How to Remove Plantar Warts at Home

Even though they are not harmful, plantar warts can be painful and unpleasant to look at 1. Both of these factors can cause a great deal of stress for those afflicted with them. Plantar warts can be especially painful because they are on the bottoms of the feet, with a great deal of pressure applied to them throughout the day 1. There are many over-the-counter remedies for removal of plantar warts, but before you spend a great deal of money testing them out try a remedy you can find in your kitchen: apple cider vinegar 13.

Soak your affected foot in a foot basin filled with warm water for 5 minutes. Empty the water and fill the foot basin with lukewarm apple cider vinegar 3. You only need enough to cover the plantar wart area. Soak the wart in the vinegar for 15 minutes.

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Remove your foot from the apple cider vinegar soak and gently pat it dry 3. Put the towel immediately aside to be washed.

Put some petroleum jelly on the skin surrounding the wart, but not on the wart itself. The petroleum jelly will help protect the healthy skin near the wart from any harsh treatment.

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Take the nail file and very gently rub back and forth on the wart area for no more than 30 seconds. You do not want to break the wart open. You simply want to roughen the top of it so the vinegar will be able to deeply soak into the affected area.

Put some apple cider vinegar on a sterile cotton ball and press the cotton ball against the wart 3. This may sting for a second but it will subside.

Cover the cotton ball with an adhesive bandage and secure it in place. If you will still be walking around, you can add more security to the bandage and cotton ball by covering it with some duct tape.

Leave the cotton ball on all day if possible. If it is not possible to wear the apple cider vinegar treatment during the day, you can put it on in the evening and wear to bed overnight 3. The fastest healing time will come if you can do the treatment twice daily (once in the morning and once in the evening).

Watch for the wart to darken from within 3 days to 2 weeks. As it does, it will rise to the surface of the skin and then fall off on its own.

Repeat steps 3 through 8 for a week after the wart has fallen off. This will help prevent the wart from reappearing.

Tips

Wash hands thoroughly after treating plantar warts.

Warnings

Do not scratch or rough up the skin around the plantar wart, as this can backfire and cause the virus to spread.

Do not share towels, shoes or socks when you have a plantar wart.