night!
Garlic
One reader mentioned that a slice of garlic on the wart worked well. That makes sense since warts are caused by a virus and garlic is antiviral.
Milkweed
Milkweed juice applied daily has been reported to help with warts.
Milk Thistle Extract
Since milk thistle is also antiviral this has been successful for some as well.
Basil
This is another antiviral plant that works for some to get rid of warts. You can crush a few leaves of fresh basil and rub the paste on the warts, or apply the crushed leaves over the warts and cover that with medical or duct tape.
Aspirin
The main ingredient in aspirin is salicylic acid, the main ingredient in wart remover. One reader told me that putting a paste of aspirin on the wart for 2-3 days with tape over it caused the wart to come off and never return!
and other concoctions of all sorts. However one option really caught my eye.
Urine.
Yeppers. You all remember my post on natural ear infection remedies, right?
Well, at the time I tried that in my son’s ear (of course, after reading all over the internet that urine therapy has been used by many cultures for many years and there was even an international convention on it–so don’t think I’m just so crazy that I’ll try anything that I read on the internet–’cause I’m not), I was already trying this on my son’s warts.
But I wasn’t sure if it was going to take care of the more stubborn ones so I didn’t want to share it yet.
Well, now you can see how well this natural wart remedy worked and judge for yourself.
How to Use Urine on a Wart
Basically you just urinate in a cup, put the urine on a small piece of cotton ball or pad.
Squeeze to remove the excess.
Put the soaked pad or cotton ball on the wart.
Cut medical tape in the appropriate size to cover the wart and the cotton. At least you need the cotton to stay put.
Repeat daily.
We did this for a few weeks. It would have gone faster if I’d remembered to change the cotton daily, but sometimes I forgot.
But every day we noticed an obvious change in the big wart.
This is what his toe looked like after the “pee pee treatment” was done!
All gone except for some peeling skin.
And the other warts are gone as well.
Even while we were treating the first 3, one more showed up on the other foot (lovely) and that one is gone as well.
Now, I am thinking the oregano oil would have worked if I had been more diligent, but I would forget sometimes and frankly, urine is a lot cheaper.
But if you’re squeemish about the urine therapy, then hop over to Rocky Mountain Oils and get some oregano oil. It’s great stuff and is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. I’ve even heard of folks treating MRSA successfully with it. Now that’s something to have on hand, you know?
If you’re curious about what essential oils company I recommend, you can read my series on Which Essential Oils Company is Best.
One Amazing Testimonial About Urine on a Wart
But I tried the urine also because the testimonials were so emphatic.
One was even pretty hilarious.
A man said his whole family had been plagued by plantar warts–except for him.
He thought it was because he had the habit of urinating in the shower, so he thought his feet were getting a natural anti-wart treatment every day.
I don’t know, but interesting, huh?
Urine Therapy for Warts–Is It Crazy?
Likely you think this is just gross and NUTS, right?
Well, check out this book – it’s got some very nice reviews.
I say – if you can get things done naturally and inexpensively then it’s worth looking at :).
Another Great Option
A lot of people get great results with Rowe Casa’s Feet and Nail Salve. It’s full of antiviral ingredients. Check out the reviews. You’ll see a lot of positive results on warts and fungus too!
Which of these Natural Remedies for Warts will you try?
I had a friend who had her hands covered in warts. She was constantly praying asking the Lord to get rid of them. One day, they were just gone. I remember well… I hadn’t seen her in a few days and then she visited me and when I looked at her hands, I was surprised that they were all gone. No scars at all! “what happened to your warts? ” I said. She smiled big and answered, “They are gone! The Lord took each one of them away. Just like that!” Amazing, huh?
I think sometimes if we will just leave our “symptoms and conditions” alone and forget them, God will take care of them. He made our bodies to heal after all. 🙂
Did you read my post on Natural Autism Treatments? You’d like it…..
Urine, I said before it is a no for me because it is waste, which the Bible makes clear is unclean. But to each his own.
That aside, warts are a virus. If you don’t get rid of the virus, they will just come back again and again in different spots. A great Multi-Vitamin can help with this. When your cells are fed the right nutrients then your body can take care of that virus. Then the warts will just vanish. No pee required!
My son is taking a regimen, but he does forget :). As for the Bible and urine, what verse(s) are you referring to? Thanks!
I had warts all over my hands, and in a couple of weeks of using Garden Of Life multivitamin they all went away!
Another remedy is Food Grade Diatemaceous Earth. It will take care of parasites and warts also.
Internal use of the DE or external? Thanks!
