Does Duct Tape Get Rid of Warts?
Though its validity is questionable, this method of wart removal is cheap and easy.
In 2002, a paper was published that suggested using silver duct tape on warts was actually significantly more effective than freezing them. News of this spread, and soon many were wearing silver shiny patches on their skin. The treatment goes as follows:
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Cover the wart with duct tape and leave in place for 6 days.
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Remove the tape on the 7th day, soaking the area of the wart and removing dead skin with a pumice stone or emery board.
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Leave the duct tape off for the whole 7th day.
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Reapply for another 6 days, repeating the cycle until the wart is gone.
This method of wart removal was cheap and easy, but subsequent studies were not able to verify its effectiveness, and so the validity was called into question. Yet there were differences in the duct tape used in the follow-up studies, as the tape used had a different type of adhesive and so may have negated the positive effect.
All in all, the treatment with duct tape is worth trying, although I suggest using a skin-colored tape, or covering the skin with a bandage.
Duct tape image courtesy of Shutterstock.