Warts are not resistant to duct tape
March 31, 2003 – Not all of the most valuable medical discoveries are the result of extensive research costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
Without being able to say it with certainty, it is a safe bet that it was a worker who first thought of covering his wart with duct tape (better known as duct tape) to fix the problem, at least temporarily. He certainly had no idea that he had just rendered a precious service to the millions of people who suffer from warts.
A study1 in due form carried out last year concludes with the undeniable effectiveness of this treatment, to say the least original. Thus, the warts of 22 of the 26 patients treated with duct tape disappeared, the majority within a month. Only 15 of 25 patients treated with cryotherapy obtained comparable results. All of these warts were caused by the human papillomavirus.
Scientists believe that the irritation caused by the duct tape prompts the immune system to attack the virus.
The treatment is simple: cut a piece of duct tape the size of the wart and cover it for six days (if the tape falls off, replace it). Then remove the tape, soak the wart in hot water for ten minutes and rub it with a file or pumice stone. Repeat the previous steps until the wart is gone, usually within two months.
A few precautions, however: ask your doctor to confirm that your wart is really a wart, carefully cut the tape to avoid unnecessarily irritating the surrounding skin, and remember that this treatment has not been tested on facial warts or genitals …
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
From Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, October 2002.
1. Focht DR 3rd, Spicer C, Fairchok MP. The efficacy of duct tape vs cryotherapy in the treatment of verruca vulgaris (the common wart).Arch Pediatr Adolescent Med 2002 Oct; 156 (10): 971-4. [Accessed March 31, 2003].