I’ve heard of plain duct tape. My daughter has a plantar wart…I bought the freezing stuff, but I have just been unsure about it…I think I might try the tea tree oil, and maybe the duct tape if that doesn’t work before I go that route….and maybe the urine after that. lol. As far as the comment about urine being “unclean” I’d like to see that verse too. Urine is sterile…which is why I’m surprised it worked for anything like this either…learn something new everyday!
my daughter had a few warts, I tried buying, banana, coins rubbed on them and urine, then we tried rubbing the warts on the belly of a green frog (hands washed first to protect the frogs skin) only needed to do it a few times, like when ever we saw one.
You mean you rubbed the frog to get rid of the warts? And it worked???
I have had great success with using 35% peroxide slightly diluted in some water for mine. I had one on my baby toe and has never returned.
Thanks. Interesting!
Not necessarily a natural treatment, but my daughter covered her rather large plantar wart with clear nail polish twice a day. Every other day or so she would give it a good rubbing with a pumice stone to get rid of the dead skin cells. Cheap, easy, and now it’s all gone.
I heard that one too. I wasn’t thrilled b/c that stuff makes me feel sick in the head. I forgot to mention that one :).
As a child I had success getting rid of warts by applying cut garlic and leaving it on all night beneath a bandage. It kind of burned, but it worked!
Black salve works everytime and is great for cancer and pre-cancer on the skin!
https://lorialexander.blogspot.com/2012/11/wonders-of-black-salve.html
I wrote about it here if interested. I have used it for years. It even works on moles!
I’m very curious about black salve – thanks!
Myself and my two boys all got warts – mine were on my feet and I had one large one on my baby finger. My sons got them on their fingers. Badly, like in clusters. We tried freezing them off at the doctors and that was painful and didn’t work. Then we saw a professional homeopath and the warts disappeared, not very quickly, but they are totally gone now. We are healed!!!
Great – homeopathic remedies only?
My son has a bunch clustered on his hands and some have spread to arms. We have tried freezing them. What finally did doctor do?
Thx!
what was the treatment?
Tea Tree Oil twice a day applied with a swab completely cleared my daughter’s huge wart(s) on her knee (she had previously cut her knee a few times). The first morning after applying at night, I was shocked by how much the wart had receded. It took somewhere between 1-2 weeks to completely get rid of the wart and it has never returned. I had a very small wart on my finger for a long time and finally vowed to get rid of it. I used tea tree oil but not consistently and so it would somewhat disintegrate but not completely. To be honest, I don’t like the smell of tea tree and was more concerned with my daughter’s huge wart so I was a bit lax. I restarted the tea tree for a couple of weeks , tried vinegar a few times (too harsh) although it did help some but I still had the little, but diminished wart. Right around this time, I finally cured the wart for good by rubbing extra virgin coconut oil on my hands every day- this was an unexpected result of moisturizing with coconut oil or coconut oil with shea butter. So I recommend tea tree oil for 1-2 weeks then use coconut oil for several weeks.
Thanks! Great tips!
Now I know why the small wart at the base of my finger (palm side) disappeared unexpectedly with no treatment. I made some hard lotion bars with coconut oil, shea butter and beeswax. I use it all the time. The wart had been there for about a year, and one evening I noticed it was gone. I couldn’t figure it out.
Caprylic acid is an effective antifungal that has been proven as effective as the prescription agent fluconazole. Test tube and animal research has shown caprylic acid to have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Coconut oil contains quite a bit of caprylic acid so it is not surprising that it impacted the virus laden wart.
just dab the oil on or leave cotton soaked in oil taped to area?
I saw on Dr Oz show ( chance viewing – not a show I watch all the time) that duct tape alone will suffocate the wart. I believe he said they need air – and the duct tape suffocates them. Really – what can’t you fix with duct tape? 😉
I read that too, but it didn’t work w/ the ACV covered up…..unless it wasn’t covered well enough for me. I wasn’t keen on having all that duct tape on the skin even though w/ my method it was still touching quite a bit.
ACV????
I tried that awhile ago but it burned the surrounding skin so bad that it was very very painful – thanks!
ACV means Apple Cider Vinegar.
I used the white medical tape as prescribed by an older old fashioned doctor. Mine was under my index finger nail. After many time if having my finger frozen, the tip nearly cut off trying to get at the root of the wart I get a doc that wraps my finger tip with white medical tape. He said to leave it on for 6 days, replace if falls off, and on the 7th day leave tape off for 24 hours then repeat until gone. It was gone in no time. And yes they need to breathe to live. Tape stops that process. Older docs know a lot of tricks!
