Dutch researchers have found that curing warts is not among duct tape’s millions of uses. School children with warts were either treated with a placebo or with a duct tape patch, and the duct tape group couldn’t significantly beat a corn pad.
The study of 103 children aged 4 to 12 showed the duct tape worked only slightly better than using a corn pad, a sticky cushion that does not actually touch the wart and which was considered to be a placebo.
“After 6 weeks, the warts of 8 children (16 percent) in the duct tape group and the warts of 3 children (6 percent) in the placebo group had disappeared,” the researchers wrote in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
They said this difference was not statistically significant.
In addition, some of the children who wore duct tape reported itching, rashes and other effects, although none of the children who wore corn pads did.
Too bad, as duct tape rolls are a lot cheaper than fancy-shmancy “real” medicine. As a youngster, this Medgadgeteer actually removed his own warts using a push pin and pocket knife. Of course, as a youngster, this Medgadgeteer was a bit odd.
One more comment: since when are schoolchildren the best research population? Are there no Dutch adults with warts?
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