Duct Tape Can Remove Warts 139
chris_calabrese writes "According to this Reuters article on Yahoo! News, "Duct tape, already legendary for its many uses, can also be deployed to get rid of warts, U.S. Army researchers said on Monday." The basic idea is to tape over the warts and suffocate them. Apparently more effective than the traditional cryotherapy too."
I tried it (Score:5, Funny)
Hygiene (Score:4, Funny)
This is no joke (Score:4, Funny)
About 2 years ago I was going to school in Switzerland. The dorms were rather unsanitary, or rather, some of it's inhabitants were extremely uncouth. As a result, fungal growths were rampant, and I developed a huge wart on my right thumb.
One day I was snowboarding and I tried to jump and hit a 360, but unfortunately I was a 'n00b.' However, upon a rather harsh engagement with hard-packed snow and ice, my wart completely dislodged itself from my finger. I'd say it was about 3mm high and 2.5mm diameter.
I think yours truly takes the cake for strangest wart removal 'treatment.'
Re:This is no joke (Score:5, Funny)
The remaining wart crater scabbed over with a hard black shell, which I eventually tore off with some tweezers. The wart never came back.
Re:This is no joke (Score:2)
WE HAVE A WINNER. I CONCEDE DEFEAT.
Re:This is no joke (Score:3, Funny)
Re:This is no joke (Score:2)
Re:This is no joke (Score:2)
AKA, "The Sony Bono Wart Removal Technique"
Well then... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Well then... (Score:4, Interesting)
Looks like it is already there.
The definitive list (Score:2)
46. Contraceptive device. [exploremaine.com]
Re:The definitive list (Score:2)
Stand By for My Own Results (Score:3, Funny)
I'm going to try this method out and see how well it works. Look here in about a month for the results.
That is assuming, of course, that I can deal with having a piece of duct tape on the joint of my left thumb for 30 days.
Re:Stand By for My Own Results (Score:1)
A Slashdot editor couldn't have posted this (Score:2)
See a doctor. (Score:4, Funny)
How do you know it is a wart - it could be anthrax or, worse, something contagious like leprosy
See a doctor before it is too late!
Re:See a doctor. (Score:2, Funny)
DIY in the home - that's another thing. Don't touch it - you'll only go and kill yourself.
Don't ever say me and penfold don't warn you about this stuff.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:5, Informative)
Lol. That's a good one. Let's see, a bachelor's degree, that's 3-4 years. Then four years of medical school-- and no, you can't "test out" of any of it; medical school is four years, and that's that. Then three to six years of residency, depending on your specialty.
If you're a true badass who chooses the right specialty-- and I'm not even going to count undergrad time here-- you can become a doctor in as little as seven years. And that's if you pick one of the "easy" specialties with a short residency. If you do what my girlfriend is doing-- get your MD/PhD, then do a surgical residency, then a fellowship-- you're looking at an upper bound of fifteen consecutive years of training. That's three years for a PhD in biology, four years for an MD, six years of residency at a teaching hospital, and two more years of fellowship before you can go get an actual job practicing medicine.
Doctors are better trained than you give them credit for.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:5, Funny)
You can become ORDAINED in minutes too (Score:1)
Re:See a doctor. (Score:1)
anyways, in usa i believe it is possible for anyone to start up an university-of-sorts and start selling these dr diplomas, however, at some other countries, you can't just buy the title and not get laughed at publically and being accused of trying to fool people thinking you're better than you are.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:1)
Where did you get your degree from, Einstein? Cereal packet?
Re:See a doctor. (Score:3, Funny)
That's three years for a PhD in biology, four years for an MD, six years of residency at a teaching hospital, and two more years of fellowship before you can go get an actual job practicing medicine.
How do they manage to fit in time to golf?
Re:See a doctor. (Score:1)
Why do you think it takes them so long to finish school?
Re: How do they find time for golf? (Score:2)
Mind you, the downside is having to explain that their job consists of working with a bunch of assholes.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:2)
C'mon, she went that way because she wants to do medical research. Otherwise, there's no point to time spent on the PhD and the fellowship. Yeah, she's a MD, but she didn't spend 15 years in school specifically to be a MD.
Some unique medical school programs combine the BA and the Med school, so its only 6 years before they can start their internship. So yeah, 7 years for quick specialty, 8 years to cut people up. I've never heard of a 6 year residency program.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:4, Informative)
There are several. I know University of Washington's otolaryngology residency is 6 years. I believe that UCSD's is as well.
Incidentally, my girlfriend got her PhD because it paid for medical school. She is interested in academics, but her career of choice is ear, nose, and throat surgery. At the University of Texas, you get to go to school for free if you get into the MD/PhD program. Quite a bargain.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:2)
Re:See a doctor. (Score:2)
The MD/PhD program is funded by grants and endowments. Stand down from red alert.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:1, Flamebait)
Doctors are better trained than you give them credit for.
That's likely because there are so many doctors who manage to be complete morons despite having gone to school for so many years. Aside from surgeons, "doctors" don't do much beyond advanced nursing anyway - it's the people in the labs that diagnose and prescribe, while the doctor just tells people what the lab told them.
One day I need to get a job where I can get paid heaps of money just to pass along information and remember basic anatomy... :)
Re:See a doctor. (Score:3, Informative)
Have you ever seen a lab report? Let's try this little exercise. I got my girlfriend to type this up for me based on something she dealt with the other night.
