duct tape for warts, does it work?

[novawildcat]

I have a small wart on the palm of my hand that I want to get rid of so it won't spread. Does the duct tape method really work? I keep getting mixed signals from articles I have read as to whether or not it really works. I have searched messages from people who have tried it and said that it worked, while some articles claim it doesn't really work at all. So is it a waste of time or worth a try?

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[deleted87716]

It works in some cases (http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030201/tips/8.html), although perhaps not for everyone (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-03-19-duct-tape_N.htm). It's certainly worth a shot, however.

 

[salmonella]

I've never tried it, but some folk medicine people said toad venom also works for warts...so just go out to the woods and catch one or two of those guys, milk some whitish toxic secretion out of their parotid glands, and smear that on your warts. Sounds pretty crazy though. Interesting stuff, but probably shouldn't try.

 

[NoleRad]

it seems to work for me. I am currently using it on a planter wart on my big toe. 2 trips to the dermatologist did nothing except cost a lot of money. so far I am liking the results I am getting with the duct tape better than the results I was getting with liquid nitrogen and Aldera. I have to file away at the wart, but the duct tape is definitely preventing it from growing back the way it did pre treatment. I am hoping that over time the tape will cause enough irritation that my body will reject the wart. we shall see how it turns out.

 

[BATiger]

I used to work at a dermatology center and we used this all the time! Soak it, scrape it, put aldara on it and then keep it covered with duct tape 24/7! (change once a week, it will get nasty after a few days...) You can even get clear duct tape, so you don't draw attention to it.

 

[gary5]

I found a few studies at PubMed and none found that duct tape has a significant benefit for warts. There might still be some small benefit, but no study has yet been able to measure it (that I could find).

www.pubmed.org

If you're hoping that you can simply apply duct tape and the wart will go away, you will be disappointed. Warts are known to be very stubborn. I've tried OTC products and they haven't worked very well either.

I've had warts in the past and physicians have treated them with cryotherapy, often needing repeat visits. My advice is to make subsequent visits close together (3 weeks) to minimize time for the wart to grow between treatments. My advice is to see a dermatologist first, although I did have one general physician in the past who was more effective than others. Don't put this off because they grow larger and deeper with time, and they can spread.

 

[indo]

If you combine the duct tape with OTC freezing treatments or salicylic acid you might see some success.

A friend had a deep plantar wart and you'd be suprised at how much skin you can yank off of there with salicylic acid and duct tape.

 

[novawildcat]

So far I have seen significant improvement 9(knock on wood) after ~9 days. I can't tell if it is from the duct tape or if I just rubbed off a lot of skin from the pumice stone. It is virtually impossible to keep the duct tape on the wart all the time especially when you take a shower or wash your hands. I keep a roll of duct tape with me where ever I go, so as soon as the duct tape falls off, I immediately reapply. I don't know how any of those other studies were conducted, but I try to keep the duct tape on all the time. I haven't gone 20 min. without the wart covered with duct tape except for every 6th day.


The wart is definitely a lot smaller than it was before, in terms of height. The color now looks like the rest of the skin around it rather than being completely white/clear like it was before. The other thing I have noticed is that the black spot in the middle of the wart has gotten a lot bigger. there were several small black dots in the wart before, but now it just looks like 1 bigger black dot. I don't know what this signifies except more blood may be feeding it?? I don't know if that is good or bad. I haven't been using anything else except duct tape and pumice stone. The skin definitely is starting to feels and looks like it is being irritated.



i'll post in another week or two if there is any improvement.

 

[edmadison]

I found a few studies at PubMed and none found that duct tape has a significant benefit for warts. There might still be some small benefit, but no study has yet been able to measure it (that I could find).

How hard did you look?

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002 Oct;156(10):971-4.

Ed

 

[gary5]

How hard did you look?

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002 Oct;156(10):971-4.

