Day 28

Looks like it's healing. It's not perfect, and maybe I'll have to start over with the apple vinegar, but I definitely don't feel anything underneath where the wart used to be. The only thing is that it's taking a while for the area to heal. Maybe I'll carry the scar for life?

Day 25

Well, it looks like I may have made some progress. I left the wart alone, and it crusted over in about a week. Problem is, it's beginning to itch like crazy. Plus, the crust is now cracking over. I'm also getting the itch to kind of pick it off, like I would for a scab.

So, I do pick it off. Just a small piece, just to see what's happening underneath. I was afraid that I might have another open wound, but it's not the case. What I see encourages me to pick off the rest of the crust.


Maybe I'm being a little optimistic, but it looks like it's healing!


This is what it looks like now that I've removed all of the crusty stuff. You'll notice that I've left something behind, a little to the left on the center. That's not part of the scab, it looks like. Rather, it looks like it has taken root, although it's the same color as the crusty scab. My guess is that it'll fall off on its own once its good and ready.

Day 17

Nothing new here. The vinegar did it's thing, and my skin is irritated, yet again. The big change that I'm seeing is that there is a lot of brown - the same type of brown when I first started this endeavor.

I noted at that time that the brown flecks that appeared after applying the apple vinegar was probably the capillaries that were feeding the warts. If the above brown areas are also capillaries, this means my wart has gotten worse? There sure is a lot of them...

I didn't feel much of anything last night: no throbbing or any other sort of pain from the vinegar. I think may lay off the vinegar again. I obviously did a lot of damage here, and will wait to see what happens.

Day 16 - Later That Day

The roughness of the surface on the red area is bothering me. Now that I think about it, it feels like the beginnings to the scabrous area on the warts that I got rid of, you know, when I first started applying the apple vinegar. I've made another decision:

More vinegar. I think the wart virus is still around, and if that's the case, I'm probably better off applying more weak acid now, to get to the virus, as opposed to waiting around and essentially starting from the beginning again. I don't want to go back to square one and wait another 16 days.

I take the cutter knife, sterilize it again, and start getting rid of the rough surface that's covering the red area. I think I made the right decision.


The red area is not so red anymore. In fact, in some parts, it's actually very white--is it fat? Skin? Thin pockets of warts?--especially around the depression I noted in the past couple of days.


I'm pretty sure the job is not done. More vinegar, cotton balls, and band-aids to get rid of the remaining suckers.

Day 16

I've made a decision. It's quite apparent at this point that I'm gonna have to get rid of the callused area, since it threatens to cover the red area. If I can't see what's going on, I can't take action, assuming I'll have to take action. So, I get a cutter box knife (they're pretty sharp), sterilize the blade portion I'm going to use with a lighter, and go to work.


Getting rid of the callused area, seen in the above picture, shows me that the red area is actually bigger than I thought.


I think maybe I should clean and disinfect the area, so I take an alcohol swab to the wart. The above is what I get. The light from the flash highlights the roughness of the surface. Also, the red area, circled by the callus, is not as red as in the past couple of days. Maybe things are progressing for the better?

Day 15

I've used the flash on my camera to take a picture of the wart, something I haven't done in quite a bit. The strength of the light is showing me something I hadn't noticed yesterday. There are flecks of dark inside the red area.

Are the capillaries making a comeback? If so, that would mean that I haven't gotten rid of the wart at all. Worrisome.

Also, the crusty stuff was kind of bothering me, so I scooped it out with a pin, something that I know I shouldn't be doing....*sigh* The process is pretty slow. Is it getting better or not?

Plus, it kind of looks like the callus is going to end up covering the red area, which at this point I'm assuming is what remains of the wart. If so, wouldn't that mean that my wart's going to be, in a manner of speaking, "protected?"

Day 14

I stopped putting band-aids on the area. When I was young, I found out that scabs wouldn't form when band-aids were covered small wounds and paper cuts. I imagined something similar to that would happen with warts, and spent about a day without covering the wart.

