Anyone seeking information on how to get rid of warts and other skin blemishes such as moles and skin tags is likely to come up against some competing information. In this article I wish to address some of the more common myths that I've been exposed over the years when it comes to the removal of warts and why you'll find that natural methods for getting rid of warts tend to be both cheaper and more effective.

Myth #1 - Warts Can Be Cured with an Over-the-Counter product

There's a big difference between a temporary and a permanent solution

Whilst it is inevitable that wart suffers will be drawn to over-the-counter products because of the marketing muscle that goes into advertising them, the problem lies in the fact that there is a high recurrence rate. You can remove a wart using these products but the chances are that it will just keep coming back stronger than stronger.

Why does this happen? What you need to understand is that most of the products available do not get deep enough into the skin for their chemical ingredients to work effectively. The stated aim of these products is to kill the tissue that contains the wart virus and thus kill the virus. Unfortunately by not being able penetrate deeply enough to remove all of the virus infected cells of a wart, the virus survives to re-grow on a later day. This can lead the wart sufferer to a situation where he is treating the same areas over and over gain - sometimes for years.

Myth #2 - Removing Warts Has To Be Expensive

It's easy to understand how this myth would perpetuate: we have something attached to our body; it must be expensive to safely remove it. When it comes to our health we tend to favour expensive options that we expect will give us a better result over cheaper options where the result is less guaranteed.

This mindset will often lead wart sufferers to opt for surgical procedures such as freezing. But here's the rub: when it comes to getting rid of warts; surgical procedures, whilst more expensive, don't necessarily produce better results. You can easily spend several hundred dollars on procedures, bandaging and repeat doctor visits and still have your wart.

Myth #3 - Scarring is an Inevitable Side Effect of Wart Removal

Most doctors recommending surgical procedures for the removal of warts will diligently warn their patients of the concurrent risk of scarring that the procedure can produce. And indeed, experience has taught many a wart sufferer that over-the-counter measures can also produce scarring.

However, it doesn't automatically follow that that getting rid of warts should result in scarring. There are natural remedies available that can remove warts in a few days without leaving a scar blemish or mark.

Myth #4 - Removal Strategies Recommended by AMA Have Low Recurrence Rates

This statement is simply not true. In fact most AMA (American Medical Association) strategies do not have a good removal or cure rate to begin with. Then depending on the method used, different recurrence rates have been recorded.

A common doctor prescribed treatment currently used in the United States is imiquimod cream that stimulates the immune system to fight off warts. It has a recurrence rate of 13-19%.

Large warts surgically removed under local anaesthesia have a recurrence rate of about 21%. In a study using self-applied podofilox gel, the recurrence rate was 10% but the initial cure rate was a very low 51%. With respect to cryotherapy, the recurrence rate is quite high at 73%.

In short, there is no AMA recommended method that comes with a low recurrence rate

You can see that the traditional methods of getting rid of warts: over-the-counter remedies; surgical removal; AMA prescribed treatments all suffer from various drawbacks. There are however some natural treatments for getting rid of warts that do not suffer from these drawbacks.