How To: Treat warts

Warts can be embarrassing – as well as contagious. Help minimize the chance you'll spread them to other parts of your body, or other people.
You Will Need
* Time
* Healthy foods
* A banana peel
* An over-the-counter wart remover
* Duct tape
* A pumice stone or emery board
* A doctor

Step 1: Avoid contact
Avoid touching or scratching your warts, and don't share your clothes. Warts can be especially contagious if you touch someone who has a break in their skin, like a scratch or hangnail.

WARNING: Never cut off a wart yourself. You could bleed heavily or cause a scar. See your doctor.

Step 2: Wait
Wait for the wart to go away. Warts often go away by themselves, though it may take months or years.

Step 3: Build and maintain strong immune system
Support your immune system by eating healthy foods. A strong immune system will battle warts and help them disappear faster.

Step 4: Apply banana peels
Rub the inside of a fresh piece of banana peel on your warts every night. Potassium may help them disappear faster.

Step 5: Try and OTC remedy
Pat your skin dry after a shower and apply salicylic acid or another over-the-counter wart remedy. Re-apply daily until the wart goes away.

Step 6: Try duct tape
Cover the wart with duct tape for six days; then remove the duct tape, soak the wart in warm water, and file it down with a pumice stone or emery board. One study theorized that duct tape irritated the wart enough to trigger the body's immune system to attack it.

Step 7: See your doctor
See your doctor for more aggressive treatments – like freezing – to remove warts. They may work better than home remedies.

Fact: If you look at a wart with a magnifying glass, the surface often resembles a tiny cauliflower.