Here are some tips to help you be wart-free and they were taken from The Home Remedies Handbook.

Make sure it’s a wart. First and foremost, before you try any type of treatment, know whether your skin eruption is a wart or another condition. Warts (except the small, smooth flat wart) commonly have a broken surface filled with tiny red dots. (Some people mistakenly call these dots seeds, when in reality they are blood vessels that are supplying the wart.) Moles, on the other hand, are usually smooth, regularly shaped bumps that are not flesh-colored (as flat warts can be). Rough and tough patches with the lines of the skin running through them may be a corn or a callus. There is also a chance that the lesion could be skin cancer. You may be able to recognize the skin cancer by its irregular borders and colors. When in doubt, see your doctor. In addition, if you are diabetic, do not try any home therapy for wart removal; see your doctor.

Don’t touch. The wart virus can spread from you to others, and you can also keep re infecting yourself. The virus develops into a wart by first finding its way into a scratch in the skin’s surface – a cut or a hangnail or a wound, for instance. Even the everyday task of shaving can spread the flat warts on a man’s face. Inadvertently cutting a wart as you trim your cuticles can cause an infection. So keep the virus’s travels to a minimum by not touching your warts at all, if possible. If you do come in contact with the lesions, wash your hands thoroughly in hot water. Children should also be told that picking or chewing their warts can cause then to spread.

Stick to it. Adhesive tape has shown to be especially successful on finger warts as can be seen on the photo.  Jerome Z. Litt, M.D., an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland has been using this method with success since the 1950s. Here’s how he does it: Wrap the wart completely with four layers of adhesive tape. The first piece goes over the top of the finger; the second around the finger. Repeat these two steps with two more pieces of tape. Wrap the wart snugly but never too tightly. Leave the tape on for six and a half days. Then remove the tape for half a day. You may need to repeat the procedure for about three to four weeks before the wart disappears. You can try the procedure on a plantar wart, notes Litt, but use strips of tape that are long enough to  properly secure the adhesive. “What’s so good about this approach is that it’s inexpensive and leaves no scar,” says Litt.

Try castor oil. The acid in castor oil probably does the trick by irritating the wart. The oil treatment works best on small, flat warts on the face and on the back of the hands, says Litt. He recommends applying the castor oil to the wart with a cotton swab twice a day.

“C” what you can do. Vitamin C is mildly acidic, so it may irritate the wart enough to make it go away, says Litt. Apply a paste made of crushed Vitamin C tablets and water. Apply the paste only to the wart, not to the surrounding skin. Then cover the paste with gauze and tape.

Heat it up. One study found that having patients soak their plantar warts in very hot water was helpful because it softens the wart and may kill the virus. Make sure the water is not too hot, cautions Litt, or you may burn yourself.

Take precautions with over-the-counter preparations. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved wart-removal medications made with 26 percent salicylic acid, reports Litt. Typically, remedies have contained about 16 percent. While the stronger formulas may work well for adults (except for those who have sensitive skin), Litt does not suggest using them on children. Salicylic acid works because it’s irritant, so no matter which strength of solution you use, try to keep it from irritating the surrounding skin. If you’re using a liquid medication, do this by smearing a ring of petroleum jelly around the wart before using the medication. If you’re applying a medicated wart pad or patch, cut it to only the size of the wart. Litt suggests applying over-the-counter medications at night and then leaving the area uncovered.

Chalk it up to the power suggestion. Some physicians use this technique on children, who are still impressionable. The doctor tells the child that if the doctor rubs chalk on the child’s warts, they will disappear. There are variations on this, including: Coloring the warts with crayon or drawing a picture of a child’s hand with the warts crossed out and throwing the picture in the garbage.

Don’t go barefoot. “Millions of virus particles leak out of a wart,” says Joseph P. Bark, M.D., chairman of dermatology as St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. That fact puts people in public places at high risk for plantar, or foot, warts. The best protection: footwear. Locker rooms, pools, showers in fitness centers, even the carpets in hotel rooms harbour a host of viruses – not just wart viruses. You can catch any of a number of infections, from scabies to herpes simplex, says Bark. Never go barefoot, and at the very least, wear a pair of flip-fops, or thongs.

Keep dry. Warts tend to flourish more readily in an environment that’s damp, especially in the case of plantar warts. That’s why people who walk or exercise extensively may be more prone to foot warts, says the American Academy of Dermatology in Schaumburg, Illinois. So change your socks anytime your feet get sweaty, and use a medicated foot powder.

Cover your cuts and scrapes. The wart virus loves finding a good scratch so it can make its way under your skin. By keeping your cuts and scrapes covered, you’ll be helping to keep out the wart virus.