It doesn't look like it's made much of a difference. However, the depression I pointed out the previous day is beginning to fill in...with yellow crusty stuff. I guess the depression was an open wound of some sort, and now, without the sterile band-aid to keep stuff out, my body's fighting off a small infection (I'm guessing the crusty stuff is dried out puss.)

Yech.

Also, the center is beginning to take on a red tinge. Not sure if this means I'm cured of warts, or if the wart is making a comeback. I mean, there seems to be this cloudy, white part surrounding the depression, not to mention that the area is bumpier.

I hope I'm on my way to recovery, and that I haven't messed things up. You know, having a bigger wart than when I started out with this apple vinegar stuff....

Day 13

After four days since the last post, this is what has happened to the plantar wart. If you remember, I decided to not use the vinegar anymore because of the scare I got--there was a hole 2/10 of an inch where the wart was.

Quite a difference, no? To begin with, it looks like the wart has dried out, so no more vinegar-tinted warts. Plus, there aren't three distinct warts anymore. In fact, I'm not quite sure I have a wart or not.

The area around the wart is pretty hard--the skin is calloused and yellow--and the center is hard as well. Pressing down on it, though, is still quite tender.

If you take a good look, there's a small depression in the upper part of the wart, right beneath the yellow callus. Not sure if there's some kind of significance to it...is that where the wart is at this point?

Day 9

Well, the hole has filled up. Or, maybe there's still a hole, and it's only the opening that got covered. Either way, it looks like I won't have to worry about ordinary dust falling into the wart. The smaller warts are are also taking on the same yellow color, the yellow color of the vinegar.

At this point, I have to wonder (and am slightly worried) about that white area. What is that? Is that area just irritated? Or is something else?

I'm remembering now that, when I had used salicylic acid on my warts fifteen years ago, the doctor had me use industrial strength vaseline on the area around the wart. This was to prevent the acid from harming the healthy tissue.

Day 8 - Later That Day

The nipple-y wart is now quite hard. Pressing down on the white flesh surrounding the wart depresses the area but the wart itself doesn't budge at all. That is, the wart stays at the same height and the area around it moves. It's like the wart has hit bedrock and the skin around it reacts to the pressure of my finger. The illusion, though, is that of the wart growing taller or shrinking depending on whether I'm applying pressure or not.

Since the wart is not scabrous, again, it looks like it's a good time to slice it off. I can't stop the vinegar treatment now, right? So, I take a pin, sterilize it in fire, and start picking at the wart. I'm planning on working my way down from the top. What I find is not what I was expecting.


There isn't much to pick at; it gives way really easily...erm...is that a hole? I clip away at the yellow, curling skin, making sure the clippings don't fall back into the wart. I don't feel like finding out what's going to happen if it does.

That's definitely a hole. There's like, nothing there. It's a void. I can definitely see the other two smaller warts have become darker as well. Damn. How deep is that hole?

Let us find out.


I take the sterilized pin and stick in. I actually drop it in, carefully and gently. I'm half expecting a nerve ending to be touched or something. Doesn't happen. In fact, it feels like the pin is hitting something hard. I guess that yellow skin is covering the inside of the hole as well, despite its looking wet and soft.

I mark the pin with my finger and nail and measure it. It's about 2/10 of an inch deep. Is this an open wound? It's not bleeding, so it doesn't seem like it. I guess, pour some vinegar on it and put on a band-aid. I don't want an infection or anything to fall into it.


I pour a couple of drops of vinegar into the crater, as I'm beginning to call it. The crater fills up, and then the vinegar is absorbed. At first, no pain. However, maybe five seconds after pouring the vinegar, a burning feeling permeates the wart area. Definitely a delayed reaction. It's not bad; I've had worse. It's nothing like the throbbing from the day before. In fact, it's not even throbbing.

I pour a couple of more drops of vinegar. I'm beginning to wonder if I have a masochistic streak in me.

