When I was in high school, all of us girls changed in a locker room together for gym class. When it came time for swimming, all of us had to stand in one common shower before entering the pool. We were all barefoot, of course, in there and on the pool deck. It was no surprise, then, that I got a wart on my foot not once, but twice during my high school years. Warts on the feet can be painful and it was, in fact, uncomfortable to walk. It felt like I had a piece of glass stuck in the bottom of my foot. My mom got me some over the counter wart medicine, which was salicylic acid drops, and after a few weeks of applying it, the wart went away. I used the same remedy each time I got warts in high school. I never went to the showers in college or in public swimming pools without my water shoes or thong sandals after that. I have not had problems with warts on my feet since.

Fast forward to when I had kids. Three of my kids also developed warts on their feet from going barefoot at public swimming pools. I would buy them sandals just for this purpose and they would go in and out of the bathrooms and shower areas without putting them on. For one child, I was able to clip the wart off and it did not return. One child’s wart went away on its own and I froze the wart on the third child’s foot and it fell off. I did not use the salicylic acid treatment with them because I was a bit overwhelmed with four young children under ten years old and I would forget to apply it. When I did remember, they would just rub it off soon afterwards, and so I just gave up on the whole idea. At that time, I wanted a quick and effective fix and so the child whose wart persisted got the nitrogen freezing method. She didn’t like that and I really didn’t like using it, but the wart was bothering her and she kept rubbing the other medicine off. I thought I was done with warts after that.

About two or three years ago, my oldest son came to me with his hands covered in warts. He counted and there were fifteen warts of varying sizes covering both hands. Who wants to shake hands with that? I thought that was pretty gross and his older sister wouldn’t let him touch her. That hurt his feelings since they have always been very close pals. I mentioned the salicylic acid treatment to him and we tried the pre-medicated bandages. Do you want to know how many boxes of those we went through? My goodness, every time he washed his hands, every night when he went to sleep, he would have to put new bandages on. It was getting expensive, tedious, and it wasn’t working. I didn’t feel comfortable using the nitrogen freeze method all over his hands. I was afraid of nerve damage. We decided to try some natural remedies for warts.

The first thing we tried was a homeopathic treatment, Thuja, for warts. It was an oral remedy and I had my doubts for a few reasons. One, I didn’t feel that an oral treatment would be as effective as a topical treatment. Second, my experiences with over the counter homeopathic remedies have never been positive. The only reason I was willing to try it was that I thought that maybe my own experiences wouldn’t apply to him (and it was cheap and easy to use). Nothing happened.

He was getting frustrated and I wanted something that would be effective, work quickly, and wouldn’t rely on lots of applications (if he had to remember to do it too often, he wouldn’t do it). I was working on my aromatherapy program at the time and discovered that their store offered a wart remedy. We had exhausted other natural remedies for warts, and I was very impressed with the qualities of essential oils that were distilled from plant material. We bought the blend, which contained the oils of thuja (white cedar tree grown in North America and Europe), ravintsara (a bushy plant native to Madagascar), tea tree (a tree from Australia), geranium, and niaouli (paper bark tree native to Australia). He sprinkled the oil in his hand and then just rubbed it all over both hands. He did this several times a day after he washed his hands. After one day (yes, only one day!), some of the warts started falling off. After about five days, all the warts had fallen off and his skin was smooth and nice!

Now, I have two warts, one on each hand, and he used up all of my essential oil wart remedy. The larger wart appeared right after I cut my finger. The wart is at the tip of the scar. Seeing how essential oils worked for my son’s warts, I thought I could use a different oil in my cabinet and it would work the same. I tried tea tree oil alone and then I tried undiluted oregano oil alone. These are great oils, but I was not consistent in using them. The warts kept coming back and getting larger. I gave up and tried the nitrogen freezing treatment again—three times. Needless to say, it didn’t work. These warts are stubborn!

I am going to have to buckle down, pay the shipping cost, and order myself that remarkable natural remedy that my son used for warts if I am ever going to get rid of them. Do you have any experiences with stubborn warts? Please share in the comments below.

5/5 - (1 vote)