Lindarella

I was reading the American Medical Association site today when I came across an intresting new study.

It compared the efficacy of duct tape vs cryotherapy (acid) to cure the common wart.

Here are the highlights..

"51 patients completed the study. 26 (51%) were treated with duct tape, and 25 (49%) were treated with cryotherapy. Twenty-two patients (85%) in the duct tape arm vs 15 patients (60%) enrolled in the cryotherapy arm had complete resolution of their warts.

The duct tape therapy was done like this:

The first piece of duct tape, cut as close to the size of the wart as possible, was applied to the wart in the clinic by nursing personnel. Patients or their parents were told to leave the tape in place for 6 days. If the tape fell off, parents were instructed to reapply a new piece of tape. At the end of the 6 days, they were told to remove the tape, soak the area in water, and then gently debride the wart with an emery board or pumice stone. The tape was left off overnight and was reapplied the following morning. The treatment was continued for a maximum of 2 months or until resolution of the wart, whichever came first.

The majority of warts that resolved with tape occlusion disappeared within 28 days of initiating therapy (16 [73%] of 22). Warts subjected to tape occlusion therapy were unlikely to resolve if no response was seen by 2 weeks.


Several potential benefits exist for using duct tape over cryotherapy. Duct tape is more practical for parents and patients to use, especially when compared with the multiple clinic visits required for freezing of a wart. In today's busy society, it can be difficult for parents to keep follow-up appointments every 2 weeks for cryotherapy of their children's warts."

Worth a try for you people with warts. It's cheap and no visits to the doctor.

[This message has been edited by moderator2 (edited 11-07-2002).]