I’ve worked in Dermatology for many many years. Although I can say for certain the practice I work for has never “Prescribed” the urine method, maybe I can help explain why it may work. If you don’t mind me talking in fairly simple terms, Since the wart is a virus that is inside your body, and the visible wart on your skin is the “symptom” of the virus, what pretty much any of the treatments are really doing is trying to get your body to notice the virus is there by “irritating” the skin/wart. When the body goes to find out or fix the irritation /wound you are really hoping it really also says.. “Oh, wow! A WArt Virus, let’s move that a little higher on the priority list and start fighting it better”. So different methods may work better or not on each individual person. All people are exposed to the virus but generally you inherit the inability to fight off the virus from one parent or another. USually one parent has struggled with warts also. If you aren’t quite ready for the urine method, and want to try the duct tape try this variation: Buy the OTC wart treatment. Surround the healthy skin around the wart with Vaseline to protect it and carefully put a few drops of medicine on the wart. It should dry quickly.Wrap the affected area with duct tape. and keep the duct tape on for 24 hours. Take the duct tape off. Take an emory board (and make sure to mark it as a “Wart” board so no one else uses it!) and file down the wart. Take a shower/bath. Then retreat the wart with OTC med. and rewrap in duct tape. Do this pattern every day. although my daughters wart came off in less than 7 days, it is no guarantee, as every immune system reacts differently and some people really struggle to get their immune system to fight the virus very aggressively,so it may always be a struggle, but even if it takes years, generally the body will win the fight eventually on its own. DOn’t know if this helps, but keep trying to find the right method for you. Best of luck to everyone.
Thanks!
I’ve heard some herbalists also say, that the sap inside the stem of a dandelion is caustic and gets rid of warts.
Rubbing a marigold flower on them will take them away too. Rub hard, breaking the petals until the skin around is yellow or orange, the color of a flower, do this for a few days until it is gone. Works, but marigold flowers are not available in the winter. Soooo seriously urine is an amazing cure all. Your own urine, not someone else’s. I am not sure of the mechanics or organics involved, but I know first hand it works miracles. My children and I were on a road trip, we drove from Utah to New York to Florida, and back home. I had a fungal infection on my left big toenail and had had it for a while but it was not bad until we started walking everywhere on our trip. By the time we got to New York, my toe was swollen and hurt so bad I could hardly walk and I feared it would ruin our trip. One night in Gettysburg, it hurt so bad I could not sleep. I got up and did the unthinkable and urinated in a cup and soaked my foot in it for a while and went to bed with my wet foot hanging off the edge of the bed so as not to soil the sheets. That next morning the swelling and pain were almost gone. My children, age 15 and 18 were witness to the change and could not believe it. I had been telling them for years it would kill athlete’s foot and acne, but none of us had ever tried it. The rest of our trip was saved and made memorable because of the wonder cure. Believe it. It works.
Wow – someone just asked about curing toe fungus with this so now I can tell her it worked for you. Thanks!
Well I already do a lot of weird things so I might as well as this to my list of natural remedy attempts. Thanks for the info.
You’re welcome!!!
When I lived in Texas we went to Galvaston. I was walking in the sand with water up to my ankles and bam, a small stingray got the top of my foot. I kept screaming that a giant crab bit me. I think the poison effected my brain. Anyway the pain got worse and worse but there was only a tiny prick of blood on top of my foot. By the time we walked up to the hotel I was hysterical and the manager called EMTs. They filled a bucket of extremely hot water and ammonia and fought me for awhile to get me to put my foot in there. Finally did it and pain went away but I was going into shock. The EMT told us later that if that happened again to line up everyone we could and have them pee on my foot. Haha. So it’s the ammonia in the pee that does the trick. You can even use it for all types of stings. And when on beaches in the spring, shuffle your feet through the water to scare critters away, don’t step up an down or you may step on a stingray and his tail will nab you on the foot. And don’t let kids lay in the shallow water because a small stingray could sting and stop their hearts.
Dear Ramona,
On behalf of native Galvestonians here, I apologize for our overly defensive sea-going “frienemy”. 🙂 Your advice is very accurate & on the money! I would add that plain meat tendizer is great for jellyfish stings & that bleach stops the pain of wasp stings *instantly* – personal experience. I wonder if anyone has tried urine on the latter. I’ve heard that baking soda works but takes time. Any sting is too painful to sit around waiting for a cure to work!
I’ve been told that thuja works, so I’m going to have my daughter start taking it.
