Warts.

Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 10:38:09 -0500
To: Medicinal and Aromatic Plants discussion list <HERB.TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR>
From: Patricia Brady <pbrady.PRAIRIENET.ORG>
Subject: Herbal remedies for wart removal

I've read that grapefruit extract applied daily to warts may help to remove them. Does anyone know about this? Is having a doctor burn it off the only way? Any suggestions?

From: David Coomler <davidco.NETHOST.MULTNOMAH.LIB.OR.US>

Dandelion "milk" from the flowering stalk has been successfully used when applied as a coating over the wart daily. It must be done during the spring and early summer, when such flowering stalks are on the plant. (the leaf and root contain just as much milky sap... -Henriette) I know someone who had a large wart in a finger joint, and could not have it otherwise removed for fear of damage to the finger. He was very pleased that the Dandelion "juice" worked. I think he scrubbed it thoroughly once a day before reapplying the "milk" for that day.

From: "James L. Spiller" <jlspill.SANDIA.GOV>

> I've read that grapefruit extract applied daily to warts may help to remove them. Does anyone know about this? Is having a doctor burn it off the only way? Any suggestions?

From my personal experience with periungal warts. Burning or freezing doesn't always work, wart vaccines sometimes work, faith healing works about as well as anything (from statistics). Warts are a slow virus, working so slowly that your body's immune system doesn't 'notice' them. The general treatment is to irritate the wart (especially the mother wart) untill the immune system 'notices' the wart, then a seeming miraclous 'cure' takes place and all the warts disappear. I have not found the proper way to 'notify' the immune system of my warts yet.

Warts are contagious - very mildly. And opportunistic - they seem to take advantage of skin breaks and small injuries to spread.

If anyone has a sure fire wart cure i'd like to try it.

From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>

: If anyone has a sure fire wart cure i'd like to try it.

I don't want to harangue, but have I mentioned that homeopaths consider warts to be an ally of the health balance of the body? They should not be removed unless absolutely necessary. Observation has been made that the removal of a wart results in a decline in health. They may be like fingers in the dike. I can't really say I cherish mine, but I have definitely noticed that they have sprouted as a result of a particular homeopathic treatment (one will appear, and my mental/emotional life will take a leap forward). The same can be said for 'birthmarks' (which, contrary to popular belief, are dynamic) and rashes.

--Paul || p_iannone.pop.com

From: Deborah Duchon <antdadx.GSUSGI2.GSU.EDU>

A dermatologist friend once told me that studies had shown that warts, while caused by a virus, can be removed by simply believing them away. That's why there are so many herbal and "folk" remedies that actually worked. He said,"You can remove a wart by burying a potato under a rock during the full moon as long as you believe that will do the trick." Since then, I have removed the occasional warts that grow on my hands by visualizing them gone while telling them mentally to "go away" (takes about 5 minutes per day for a few weeks).--

From: Shirley Bates <shirley.BATESX.CS.HOU.COMPAQ.COM>

> A dermatologist friend once told me that studies had shown that warts, while caused by a virus, can be removed by simply believing them away.

I concur with the belief system....

As a child, I was the wart remover of the family. I would rub a piece of onion on the warts, loop a string around the warts and tie the string in a knot while letting the string slip off the tops of the warts. I would then bury the onion and string out of sight of the person with the warts. I did this because my grandmother said I "had the power". And nobody argued with my grandmother.

Well, if you believed that I could remove the wart, the wart would be gone within 1 week. If you didn't believe that I could remove the wart, the wart would be gone in 2-3 weeks. My belief and confidence instilled in me by my grandmother was enought to make up for the lack of belief in others I guess.

From: CLAR.AOL.COM

>I've read that grapefruit extract applied daily to warts may help to remove them. Does anyone know about this? Is having a doctor burn it off the only way? Any suggestions?

I had heard that the skin of a green banana taped over the wart was effective was effective but I never tried it.