Warts, Common

Definition

A circumscribed cutaneous elevation resulting from hypertrophy of the pupillae and epidermis. The term plantar wart is applied to a wart on pressure-bearing areas, especially the sole of the foot.
Back to Top

---

Causes

Caused by a papillomavirus. Highly contagious, they can be spread by picking, trimming, biting, or touching them. They can also be spread on the face, underarms or legs by shaving.
Back to Top

---

Symptoms

These warts can be found on the hands, feet, forearms, and face and range in size from a pinhead to a small bean. They can also occur on the voice box or the larynx and cause hoarseness. They are rough, irregular skin growths, and are caused by a virus. They may be flat or raised, dry or moist, and have a rough and pitted surface that is either flesh colored or darker than the surrounding skin. They typically do not cause pain or itching and can be left to disappear on their own unless they become bothersome.
Back to Top

---

Nutrients

Vitamin B complex, 50 mg. 3 times per day, is important in normal cell multiplication.

Vitamin C, 4,000-10,000 mg. per day, has a powerful antiviral capacity.

L-Cysteine (amino acid), use as directed on the label, is needed for normal skin.

Vitamin A, 25,000 IU per day, is needed for normalizing skin and epithelial membranes.

Vitamin E, 400-800 IU per day (can be applied to common warts. Cut open a capsule or apply oil every day. Vitamin or enzyme cream can also be applied directly to common warts.)

Zinc, 50-80 mg. per day, increases immunity against viruses.

Multivitamin and mineral complex, taken as directed on the label, helps normal cell division.
Back to Top

---

Herbs

• Alder buckthorn, bark
• Bitterroot
• Bittersweet
• Bloodroot
• Buttercup (external use)
• Cactus, prickly-pear
• Calendula
• Castor bean, oil
• Cedar, northern white
• Celandine, greaterCelandine, greater (external use)
• Chaparral
• Corn-cockle (external use)
• Dandelion
• Fig tree
• Garlic
• Houseleek
• Lemon
• Lettuce, wild
• Milkweed
• Mullein
• Onion
• Poke root
• Sage, wild, lyre-leaved
• Sarsaparilla
• Spurge
• Sundew
• Tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia)
• Walnut, black
• White weed
• Willow bark

Back to Top

---

Recommendations

For removing common warts, some people have had good results with crushed garlic clove placed directly on the wart. Cover with a bandage for 24 hours. Blisters will form and then the warts will fall off in about a week. Applying castor oil to the wart is also successful.

Diet should include: asparagus, citrus fruits, eggs, garlic and onions, and desiccated liver tablets.

Vitamin C daily is most important in maintaining effective immunity against warts.
Back to Top

---

Suggestions

Freezing the warts with liquid nitrogen and fulguration with electrical cautery are other commonly use treatments for warts. Fulguration uses heat to destroy the warts.

Remedy for plantar warts:
This type is more deeply imbedded than warts on other areas of the body. External applications of wheat germ oil or castor oil are reputed to disperse plantar warts. A pad of cotton saturated with the oil is bound on the wart at bedtime and allowed to remain on overnight. This is repeated nightly until results are achieved (generally about 3 to 4 weeks).
Back to Top

---

Bibliography

Back to Eden, by Jethro Kloss; Back to Eden Publishing Co., Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994

The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. WI 53181., Copyright 1988, published 1992

Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fifth Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements, by James F. Balch, M.D. and Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C., Avery Publishing Group, Inc., Garden City Park, NY

Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 15th Edition, F. A. Davis Company, 1915 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Earl Mindell’s Herb Bible, by Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D., Simon & Schuster/Fireside, Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993

The Magic of Herbs, by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England. (Out of print)

The Old Herb Doctor, by Joseph E. Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1984, sixth printing 1994.

The Magic of Herbs in Daily Living, by Richard Lucas, Parker Publishing Co. (1988).

Indian Herbalogy of North America, by Alma R. Hutchens, Shambala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973

Back to Top