[Warts And Verrucas] VINEGAR, VINEGAR AND MORE VINEGAR!!! You don't need to p...

I came across this thread about five days ago. I've had this one wart on the ball of my foot since I was about six years old-- I'm 22 now. I tried home treatments on it when I was little, sporadically, but I never stuck with anything and unfortunately, it took the advice to go forth and multiply a bit too literally.

Forward sixteen years-- I have about twenty of them between my two feet! The original turned into a medium-sized cauliflower, and while I had cryotherapy a few years ago before the NHS stopped treating warts, it only got rid of one little one on my big toe (which came back). Worse still, after the heel label of a badly-made pair of boots rubbed a huge blister on my other foot two years ago, the skin of the blister came off to reveal an enormous cluster-- about the size of a 50p piece-- underneath. Yeuch.

I'm really self-conscious about my feet and I'm extremely uncomfortable wearing nice sandals, those cute sheer socks that have been fashionable lately, or anything else that might show my verrucas. I used to really love swimming and going to the beach, but I've become used to claiming to hate swimming and anything to do with water. I've had verrucas so long that I've sort of disowned my own feet-- I won't touch them, wash them (other than sploshing them in some Dettol now and then to clean them), file or paint my toenails, or go anywhere with them uncovered.

This has led to some pretty disgusting stuff, needless to say. For one, I have persistent athlete's foot between my toes because I wear socks 24/7 and my poor toes never get a chance to see the daylight-- ick. I get chronic ingrowing nails as well, since I rarely ever want to face trimming them. Worse still, my verrucas have started to hurt to the point where I sometimes can't walk properly.

I'm also constantly terrified that they'll get ambitious and colonise other parts of my body! As a pianist my hands are my pride and joy, and I'd be devastated if I had warts on my fingers. And as a part-time model, it would definitely not be good for my career to have a wart on my face. I can't even imagine!

Anyway, I hope you'll forgive me letting that all out! It's got to the point where enough is enough. I want to reclaim my feet! So I was looking for some home remedies (no chance of affording private treatment) and I found this.

All I can say is, wow! I've been sticking cotton balls soaked in ACV to my verrucas with medical tape for four nights now. (I've been careful to wear latex gloves any time I'm touching them to avoid it spreading. I've also rinsed my hands with vinegar and washed them with dish soap after putting the cotton balls on, just in case, and I've, um, taken a hiatus from shaving my legs so that my socks don't spread the virus to any abrasions. Please don't judge me, we've all got gross problems here.) Already they've started to go black and dry up-- even the really old one! I've got hope for the first time in years! I've already started to collect some pretty new shoes and socks for when they've gone. Fingers crossed!

The biggest difference it's made is to the huge one on my heel. It throbbed the most the first night, and the next day-- by gum, it hurt. I couldn't walk on it at all. When I had a good look at it, it turned out that a big mass of dead skin had built up on top of it like a very nasty cushion, and the vinegar had made it swell up and become enormous. It was like walking on a pebble made of glass shards.

So I let it dry out-- first time my feet have seen the air for a prolonged period of time in a long while!-- and, well, took a disposable razor to it. I stopped at the point at which it started to really hurt, before there was any danger of drawing blood, but I seem to have removed all the dead skin. It felt amazing when I'd finished-- so much better! And wow, walking on it, I hadn't even realised that it had been uncomfortable until that big mass of flesh was gone.

The next night... well, I'm not a coward in the face of pain, but let's just say, I was having a nice dream about having bought a lovely little house of my own, and in my dream I was walking around in my new bedroom. Then I noticed that the floor was covered in broken glass, and I was barefoot. Then my alarm went off. That walking-barefoot-on-glass feeling was the pain in my heel. Ouch.

One thing I want to ask... is it meant to look as disgusting as it does?! It's gone completely black on one side. I know it's supposed to do something like that, but is it really meant to go entirely black like that? Should I try to pick it out? Should I leave it to drop off by itself?