My decision at this point is to not mess with the thing. I'll change band-aids as necessary, and use those waterproof ones, but no more vinegar. The more I change band-aids, the greater the probability that something will fall in there.

Dang, I shouldn't have picked at it.

Day 8

Well, this is interesting. After a good night's sleep (didn't think it would be a good night's sleep. The wart was throbbing pretty bad, but I fell asleep somehow), there are changes afoot.


The wart is protruding from the sole of the foot. It looks like a nipple. Also, the wart has taken the color of the vinegar. I've decided that I'll wash it, dry it, and apply a band-aid. It will be without the vinegar, though. The throbbing is gone.

Day 5

Disaster. Or is it "Disaster?"

Things for the past couple of days was the same old, same old. But today, I decided that I had to go for a run. After three miles, I came back home to this:

The camera is having problems focusing because of that tear in the skin. Does it hurt? Nope. It's the outer-most layer. It does look painful, though, doesn't it?

You'll also notice that the white area is quite big, especially compared to the pink, healthy tissue. That area corresponds to the cushioning pad on band-aids. I guess the vinegar from the cotton ball is spreading to the band-aid pad, irritating other parts of the skin. Oops. Something to keep in mind for future warts. Here's the same image with flash.


Notice how the tear has spread to the smaller wart in the lower part of the image as well. I also seem to be able to detect a delineation between the wart and the healthy tissue.

Well, out come the clippers. There's no way to make the vinegar-soaked cotton ball come in contact with the wart unless I get rid of all that skin. This is what I get:


A zoomed-in and overall bigger image, if you're into such things:


Damn that's nasty-looking. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what's growing within you if you have a wart.

Remember how I said that the above didn't hurt? I wasn't lying. It doesn't. However, having run three miles, I also had to jump into the shower. Instant pain. However, the pain isn't due to the wart coming in contact with water. It's from the fact that I'm standing up.

You see, the wart is on the ball of my right foot. Since I don't want to put any pressure on the wart and surrounding area, I'm lifting my right foot a bit and putting all of my weight towards the little-toe side of my foot (the lateral portion of my foot, as opposed to the distal side). For some reason, this is making the wart throb like crazy, with pin prick-like pain shooting from--if this makes sense--shooting outwards from the foot towards the wart, if you get my drift. That's how I know it's not due to the water.

In fact, if you've ever felt the pain of stepping on a tack, that's what it feels like, except that it's a burning tack. From the inside. Going out.

As I'm drying the wart, I can feel two bumps beneath the skin, something I wasn't able to feel before. It feels like two small marbles or big grains of sand right beneath the skin where the big and slightly smaller warts are located.

I've applied more vinegar-soaked cotton balls. Yes, it burns.

Question: What happened to the center of the wart? The dark tinge is gone...

Day 2 - Last Image For The Day

Wow. What the hell is going on?

Right. I did some trimming. I took a nail clipper and got rid of loose skin surrounding the wart. I wasn't expecting the center of the wart to look like this. Here's what the wart looks like when zoomed in:


I guess this is what people mean by the wart turning "black?" I'm not sure.

Also, in the top image, you'll notice that it looks like the area surrounding the wart is looking kind of hard and scaly, maybe a little shiny. That's actually nail polish. Warts spread easily, and I had to take my band-aid off, so I covered the warts with clear nail polish. Here's another image, this time without flash.


You can tell where the smaller warts are, even though they're covered with the nail polish: they're the cloudy parts...

Day 2 - Even Later That Day

Came out a little blurry, but this is what the wart looks like after two more hours of applying vinegar. I dare say it looks like a small volcano. The center is now clearly darker. But, it doesn't look "black" so I'll continue with the vinegar treatment.

However, I'm gonna let it dry out for now.

Day 2 - Later That Day

After drying out. It definitely looks like the wart is getting darker. More vinegar, more cotton balls.

Day 2

So this is what we've got after applying the vinegar overnight.

