Counseling Sheet

Agatha M. Thrash, M.D.
Preventive Medicine

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For plantar warts, apply one or two drops of castor oil directly to the wart, and cover with a Band-Aid or tape. Apply the oil daily, and in time the wart can be removed effortlessly.

After a hot foot bath, you will be able to trim the plantar wart with a sharp instrument. You may use a knife, a razor blade, sharp pointed scissors, or whatever seems to you appropriate.

• Shell it out, if it can be dissected away from the living tissue by taking sharp pointed scissors and clipping the dead skin around the wart, if it is thickened so that you can get leverage on the dead skin with your fingernail.
• Then begin pulling the dead skin up in a circle (which you have marked out with the sharp pointed scissors by clipping the dead skin, pointing the scissor's point toward the wart).
• Continue to lift up on the wart with your fingernail by digging into it, until you can completely pull it out.

Many "warts" will shell out, just like a little rock embedded in the skin. Others must be shaved off and then covered with a strip of waterproof tape, until it heals. Be certain that you pay careful attention to avoiding infection. That means being very clean with all your instruments and materials. It is not necessary to try to sterilize the area or the instruments.

For plantar warts: rub oil in daily or use a fresh garlic mini-poultice.