Warts, once associated with wicked witches, are particularly challenging to deal with. You need to kill the center of the wart or it just keeps coming back. Doctors can freeze the wart, which really burns it, or cut the wart out. Either process can require several visits to the office.
There are many chemicals readily available over the counter that try to burn off warts. Another way is to treat the wart yourself using natural essential oils. Treating the wart yourself saves you repeated visits to the doctor, but does require considerable time and effort on your part.
To kill a wart, you need to use a natural essential oil. Cypress is the best, but Lemon, Lavender, Melissa, Oregano, Thyme, Tansy and Tea Tree (Melaleuca) also work well. These oils burn the wart, but will also burn the healthy skin, so care needs to be taken to keep the oil only on the wart. Less than a drop is all you need.
Adults should use the oils straight. For children under 12, dilute the natural essential oil in Apple cider vinegar; using 5 drops of oil in 2 teaspoons vinegar. Apply to the wart using a Q-tip and avoid getting it on the surrounding skin. Sometimes you can use a dropper and just touch the tip of the dropper to the wart without squeezing it, as even one drop can be too much for a small wart.
Warts are pernicious, and you have to keep at them until the core or root is completely gone, or they will just come back. The best time to work on your wart is right after a bath or shower when the skin has softened. Scrape off as much of the hard, dead surface as you can, then re-apply your natural essential oil.
Other treatments that work well on warts include smothering the wart by covering it with a piece of duct tape. The tape needs to be left on for several weeks without removing it. Warts on the hands can respond well to this method.
Warts on the feet, usually Plantar warts, are much harder to get rid of. Cutting a small piece of garlic the size of the wart and taping or bandaging it securely to cover the wart can burn difficult warts. Doing this overnight can be particularly helpful, but some find this method uncomfortable.
No matter which method you choose, the key to getting rid of warts is persistence. Remember to cut or scrape off the dead parts of the wart before re-applying your chosen remedy. You can use tweezers to pull out as much of the core as you can, and then cut it off. It can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months to completely get rid of a wart, so don't give up!