Ed

I don't remember if I found this article when I searched. However, it reports its results incorrectly. The sample sizes are very small: n=26 and n=25. In a 2 by 2 table, one cell is less than 5. Therefore, you need to use a Fisher's exact test, which yields P = 0.064. In other words, the two groups are NOT significantly different. The paper is incorrect in reporting that duct tape was "significantly more effective" than cryotherapy. They should have used much larger sample sizes (> 100 each) and they also should have also used a control group with no treatment, since they failed to demonstrate that either treatment is more effective than doing nothing.

Here's another study for discussion, using adults:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17372095
This study found that duct tape resulted in resolution within 2 months in 21% (8/39) of subjects. However, they also found that 75% (6/8) of these "resolved" subjects had recurrence at the same location within 6 months. If you deduct recurrence, the duct tape group had resolution in 5% of subjects (2/39).

Obviously, these studies report very different results. It should also be noted that one is with children and the other with adults.

 

[novawildcat]

The wart seems to still be getting smaller, height wise. The skin around it is now kind of purplish in color. I don't feel any pain or anything. I still see a large black spot in the middle. Maybe I am just rubbing the skin off the top and the wart will return later on down the road, but for now it still looks like it is improving.

 

[gary5]

The wart seems to still be getting smaller, height wise. The skin around it is now kind of purplish in color. I don't feel any pain or anything. I still see a large black spot in the middle. Maybe I am just rubbing the skin off the top and the wart will return later on down the road, but for now it still looks like it is improving.

After you remove the top of a wart, you are then looking at skin cells that appear the same as the surrounding cells, but are still infected with the virus. The infection goes pretty deep. That's why the top grows back. In my opinion, duct tape removes the top, but does not affect the cells beneath.

 

[Cirrus83]

Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't...I actually had 2 warts, one on each knee, and oddly enough the duct tape got rid of one of them in a couple of weeks...but the other one shrunk then just came back and ignored my duct tape =(

So...I sorta stopped trying for a year or so but I've sprung my duct tape back upon the now unsuspecting wart for another battle.

Anyways, I'll just say that the most annoying thing is really the fact that people will constantly ask you if you've injured yourself, or "what the hell is that" or similar questions. So...the clear tape idea isn't bad.

BTW it doesn't actually HAVE to be duct tape, it's just that duct tape is easily available and sticks pretty well, but it's just the occlusion that'll irritate the skin and trigger an immune response to the area. So, really, any sort of tape will work so long as you can keep it on your skin without it falling off.

I might have to move my war up to include salycylic acid though, cuz this damned wart is really friggin stubborn compared to it's brother.

Warts are pretty random though, sometimes they'll just go away by themselves...I had one on my foot a long time ago and it was hella annoying, and I tried all those salycylic acid patches they had and it just caused my toe to hurt like hell from the burning after a few days, but the wart just laughed it off. Then like half a year later it just went poof by itself.

Hmm...you know, although it's a pretty harmless disease maybe I should try all sorts of random stuff on my wart in case I discover some cure, then I"ll patent it and sue people lol.

 

[indo]

The callus removal liquids have a higher salicylic acid concentration, btw.

 

[novawildcat]

It appears to have worked! It has been about 2 months now and I did what you guys suggested- I did the duct tape method along with using salicylic acid. I removed several layers of skin in the process, but it has healed over now and I haven't seen anything for about 1.5 weeks now. I will wait to see if it comes back, but so far so good.

 

[Joric]

I have a small wart on the palm of my hand that I want to get rid of so it won't spread. Does the duct tape method really work? I keep getting mixed signals from articles I have read as to whether or not it really works. I have searched messages from people who have tried it and said that it worked, while some articles claim it doesn't really work at all. So is it a waste of time or worth a try?

It is worth a try.

 

[Nudnik]

I've been using duct tape on a plantar wart. Whenever I take off my sock it sticks to the duct tape. I end up getting the adhesive from the duct tape in my sock. Does anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions?

 

[JMK2005]

It appears to have worked! It has been about 2 months now and I did what you guys suggested- I did the duct tape method along with using salicylic acid. I removed several layers of skin in the process, but it has healed over now and I haven't seen anything for about 1.5 weeks now. I will wait to see if it comes back, but so far so good.

Haha... I think it's time for another update.

 

[novawildcat]

Haha... I think it's time for another update.

still no sign of the wart