Duct tape is one of the most useful items to be found in your home. In the old days baling wire was the fixall of choice but since twine has replaced wire for hay bales it is no longer available for repairs. It used to be said that you could fix anything with baling wire and chewing gum but nowadays duct tape has replaced both items. Very few days go by that I don’t use duct tape for some sort of repair.

Think of all the ways you’ve used duct tape in your life and then add this one to the list. Most doctors probably learned how to remove warts when they were studying medicine but I bet none of them were taught how to remove warts with duct tape.

There are a number of ways to remove warts and range in price from less than ten dollars for a wart removal kit to over a hundred dollars to have them surgically removed. Although most warts are harmless and usually non-cancerous many people want to remove them for appearances sake.

Using duct tape to remove a wart can be considered as a home remedy as you do it at home with a product generally found at home. If you don’t have any at home you can buy a lifetime supply for wart removing for just a few dollars as you only use a couple of inches of tape at a time.

Even though the over the counter wart removers are relatively inexpensive, there is no reason to pay extra for something that works just as good. I’ve talked to people who have tried the over the counter products and got various opinions, which ranged from not working to very painful. Under normal conditions duct tape will not cause any pain.

There are many home remedies for removing warts such as vinegar, pineapple, lemon, aspirin and the list goes on. Most of these are kind of messy or you have to mix them into a paste. Some of them can cause discomfort or a reaction. I’ve never heard of anyone having any type of reaction to duct tape and usually the only discomfort is if you try to rip it off instead of soaking it or removing it slowly.

While understanding the benefits of using duct tape is important, it’s probably more important to know how to use it as a wart remover. Removing warts with duct tape is very simple. Just cut off a piece of tape to cover the wart. Leave it on for 6 days. It’s best to not remove the tape during this time, which means keeping it dry when you bathe. Cover it with plastic or anything that’s waterproof. After 6 days remove the tape and soak the area in warm water. While soaking the area get a pumice stone or something similar to scrape the area. Many times the wart disappears right away but other times you may need to repeat the process until the wart disappears

Even though this is an easy and safe process many people are still skeptical about it working. I have removed warts and know a number of other people it has worked for. By the same token I know of some, who said it didn’t work for them. They may not have been patient enough or maybe they were one of the people it doesn’t work for. As you know very few things have a 100% success rate.

I’ve heard that it is considered so effective that some healthcare professionals have advised their patients to try it instead of surgery or an over the counter cure to remove their warts. The only scientific evidence I’ve seen was in an article written by John O’neil in October 15, 2002 and displayed on The New York Times Health website.

The use of duct tape was investigated by Dr. Dean R. Focht III and colleagues at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash. In the study that was published in The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Dr. Focht found that warts disappeared for 85 percent — 22 of 26 children and young adults treated with duct tape — compared with 60 percent of a similar group treated by freezing he wart.

He recommended the same basic treatment as I explained earlier, which was put the tape on for 6 days then remove and rasp the wart with an emery board or pumice stone. He didn’t mention soaking but that works better in some cases.

Dr. Focht said he believed the tape worked in the same way that most other wart treatments work — by irritating the skin, thereby stimulating an immune system response that wiped out the viral infection that had caused the wart. This coincides with what I’ve heard about why the duct tape works.

Despite the testimonial proof from many people that duct tape will remove warts some are still uncomfortable with the thought of trying this treatment. They may have visible warts and don’t want to walk around with duct tape showing. I’m a guy so it didn’t bother me like it probably would a young lady, especially it she lived or worked in a highly visible environment. My advice is to do it when on vacation or maybe you can decorate it so it doesn’t look like duct tape.

Some people don’t think it will work and just won’t try it. Others have heard horror stories about removing skin along with the tape. Soaking the tape will cure this problem. I know that using duct tape to cure warts works so I urge you to try it. It’s not painful, it doesn’t cost very much and it’s easy to do. Even if it doesn’t work, it won’t hurt you and it’s practically free.

If you are worried about trying it, urge someone else to do it and see what kind of results they get. This is a sneaky way to find out, but you might be helping them as well as your self. Be assured it won’t hurt them and you can even furnish them with the tape so that it’s free for them to try it.

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