The white, swollen part is now bigger. In fact, it actually seems to have engulfed the two mosaiced warts.

Day 1 - Last Image For The Day

Well, this is what it looks like prior to applying a cotton ball for the next 8 hours. I can definitely see the smaller warts now.

Day 1 - Even Later That Day

So this is about three hours after the last post. There doesn't seem to be much of a change, and I don't notice the dramatic swelling from much earlier in the day. However, I do notice that the main wart now has a bigger area sporting those dark specs:

Compare it to earlier today:

Hmph. Maybe I'm just seeing things regarding the capillaries...but I can definitely see the swell. Letting this one dry out for a couple of hours before applying a cotton ball for the rest of the night, while I sleep....

Day 1 - Later That Day

This is what the warts look like once I removed the vinegar-soaked cotton ball (about three hours later). The wart is not swollen anymore, although I can detect traces of the "whiteness." Also, if you look closer, as in the cropped image below, you can really see brown and black specs in the wart. These are supposedly the capillaries that feed the warts with blood.


Well, here we go with the bandages again...

Day 1

So I take the cotton ball from a Q-tip and dunk it in vinegar. I place it on the wart and then secure it with a band-aid. This is what happens.


Hmm. Turns out that I actually have four warts. Warts are known to spread, sometimes quite rapidly. I guess I hadn't realized their presence prior to applying the vinegar. The upper circle in red shows a case of mosaicing, where the warts grow right next to each other and get a mosaic-type pattern. The wart in the lower red circle already sports a dark brown center.


This is a picture taken right after the first one. The lack of flash shows what's going on with the main wart. You can tell it's quite swollen, and it's taking that "white" look that some people have remarked on. The depression in the center is due to my cutting out a portion of the wart prior to applying the apple vinegar. A scabrous, hard outer layer protects warts, so I got rid of it prior to applying the vinegar.

The scabrous part is supposedly not the living virus that causes the wart (and indeed, cutting it out hurts no more than cutting your hair), so it makes sense to get rid of whatever stands in the way of the virus making contact with the vinegar.

The Beginning - Is Apple Vinegar Really Effective On Warts?

So one day I'm massaging my feet while watching TV and feel a rough area. I look and I see what looks like a plantar wart. I've had one of these before, about 15 years ago, and I had used a weak concentration of salicylic acid to get rid of it. I went on-line to see if the times had changed. A college roommate of mine had his removed by freezing, and this was nearly 10 years ago, so technology in the wart removal area seemed to be progressing.

I figured something new must have come by.

Lots of new methods, no guarantees

There are several methods for getting rid of plantar warts.

• Burning with lasers
• Freezing (usually liquid nitrogen)
• Salicylic acid (liquid)
  
• Salicylic acid pads (solid)
• Excision (cutting them out)

However, it turns out that there are no guarantees that the warts won't return. Lots of people had gone through the painful processes (lasers and freezing) only to find that their warts had come back, and with a vengeance.

Lots of people claim apple cider vinegar works on warts

Here and here, for example. I also found plenty of people claiming that home remedies were the only solution for them. (Granted, these forums would attract those whom orthodox treatment failed them, so there must be quite a bit of bias.) They had tried the medical solutions with no avail. Some of the offered remedies:

• Duct tape
• Apple cider vinegar
• Just vinegar
• Banana peels
• Aloe
• Onions
• Potatoes

Of them all, it looked like the apple cider vinegar seemed most popular and effective. However, I couldn't find any images to see anticipate what would happen. Most who undertook the vinegar treatment talked how the wart would initially turn white, then black in the center, and then kind of fall off.

I opted for this one to see what would happen. I figured, hey, salicylic acid is a weak acid, vinegar is a weak acid...they should work on the same principle of, essentially, melting the wart away.

And, more importantly, I figured I would document the process to see what would happen with trusty Pentax Optio WPi which happens to have a kick-ass macro mode (read: great close ups)