Also, for my littler ones-- some of which I'm happy to say have developed a black core, and some of which I'm even happier to say have shrunk right down-- am I meant to pull out the core, or will it, again, drop off of its own accord?

PS: I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who sort of anthropomorphizes my own warts as alien invaders-- or holds a grudge against them! It sounds ridiculous, but when some of the newer ones started to hurt when I walked on them, I was really annoyed precisely because they were so new-- I felt like crying out "You have no right to hurt, you little johnny-come-latelies! You haven't even been through my troubles with me!" Haha! It makes me feel a lot more sane to know that other people do similar things.

I've been reading up on this method and most websites said that it got rid of the verrucas in a matter of days. However most said that this really hurt, some even to the point of not being able to walk. I was just wondering whether or not the pain is really that bad or whether it's bearable with paracetamol because I have school most days and my next holiday is not for a few more weeks. So basically can I go to school with this or will I just have to wait a bit longer? Thanks.

Well I've been following this post for a while now and about a week ago I plucked up the courage to give it a go! I've had a verruca for a couple of years now, and another fairly new one which is small, and have tried lots of different things to try and get rid of them, including duct tape and nail varnish. Nothing touched them unfortunately. Anyway since using the ACV something is definitely happening!!! Yes it is now very painful but that is after I have used a foot file on them and then applied the ACV. But I definitely think (hope) it is working. As I say it has only been just over a week but I am going to keep going as I hate the little b***ers!!! I will report again in a few days.

well I've had this wart for about 4 months or so. Went to the podiatrist first, who gave me a two week treatment, so the new year arrived and I had to wait for about 2 weeks because they were moving the clinic to other area, only to find out that she had gone back to her country, and the new podiatrist who saw me there just told me to use duck tape. I used for a few days but it wouldn't stick to my skin, so got fed up with it and let it be for a while, hoping that it would just go away. but it didn't, so i decided to go to useless gp and see what he would suggest. he told me to try bazuka or something similar. I tried it for 2 weeks but no results, so gave up again. Now I'm really hoping that the vinegar will help, have started treatment on saturday night, so today is my 3rd day, i'm using it 24/7, change it in the morning, and evenings (on evenings i wash it, file it with pumice stone, put the soaked cotton wool wit ACV and a duck tape then put a bandage on it. I can feel that it is doing "something", as I can feel pain when walking sometimes and it is kind of burning sensation as well. not much on the outside though, haven't seen anything black yet, but am hoping that it will soon appear something. I'm just gutted with the swimming pool I used to take my baby daughter because i am sure i got this nasty thing over there. I just think they should oblige these companies to make them do a medical examination on people before letting everybody go to the swimming pool and passing diseases to others.

@GeorgiaAlice: It depends on your pain threshold and I'd say that it's definitely painful, but not unbearable. I was limping for a few days at first, but I just told everyone who asked that I'd gone walking in new shoes and got really bad blisters. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is a little twinge and 10 is stomping on a drawing pin, I'd rate it about a 5-6, somewhere above "wearing shoes that rub a bit" but below "plucking your toe hairs with tweezers", haha. I managed to walk four miles to the shops and back when it was at its worst without too many problems.

a little help please. I've been putting vinegar for the past 4 days on my verruca and now is very painful, I can't even walk properly. the flesh surrounding the verruca is very white and horrible (it looks like dead skin) and this afternoon when I changed bandages I could see something darker beneath the white skin, but no black spots hasn't come through yet, I mean, the skin is still plain, if that makes sense. Am I doing right? I'm considering ringing a podiatrist and making an appointment so that she can see if things are progressing.. I'm just so worried I might be doing something wrong.

