Warts are small non-cancerous growths that appear on the skin. The wart is caused by a virus called the human papillomavirus (HPV) and isn’t caused by playing with frogs. HPV is contagious and can be passed from one person to another. Yes, we get it that no one likes warts. It is true that strange bumps can be embarrassing and painful. Thankfully, there are several different methods to remove warts easily.
Apple Cider Vinegar
It is possible to remove warts easily using apple cider vinegar. The acidity of the vinegar can kill the virus and can burn the infected skin surrounding the wart. Apple cider vinegar irritates the skin which triggers the immune system. The immune system starts to attack the virus (or wart) when the vinegar starts irritating the skin. Vinegar slowly burns your skin and triggers an immune response so that your immune system can start attacking the wart. Once your immune system fights off the virus it will cause the wart to eventually fall off.
It’s best to mix two parts apple cider vinegar with one part water and then use a cotton ball to soak up the mixture and apply it to the wart. Try to keep the wart covered with the apple cider vinegar mixture as long as possible (use tape to keep the cotton ball on the wart overnight). Continue to do this daily until the wart falls off. This method may not work to remove every wart and could take several weeks or months to remove a wart. But it is possible for apple cider vinegar to be used to remove warts easily.
Duct Tape
Duct tape is the cheapest method to remove warts easily. Unlike the apple cider vinegar method which attacks the virus that created the wart, the duct tape method works to remove the wart layer by layer. The duct tape suffocates the wart and prevents the virus from spreading and starting new warts somewhere else on the body. The sticky layer of the duct tape removes a layer of the wart every time the duct tape is removed and replaced.
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Cut a small piece of duct tape and place it over the wart, it’s necessary to keep duct tape on the wart as long as possible. Every few days remove the old duct tape and replace it with fresh tape. Repeat this process until the wart falls off. This process could take several weeks or months and may not work to remove every wart. You can even use a combination of apple cider vinegar and duct tape too.
Freezing or Cryosurgery
Liquid nitrogen can be used to remove warts. A doctor may use a cotton ball or a cryogen to apply liquid nitrogen to the wart. The liquid nitrogen freezes or kills the wart and the wart falls off. This method sometimes requires 2-3 treatments of cryosurgery. It’s more expensive than a home remedy, but is more effective and is a quicker removal process. Freezing a wart does hurt a bit but it is a quick way to remove warts easily.
Surgical Removal
In order to remove some warts, a minor surgical procedure may be required. There are several types of surgical procedures to remove warts: 1) Excision 2) Electrosurgery 3) Laser surgery
Excision is where the wart is removed by cutting it away with a scalpel. This type of surgical procedure is more commonly used on smaller warts.
Electrosurgery uses a scalpel to cut away part of the wart and then uses an electric current to burn off the rest of the wart.
Laser surgery uses a laser to burn or remove the wart.
Warts are contagious and can spread to other parts of your body. As soon as you notice a pesky wart, start using a home removal method or see your doctor. There are so many different ways to remove a wart, there’s no sense in just dealing with one.
Image credit: Flickr via Creative Commons
I only noticed that I have warts on my feet after I came back from a hike. It makes sense that I would want to have them frozen off! That seems like the best way to get it done nice and quick.