Duct Tape for Warts

A new study refutes earlier evidence that duct tape may effectively treat common warts. However, the study, conducted by researchers from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Saint Louis University and Centers for Chronic Disease Outcomes and Research, Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center used clear duct tape that may have been missing the active constituent found in regular, gray duct tape.

The double-blind controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of duct tape occlusion therapy for the treatment of common warts in adults.

The study took place at a Veterans Affairs medical center and included a total of 90 immunocompetent adult volunteers with at least one wart measuring 2 to 15 millimeters; participants were enrolled between October 1, 2004 and July 31, 2005. Eighty patients completed the study. 

Patients were randomized by a computer-generated code to receive pads consisting of either moleskin with transparent duct tape (treatment group) or moleskin alone (control group). Patients were instructed to wear the pads for seven consecutive days and leave the pad off on the seventh evening. This process was repeated for two months or until the wart resolved, whichever occurred first. Follow-up visits occurred at one and two months. 

The main outcome measure was complete resolution of the target wart. Secondary outcomes included change in size of the target wart and recurrence rates at six months for warts with complete resolution. 

Researchers found no statistically significant differences in the proportions of patients with resolution of the target wart (21 percent of 39 patients in the treatment group verses 22 percent of 41 in the control group). Of patients with complete resolution, six (75 percent) in the treatment group and three (33 percent) in the control group had recurrence of the target wart by the sixth month. 

Though no statistically significant difference between duct tape and moleskin for the treatment of warts in an adult population was found, researchers suggested that this may be because the tape used in the study was clear and contained no rubber, unlike the common, gray duct tape. 

Another study, conducted at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom (UK), found that gray duct tape was effective at treating warts and suggested that the mechanism of action may be that the tape irritates the skin stimulating the body's immune system to attack the virus that causes warts.

The UK study found that duct tape was the most cost-effective treatment for warts but admitted published evidence of its effectiveness is sparse. Salicylic acid was the most cost-effective over-the-counter treatment commonly used.

The study concluded that duct tape could be adopted as the primary treatment for cutaneous warts if its effectiveness is verified by further rigorous trials.

Integrative therapies with strong or good scientific evidence in the treatment of warts include Vitamin D, aloe vera, evening primrose oil, podophyllum and probiotics.

For more information about integrative therapies for warts, please visit Natural Standard’s Medical Conditions database. 

Comments

[J. Kathryn Bryan]

The authors of this study seem to have excluded one crucial part of the “duct tape for warts” treatment protocol. The full text of the original study, which can be read for free at the link provided on a PubMed search for article number 12361440, stated that “at the end of the 6 days” of wearing duct tape over the wart, patients “were told to remove the tape, soak the area in water, and then gently debride the wart with an emery board or pumice stone.” This protocol was repeated every week till the conclusion of the study or until the symptoms resolved. In contrast, the study discussed in this blog entry makes no mention of manual debridement at any interval.

Patients in the original study also got their wart covering from a regular old roll of duct tape. This tape was simply cut to the size and shape of the wart and directly applied by the patients after the first visit to the clinic. (At the first visit, nurses performed the task.) In the study discussed above, patients received pads that were made of duct tape. The edges of these pads were not fashioned from plain old duct tape, but were instead created from moleskin with some other adhesive, similar to the type used for corns (small calloused areas of skin caused by local pressure irritating tissue over a bony prominence). It seems, then, that the tissue irritation caused by the adhesive of the moleskin (which probably did not hold as securely to the surface of the wart) probably did not accomplish the same degree of topically localized immune reaction at the site of the wart as a tightly fitting piece of duct tape. The localized immune reaction by duct tape was probably more than that caused by the duct tape and moleskin combination adhesion. I conjecture that the manual abrasion of the wart is more successful when the localized immune reaction is more pronounced.

[Dexter Otis Grenne]

This is further evidence that proves duct tape can fix anything.

[Anonymous]

I honestly feel for something like warts that is externally treatable, I would just go with Compound-W that has salicylic acid in it. The duct tape idea seems cost effective, but I'm still not sold in terms of efficacy. I would still go with something that is in the pharmacy to treat warts.

