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Duct tape no use for warts

If you have warts, don't bother reaching for the duct tape.

A new Dutch study discounts the popular notion that duct tape is a quick and easy way to remove warts. Researchers at Maastricht University found that duct tape does not work any better than doing nothing to treat warts in schoolchildren, reported China's Xinhua news agency.

The findings appear in the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Warts can be frozen off (cryotherapy) or burned off using a special formulation of salicylic acid. In 2002, US researchers published a study that said duct tape worked better than cryotherapy in removing warts. This new study disputes that finding.

Worked only slightly better
The Dutch researchers studied 103 children, ages 4 to 12, and found that duct tape worked only slightly better than a corn pad, which was used as a placebo in the study, Xinhua reported.

"After 6 weeks, the warts of eight children (16 percent) in the duct tape group and the warts of three children (6 percent) in the placebo group had disappeared," the study authors wrote.

They said they were disappointed by their findings.

"Considering the serious discomfort of cryotherapy and the awkwardness of applying salicylic acid for a long time, simply applying tape would be a cheap and helpful alternative, especially in children," the researchers noted. – (HealthDayNews)

Read more:
Your warts
Duct tape patches up warts

November 2006

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