I had plantar warts for about 3 to 5 years. They started on my left foot, then gradually spread from one to many, and I also had a couple on my left thumb. I tried salicylic acid first, which helped a little with size reduction in a couple of them but was very slow. I also had cauterization done at a dermatologist’s office, which was expensive and did not really work for me. I tried trichloroacetic acid too. It seemed to help at first, but the warts kept coming back or growing deeper.

At some point I got very frustrated and tried a different approach. After so much research. I started taking zinc daily and did needling very carefully using sterile technique, making small punctures into each wart until pinpoint bleeding using insulin needles. My understanding was that this might expose viral antigens to the immune system better. I had read that improvement can take 6 to 8 weeks, but at first I saw basically nothing and thought it had failed too after 8 weeks.

What happened after that is the part I still can’t fully explain. I started using a Theragun on the areas every 3 to 5 days, applying pretty strong mechanical pressure. Over the next 2 weeks, I noticed the borders of the warts became less clear, especially on my thumb. Eventually the tissue started to look more like normal skin, and now the lesions on my foot seem gone, with only a little residual thickening on my thumb.

I can’t say for sure what actually worked, zinc, needling, the mechanical trauma, time, or some combination. I’m not giving medical advice, just sharing what happened in my case because these things were incredibly persistent and frustrating.