I’m forgetting what that is…and where I heard of it before…
Thuja is a homeopathic remedy. We bought several vials filled with the tiny homeopathic little beads. 🙂 Haven’t yet tried it, but it’s our next step!
Think this method might work to get rid of a toenail fungus?
Hmmm…could try? I think that is related to candida. My husband used to used GSE diluted on it daily and diet change is an idea as well.
GSE?
Grapefruit seed extract. Sorry about that.
Amanda…a reader just shared that it worked for her! Come back and check out the comments :).
I cured my toenail fungus with oregano oil. Be consistent. It really works!
I have one I’m trying to get ride of and I read garlic has the same effect. So I cut a small sliver and place it under a band aid over night and try to remember during the day and it has gone down significantly in just 2 nights. Interesting about the urine though!
I heard about garlic too!
I’ve been meaning to try that too. Mostly because I’m told that after about an hour of having the garlic on your foot you start to taste it. I wanted to know if this was really true. And if it is, it’s a great way to prove that your skin absorbs into the body what you slather onto it.
It sure does! I didn’t use a whole clove, but squished it so it was more liquidy (garlic)… then applied some to the bottom of my foot and I could taste it within about 30 seconds… ew! Definitely want to be careful with what we put onto our skin 🙂
If you can taste garlic after putting it on your skin, then after putting urine on your skin….I think I’ll start with the oregano oil, lol!
LOL! This is my favorite comment here.
I like the idea of using garlic, love the stuff heck you could put garlic on a car bumber and it would taste good.!
Ummmm….not sure about that really, but…. :).
They are a sign of vitamin A deficiency also. My nephews took 25,000 IU vitamin A for several months and they went away. This is what the Dr. told them to tAKE.
Interesting. My son takes a good cod liver oil….???
I also found out recently that they can mean a difficiency in L-Lycine. The daughter of a friend of mine had lots of commom and was starting to get plantar warts. After a couple of weeks of supplementation with L-Lycine and a change in her fish oil from Krill to cod liver oil (CLO), her warts started clearing up.
I also agree that different remedies are going to work for different people. One of my daughters did very well on OTC freezey stuff and liquid while my other daughter is still struggling though we are trying the L-Lycine route as well as an increased dose of CLO and it seems to be working. They are smaller.
I have two plantar warts that are being stubborn and may try the urine trick or just the duct tape trick. I can get them to shrink some but not disappear.
Let me know if it works! Lysine is good for cold sores too – it’s worked for me at least.
In my Reflexology schooling, it was mentioned to us to consider warts as a symptom. One of the first and easiest ways for the body to let you know something is wrong (aside from pain) is on or through the skin (rashes, etc).
I would always check the reflected area of the body (from where the warts are/were) on a Reflexology map to see if anything else may be going on in the body.
I will look into that – thanks! I am working on him w/ supplements and diet as well.
I used the milky liquid from “Milk Weed” only sons warts about four years ago and they haven’t come back. A friend of mine got rid of planters warts with colloidal silver. I think different remedies work differently for each person.
Someone told me about milk weed for something else recently. I’m forgetting what now…..
milk weed also helps bug bites? 🙂
Maybe. I am not sure if that’s what it was…..
Dandelion Milk…definitely something that is not in short supply…do a quick google search and you’ll find TONS of testimonials…trying it right now (just started so no opinion from me yet)
Neato!
When I was a kid my thumbs were covered in warts. For some reason I instinctively split dandelion stems and rubbed the milk on them.. It got rid of every single one of them forever.
Wow. That is fascinating. I guess that’s one more reason not to kill those, huh?
I was going to say, duct tape. Duct tape alone has gotten rid of warts that various members of my family had. No urine necessary. Try one without the other next time.
Hoping there isn’t a next time :). The duct tape is super messy, isn’t it?
I would agree with the duct tape therapy. Not that I disagree with urine or anything else. We had tried the OTC treatments, stinky and not consistent enough. We applied duct tape to the affected are and left it there and replaced if needed because of moisture, or wear. This worked. It is cheap, easy, comes in many fun patterns. To remove, just use about any type of oil, rub the oil around the edges of the tape until they lift up and continue until the tape is removed.
Warts are a virus. They can be contagious. They usually go away after a few months but can reappear. I had 2 plantars warts several years back after a trip to Disney world. Podiatrist told me most likely they virus entered my skin through a small cut. I had been in the pools, showers, etc. I had them cut out by my podiatrist. Needles in the foot, no fun. Unfortunately, a few weeks after I got them, my daughter did, too.