Wart treatments: what a dermatologist actually recommends
What are warts?
A wart is a small skin bump caused by a virus. The virus gets into the top layer of your skin and tells your skin cells to grow extra thick to protect itself. That thickened skin is the wart.
Warts can show up almost anywhere on your body. There are over 200 types of wart viruses.
Why do I have warts?
Wart viruses are everywhere. You can pick them up by touching someone who has a wart, or by walking on shared floors like gym showers or pool decks.
But not everyone who is exposed gets warts — some people are just more likely to get them. In my own family, a few of us got bad foot warts. Others never did, even though we shared the same shower.
How do I get rid of warts?
There are two ways to fight warts:
Boost your immune system — help your body recognize and fight the virus
Destroy the wart — kill the infected skin cells directly
Destroying the wart usually works better. But here's the honest truth: no wart treatment works more than 50% of the time — even prescription ones. That's why I recommend doing both together.
Step 1: Destroy the wart — use WartStick
The best over-the-counter option is WartStick or Curad pads. Both contain 40% salicylic acid, which eats away at the wart over time.
🚫 Skip the OTC freezing kits. They don't get cold enough to actually destroy warts.
How to use WartStick:
At bedtime, rub WartStick directly onto the wart.
Cover it with a small piece of duct tape — use a name brand (3M, Gorilla, or Duck Brand). This keeps the medicine on the wart all night.
In the morning, peel off the tape. Some of the wart may come off with it.
💡 Note: WartStick and Curad pads contain a strong acid. Your skin may turn red, sore, or white around the wart. That's normal.
Step 2: Boost your immune system — try zinc and L-methionine
These supplements help your body fight the wart virus from the inside. I recommend using them alongside WartStick (or saturated salt), not instead of it.
Zinc — click link to my full guide
L-Methionine — click link to my full guide
Step 3 (bonus): Try a saturated salt soak
Does salt water work for warts?
Yes — and it's one of my favorite options. It's cheap, easy, and recent research shows it actually works.
How to make a saturated salt soak
You need the water saturated — that just means packed with as much salt as it can hold.
Pour 1 inch (2 cm) of warm water into a small basin.
Stir in table salt, one spoonful at a time.
Keep adding salt until some sits on the bottom and won't dissolve — even after stirring for a minute. That's saturated. ✓
Soak the wart(s) for 5 minutes every day until healed.
How do I know when the wart is gone?
Look at the skin lines on your hand or foot, these make your fingerprints. A wart breaks these, so the lines stop right at the wart’s edge.
When the skin lines fully reconnect across the area, the wart is gone — even if the skin still looks a little red or irritated.
What if WartStick or Curad pads aren’t working?
If WartStick isn't helping after several weeks — or is too harsh for a sensitive spot — it's time to see a dermatologist.
In the office, a dermatologist can freeze the wart with liquid nitrogen (−320°F/−196°C). The extreme cold destroys the wart, but still only works 50% of the time,. Combining in-office freezing with at-home WartStick or saturated salt soaks often works better than either alone. You may need a few freezes.
Look for a board-certified dermatologist in your area. If you are in or near Utah, see one of my excellent colleagues at the University of Utah or me virtually via Honeydew.
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