[Rachelle Provost]

Duct tape seems like a very primitive way to treat warts, and I would think it increases the risk of spreading them by causing irritation/infection. I've heard putting a piece of potato on them is supposed to get rid of them, but I doubt that works. Although I am usually a fan of saving money and using alternative treatments whenever possible, I would just recommend seeing a dermatologist and having them freeze the wart off right then and there, rather than risk infection, spreading and general discomfort.

[D Meyer]

Wait till I tell my husband about this! Duct tape is his answer to everything from muffler problems to leaky plumbing to holes in the roof... now warts! What's next, reattachment of severed limbs?

Seriously though... J Kathryn Bryan makes an important point about this study versus the previous study showing evidence that duct tapes works for warts. This study not only used a different protocol, but also a very different product. In this more current study, they used moleskin, a soft, cushy padding, covered with clear (clear duct tape?!? Never heard of such a thing!) duct tape. No wonder it didn't work! I imagine that good old-fashioned duct tape of the dull gray variety kills off the virus and prevents regrowth thanks to its ultra-tacky adhesive and whatever other strange constituents make up the gooey, powerfully adherent tape. By placing a soft, breathable pad between the tape and the wart, the investigators of this study probably negated any of the effects the tape may have had (if, indeed, the "clear" tape they used would have been useful at all).

With these glaring discrepancies, the study seems like a wasted effort that to me. Unless, of course, it was funded by a major wart treatment manufacturer in hopes of discouraging use of a common household item to treat warts instead of rushing out to buy their product!

[Norman J]

Now this is what I like to hear! Duct tape REALLY is good for something! I use it all the time to fix things, much to the dismay of my wife. (I think D. Meyer's husband and I would get along very well!) I've heard of using duct tape for warts, the reason? I believe, due to it's sticky nature it doesn't allow air or moisture to get to the wart allowing it's survival. In any case, I am also a fan of the over the counter salicylic acid products. They've worked for me in the past, and I will probably use them in the future. Maybe next time I do I'll cover it with duct tape, instead of those silly little pads that always fall off in my work boots!

[Bob]

Has anyone tried the Dr. Scholl's freeze away wart remover? I saw it in the pharmacy the other day. It looks like what the dermatologist use: liquid nitrogen. I also found this wart product with 17% salicylic acid in it that is very high. I probably would try the salicylic acid and duct tape first. They both seem to make sense. Then go with the freezing method, which sounds painful!

[Emily P.]

I always thought that it was important to change the layer of duct tape that you placed over the wart more often. I thought that if you changed the duct tape daily you would continually take off the top layer skin on the wart. By immediately replacing the tape, you would cut the wart off from air and moisture preventing each layer from regrowth. I guess it makes more sense now to think that there may actually be an ingredient in the tape that kills off the wart causing virus.

[MV]

It would have been a better comparison if the study had used gray duct tape instead of the clear tape. Also, the use of the pumice stone to treat the wart introduces another variable and questions the tape’s role in decreasing the wart. I am surprised that researchers did not take these factors into account if they wanted to observe the effectiveness of the duct tape on warts.

[Paul]

Whether it works or not, isn't it just as bad to have a piece of duct tape over the wart as the wart itself? Sure its cheap, and maybe effective, but salicylic acid is pretty darn cheap, and it is known to be effective. I do like the debate though, and I'm hoping that the gray duct tape proves to be a boon to clearing up warts.

[Compound Pharmacy]

Really awesome comments. Many points of mine are clear here. Thanks for the post, and thanks for these marvelous comments as well.

http://www.greatearthpharmacy.com

[Josh]

For me, duct tape is working great. I have several terrible warts on my hands. The two that are really bothersome are the ones on both sides of the same fingernail. I tried using salicylic acid for a month. Then I tried freezing them off 3 different times properly following the directions and using different brands. None of that worked at all.

Then after not doing anything for about a month, I tried the salicylic acid and duct tape method, which usually accompanies the regular duct tape method on the net. I put some salicylic acid on the warts and covered them snugly with duct tape two nights in a row. Two days after that two of my warts are completely gone and the rest are about to be.

I know this is only anecdotal evidence, but my anecdotal evidence in this case is probably better than the first study mentioned, which as other people in this thread have already pointed out, is fundamentally flawed to the point of being useless.