Warts

Warts have never been a big problem for me.  But when I get one, they annoy me to no end.  I remember I had one on the palm of my hand when I was a sophomore in high school and the doggone thing just wouldn't go away.  Every couple of days I would get my nail clippers out and trim off the new layers of skin that had emerged but it just wouldn't go away.  Eventually I guess I cut deep enough to get the seed wart out and, after about two years, it was gone - never to return again.  Warts are caused by the human papillomavirus.  In most cases they are considered harmless, but they can be considered an eyesore or just annoying.

I recently got another one and in the process of trying to figure out a natural way to get rid of it I stumbled across several internet blogs that suggested using the essential oil frankincense.  Yeah, that's the middle eastern fragrant oil that was given to Jesus as a baby.  Turns out that frankincense was long used as a skin balm - a cure-all-elixir for just about any kind of skin disease.  Because of an organization I used to belong to, I happened to have some frankincense in my house.  I decided to give it a whirl.

Day one I applied some frankincense oil to the wart, then covered it with a band-aid.  When I removed the band-aid that evening, the skin of the wart was very loose, like when you've been in a tub for a while.  I took that opportunity to clip the excess skin with nail clippers.  It doesn't hurt.  Right after I clipped the skin, I reapplied the oil.  Every morning and night for the next week I applied the oil.  Here is a picture of it today, about ten days after the first application...

If you can't tell where the wart was, it is just below the "0" key on the computer keyboard.  This has been a fun experiment because frankincense smells good, it seems a little exotic, and it really did work.  The oil was not harsh at all, didn't burn or sting when I applied it (even while the skin had been cut) and it was very non-toxic.  In case you don't know where to find frankincense oil, you can buy it from young living (high-end but noticeably pure oils) or you can find it with little effort on Amazon.com.  I found them selling for about $11 an ounce.