- Most pharmacies sell a variety of over-the-counter treatments for plantar warts. The active ingredient in these remedies is salicylic acid. According to the Mayo Clinic, the most effective treatments must contain at least 40 percent salicylic acid. You can either buy solutions that you apply directly to the wart or patch that contains the acid that works by peeling away skin that has been infected by HPV. In most situations, you will apply the solution two times daily. When applying the solution, be careful not to get any on healthy skin because the acid will kill healthy skin cells as well. When the infected skin dies, you will peel it away and apply the solution to what is underneath. Also according to the Mayo Clinic, these medications will take several weeks or months to completely get rid of your plantar warts.
- Another option is freezing off the warts in what is known as cryotherapy. An example of these products is Dr. Scholl's Freeze Away Wart Remover, which you can buy at a pharmacy. Like salicylic acid, you apply these products to the wart to freeze and kill off the infected skin cells of the plantar wart. However, according to the Mayo Clinic, store-bought cryotherapy is not the most effective remedy. In fact, if you want to go this route you are better off seeing a doctor who will use liquid nitrogen to freeze the wart off.
- In 2002, a study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine concluded that duct tape could be used as an effective way to get rid of plantar warts. The procedure involved covering the wart with duct tape for six days, putting the foot in warm water and then taking away dead skin with a nail file or pumice. Like the use of salicylic acid, duct tape therapy needs to be repeated and can take months to be effective. According to the study, the hypothesis behind this therapy is the duct tape forces your immune system to attack the virus.
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