Q. My son has had multiple warts on his hands. He has tried everything, including getting them frozen off by the doctor with liquid nitrogen.
He developed a huge wart on the inside of his middle finger. The doctor said it was so big that it would require many treatments to make any visible difference.
My son tried drugstore wart removers, but nothing helped. Meanwhile, the wart became ginormous, black and cracked. He was miserable.
That’s when I read your column about wrapping a banana peel around warts to get rid of them. I cut the article out, but my son did not believe this would help.
A few more weeks went by before he became desperate enough to try the banana peel. Within a week, his huge, angry wart was nearly gone. He came to me and said, “Mom, we need more bananas!” After the second week of this, you could not see a trace of that wart.
I only wish I had taken a picture of that thing, because no one would believe a banana peel could get rid of that huge wart. When he showed his friends the wart was gone, they were stunned.
A. Many readers tell us that taping the inside of a banana peel to a wart works wonders. More stories about banana peels and other wart remedies can be found at www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. There are no double-blind studies of this approach, but many visitors attest that it can be helpful. Other surprising remedies include the oral heartburn medicine Tagamet (cimetidine) or topical applications of instant glue, nail polish, castor oil or turmeric, the yellow spice in curry powder.
If you would like a collection of our favorite wart remedies and detailed stories about how people have used them successfully, we suggest our book, The People’s Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies from National Geographic.
