Q. My husband has terrible plantar warts. They have been frozen multiple times by a dermatologist. Acid patches ate away at his healthy skin but not the warts.
The warts have spread and are practically covering his entire heel. We are at a loss. Is there any remedy to get rid of these warts once and for all?
A. Plantar warts occur on the toes or soles of the feet and can be quite painful. Treatment is not always successful, as you have discovered.
Readers have shared remedies including turmeric paste, duct tape or banana peel on the wart. The turmeric powder is mixed with a little olive oil, applied to the wart and covered carefully with tape. The socks you wear may become stained, so don’t use your best pair. Change the turmeric daily.
To use banana peel, cut a piece of the peel to the size of the wart and tape it to the foot with the inner side of the peel against the wart. This too is changed daily; some people wear it only at night.
Any of these remedies may take up to six weeks, so be patient. Another approach that some have reported as helpful is the oral heartburn drug Tagamet (cimetidine) taken twice daily.
JM has offered this experience:
“I treated two plantar warts on a big toe that I had tried all the treatments on with little success, including among these; combinations of Compound W & duct tape, banana peel, garlic, etc. I will admit that because of chronic fatigue, I likely did not stick with the treatments long enough as I would forget. But after years of this, I have recently expanded my knowledge into essential oils and I put oregano essential oil neat plus Compound W maximum strength and covered this with the soft white paper tape for wounds, and the warts rapidly went away. Folks, this is for those that are the most recalcitrant to cure!
“If I can use anything that is more natural and doesn’t interfere with my digestive system, I prefer to, so maybe others of like mind may find this useful. Indeed, the oregano under the tape may be all that is necessary. I quickly add that it is generally recommended that essential oils are to be used in a carrier oil such as a quality castor oil, coconut oil, etc. (1 drop to 1/4 tsp ratio generally), but if one is using only a couple of drops for a plantar wart and the essential oil is quality, this is likely o.k. Try the oil in a carrier oil first to see if you react in any way.
“Further note on garlic. From my experience with garlic, which I consider one of nature’s premier medicines/foods, likely if I had used the juice of the garlic in some way like an essential oil, it may have cured the wart also. I use garlic as an anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and anti-pathogen. It is amazingly effective if one has a gum problem. Just slice off a piece and place the wet side against the area that is uncomfortable (using common sense, i.e., if the wound is exceedingly raw, be careful). I quickly add that I always use organic, and don’t know if that makes a difference.”
photo credit: happyfeet34 cc cropped
