Duct Tape, Emery Boards, and Warts

Treatments for warts abound, varying from as gentle and simple as taping a patch of banana peel on before bed, to as high-tech and powerful as superpulsed carbon-dioxide-laser vaporization. A study published in the October 2002 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine compared having warts frozen by a doctor to having them treated by a nurse with duct tape, followed by an emery board at home.

It turned out that the homespun therapy was significantly more effective. A small piece of duct tape covered the wart for 6 days in a row (if the duct tape fell off, a replacement piece was applied). After 6 days, the children soaked the wart in water and then rubbed it with an emery board or pumice stone. The next morning, fresh duct tape was applied for another 6 days. This was continued for 2 months, unless the wart disappeared earlier.

I’m not surprised that this treatment worked so well. Even though both of these techniques destroy some of the wart viruses, direct destruction is only a part of the story. In the final analysis, it’s our own immune systems that are activated and engaged to eliminate the warts.