How do you cure a wart? Doctors can burn, freeze or cut them off, although they often come back. There is a dizzying variety of home remedies used against warts, and most of them have several supporters. One reader wrote to us about using banana peel on a wart.
Banana Peel to Cure a Wart:
Q. Have you any experience with using banana peel to cure warts? I had a wart on my finger for months, maybe a year. It was painful and distorting my fingernail.
I had tried several other remedies with no luck at all. Out of curiosity and frustration I took a banana peel and rubbed the inside on the wart, sometimes holding it on there for 10 minutes or so.
The wart went away in about a week and hasn’t returned. Any thoughts or explanations?
A. We first heard about using the fleshy part of a banana peel as a wart treatment more than 17 years ago. The person suggested:
“Take a banana peel and cut a round piece the size of the wart. Put the inner side next to the wart and tape it on with surgical tape. Change this every day with a fresh piece of banana peel. It may take a week or so to see results.”
Not long after that we heard from one parent:
“My son had a small wart on his left index finger. We applied a tiny piece of banana peel just once daily before bedtime. (Seven year olds need to bend their fingers during the day.) I didn’t expect to see results as quickly as we did.”
Another Banana peel story from L.F.:
“A young boy on my school bus had at least ten large warts on his hands. I also had a few and occasionally discussed the methods he was using as an attempt at removing them. One day I suddenly realized most of his warts were gone leaving only pale patches on his skin. When I asked what he had used I couldn’t believe it was banana skin.”
How Do Wart Remedies Work?
We do not have an explanation for why this approach might work, any more than we can explain why other wart remedies seem helpful. They include applications of castor oil, iodine, a cut potato, rubbing alcohol, milkweed sap and vinegar soaks. We have received testimonials on each of these remedies as well as a number of others.
Should you wish to read more about home remedies for warts and dozens of other common conditions, you will find our book, Quick & Handy Home Remedies, right up your alley.
