I have successfully dug another wart out of my hand. I wondered who else was doing this, so I did an internet search and decided to share my experience.

I’ve done this several times and it’s the only thing that really works for me. I get new ones occasionally, probably from shaking hands with people, but the old ones are gone. The ones I get are small but really annoy me.

The worst one I ever had was on the tip of the index finger on my right hand. That interfered with trying to use the trackpad on my laptop during college and that’s when I decided the warts had to go.

I had already tried a few methods, including duct taping my hands for three weeks straight. The duct tape method got rid of one out of seven warts. That method was recommended to me by the medic of the Boy Scout Camp I was working for at the time.

I had heard a story once in high school about a guy digging out a wart with a knife and my friends eewing about how gross it was, so I finally decided to give it a try myself without mentioning it to any of my friends first. It turned out to be not nearly as gross as they made it sound and it got rid of every wart but one. That last one, I just waited a while and tried again, and then it was gone too.

What you need: A small, sharp knife and fine tweezers. I use a one-inch pocket knife that I sharpen myself with a whetstone. An exacto blade would probably work great too if you’re not into sharpening knives. You might need reading glasses too, depending on your eyesight. Oh yeah, and good lighting.

Use common sense and clean your equipment and your skin before and after.

What to do: First use the knife to gently cut away the bubble of skin coating the wart. This is more easily done when you have just gotten out of a shower or bath and the skin is all soft and puffy. Take it slowly and relax. You should not see any blood yet.

After you’ve peeled away the coating, look closely at the things under it. It’s all flesh-colored (at least in the type or wart I’ve removed), but you should be able to spot some distinct lumps. Grasp those with the tweezers and pull them out. Then you’ll get some blood.

Wipe the blood away with a paper towel or something and make sure you have gotten all the little lumps. Repeat as necessary until all the little bits of it have been pulled out by the root.

I need to emphasize that this process requires patience and delicate attention. If you have parkinson’s disease or a similar problem, you should probably not try it. This is surgery.

If you’re an artist or the kind of person who does needlework or beadweaving with 15/0 beads, you can probably handle it.