Im afraid Mily that is all part of the 'programme'!! Yes, its hurts like hell, but you HAVE to carry on because trust me, this method works! If you can, take either paracetamol or brufen. That will take the edge off the pain, My kids did! And if you have a look back on the comments before, everyone says the same!! Hope you get on ok though. Just remember it wont last forever, and you will be so pleased when they have gone that you carried on with the ACV.

thank you so much woowoo, you have put my mind at rest! I shall take some paracetamol as I'm still breast-feeding my daughter so it's the only painkiller I can get! will report again once I have more updates!

need some second opinions. I've been doing this for 5 days today and my poor foot is so sore that I'm putting banana skins instead tonight and then back to vinegar tomorrow. I'm not really sure if this is working, the skin is just so white and dead, I can see a tiny little hole in there, but nothing else, apart from the agonising pain that I'm feeling all day. Even taking paracetamol isn't helping much... I need some opinions from you guys that have been there before please? see below

http://s1159.photobucket.com/user/mily1983/media/photo_zps5e427744.jpg.html

Mily, I just had a look at your photo, and thats just how it should be. The black bit in the middle, didnt actually come out of my girls' ones though. But the verrucae went anyway. I didnt know you could put banana skin on too!!!! Do you put the ACV on still, the put the banana skin on top??? Im intrigued.

I wish there was something else I could tell you to take apart from paracetamol, but I see you are breast feeding (well done with the breast feeding by the way!!!! - how old is your baby? Im VERY pro breast feeding!!) The only other thing you could do would speak to your Pharmacist. I should know what you can and cant take cos Im a paediatric nurse, but my mind has gone blank at the moment!! The Pharmacists are usually good and maybe they could suggest something other than paracetamol. But it does look like your verrucae is responding. What my kids done when it was really really really bad, is leave the duct tape off for a night. Dont put anything on it at all. Then you might be able to handle the pain a bit better if you have a day off!! Once again I hope this all makes sense. Let me know how you get on. :-)

ok woowoo good to know! it's just such a guessing game really to see the verrucae and try to figure out what is going on every day. The banana skin some people use as a single treatment, they put the fleshy side towards the wart over the wart at bedtime, it's supposed to do the same job as the vinegar. But to be honest I rather do the vinegar, as I think it's probably more agressive to the warts. I put the banana skin last night because I needed a break from the vinegar as it was so so sore and painful. I woke up feeling much better and today fortunately has been much better than yesterday, i've managed to spend the whole day without even having a painkiller. I put only the banana skin, then I wrapped a bandage over and taped it up.

my baby is 13 months old.

if the pain gets really bad i'll ask my pharmacist about other medicines, thanks for the tip. yesterday i took 6 paracetamols and didn't help at all. I shall report in a few days again!

@mimi77931 thanks for your help!! I was just wondering whether or not I could use something else instead of duct tape- like masking tape or something?

Could it be malt vinegar as it's the only one got?

Well five days ago my foot was hurting so so much that I decided to go to a podiatrist to have the dead skin removed as I'm too scared to do that at home with a razor. She then told me to stay away from vinegar for 5 days to wait for the skin on my foot dry out and then come back so that she could see what was going on with my foot. today i saw her and she said that it is looking promising, the verruca is black on the surface. She removed the dead skin away and she said that it is closer to the surface. Now my question is, will these 5 days affect the progress of things and give time for the virus to recover itself? I'm just so scared that I waited these 5 days and ended up only giving time for the virus to recover and get stronger. Silly me, I should just have carried on with my foot the way it was! :-( can anyone shed a light please?

@ Sophie37672 I think apple cider vinegar is the best but i've seem some people on here saying that they used vinegar from a pickles bottle and it did work, so give it a try anyway.

I am so glad i've found this!

I've been doing the vinegar treatment for 3 nights now - tonight will be my 4th and its painful in the morning, but seems ok throughout the day as i am on my feet all the time i must get used to it. But it does seem to be working - it seems to be darker than it was..is this because the vinegar is bringing it up out of the foot/skin or? either way i shall continue to do it until its gone! :-)