Your patient is a 45-year-old white male who presented in the ER with severe radiating abdominal pain and vomiting. He has a history of mild abdominal pain for several years. Vitals: pulse 80, BP 130/70, respirations 30. The patient is alert and oriented, but is obviously in severe pain localized to his abdomen and back. Upon examination, the abdomen is soft with guarding and tenderness is the upper right epigastric area. No bowel sounds heard. Some vomiting with blood was observed.
What do you do, cloudmaster? You're the doc, so what do you do? Get labs? Okay, let's see the labs. You ordered a CBC, BMP, glucose, and liver panel. (Sorry for the formatting; if I tabularized it, the lameness filter got all riled up.)
Test : Result : Normals
white count : 16.3 : 4.3-10.9
hematocrit : 45.0 : 41-53
platelet count : 344000 : 150000-450000
sodium : 141 : 137-145
potassium : 3.0 : 3.6-5.4
chloride : 98 : 98-107
bicarbonate : 25 : 22-29
BUN : 17 : 5-20
creatinine : 0.9 : 0.5-1.3
glucose : 121 : 70-110
total bilirubin : 0.5 : 0.3-1.1
plasma total protein : 9.5 : 6.0-8.0
albumin : 4.4 : 3.4-4.8
AST : 24 : 8-26
alkaline phosphatase : 98 : 89-251
ALT : 31 : 7-46
amylase : 96 : 50-180
That's it. Those are your lab results. What should you do? That's funny, I don't see the little box on the lab report with the diagnosis and treatment plan in it. The lab guys must have left it off of this one. Weird.
So what's the plan, doc? What do you do?
I'll post the rest of this patient's story if anybody wants to read it.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:2)
A CBC is: Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, RBC, WBC, Differential Platelet Count
A BMP is: Glucose, Calcium, Sodium, Potassium, CO2, BUN, Creatinine
A Liver Profile includes : GGT, AP, AST, ALT
These tests can vary by institution, but a CBC always includes the RBC value. This person is vomiting blood. It might be nice to know what color the blood is, the hemoglobin, and the RBC values.
Glucose can be ordered separately, but not with a BMP because it's part of the BMP. Must've been a beginning med student typing there, because they obviously didn't know that.
What about the patient history? Where is that? The last lab report I looked at had the patient's history included. I'm thinking this is a possible gall bladder disease. His potassium is low because he has been vomiting. His other electrolytes are probably low as well. It might be a good idea to check those out. The high protein levels can also be attributed to the vomiting. I'd call the lab and have them test the electrolytes. After that, I'd order a CT scan and an ultrasound.
My guess is that the CT scan will show that the gall bladder is a somewhat thicker than it should be and that the ultrasound will show an enlarged gall bladder. Since we don't have all of the information here, that's just a guess, though.
Next time, check out a microbiology or hematology lab report. The micro report will have a diagnosis and the antibiotic to treat it with. The doctor just reads the paper.
Is it my turn to come up with something tough? My wife graduated with a degree in CLS (clinical lab science). Four years of education. She came up with "gall bladder" in the time it took to read the scenario. I'll pass along some hematology scenarios if you want.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:2)
I'm glad to hear you made it through your bouts of ALL okay. (If anybody reading doesn't know, ALL stands for acute lymphocytic leukemia. It's the most common form of cancer in children. Fortunately, it's also one of the most survivable cancers; something like 70% of kids that have it end up completely cured.)
How did they treat you for your gallstones? Around here, protocol for treatment of gallstones is removal of the gall bladder, 'cause they've found that patients who keep their gall bladder have something like a 90% recurrence of cholecystitis, with or without stones, later in life. Easier to just snip it out and be done with it. But it's a surgeon telling me this, so take two grains of salt and call me in the morning.
The only thing I would say is that I wish you could know about this stuff by osmosis, like I do, rather than having to learn about it firsthand.
Re:Stones that Gall me (Score:2)
Laparoscopic surgery is about as painless-- both literally and metaphorically-- as it gets. It's all done with endoscopes and little tools that fit through half-inch tubes. You'll have two or three one-inch incisions in your abdomen. You may be kept overnight in the hospital for observation, but usually they only do that if you're exhibiting nausea and vomiting after surgery. Chances are you'll go home that night, especially if they do you first thing in the morning. You'll be posting on Slashdot by dinnertime, tracking me down and saying things like, "You lying fucker, it hurt like a son of a bitch, I hate you you liar!" It'll be great.
My family has lost 2 others to cancer in the last 12 years too. Brain and Lung cancer.
Gosh, I'm really sorry. I hope you don't think I'm being insensitive, but is there a reason for this? Some cancers, like breast cancer, are linked to a gene, but I'm not aware of genetic links between different types of cancer. Do you have any idea what the root cause of this is? Or, worst of all, is it just a horrible coincidence?
Paging Dr. Duct Tape (Score:1)
"You know, leprosy treatment has proceeded a great deal since the linen rag days. Why now, we just wrap you up in duct tape. Hell, it'll even hold the leaches on better."
Not so farfetched... (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a couple of warts on my foot. I've been getting a laser treatment. They zap my foot repeatedly with a laser to kill the warts. It's not much fun, trust me. That took care of the worst one, but there are a couple others that were stubborn. Now my doctor has me putting this cream on them at night and then covering it with duct tape. In the morning I remove the tape and scrub the area with a pumice stone while I'm showering. It's only been a week so far, but it's looking pretty good. Hopefully they'll be gone for good pretty soon.
Re:See a doctor. (Score:3, Informative)
or, worse, something contagious like leprosy
Technically, leprosy may be considered contagious, but the reality is that you will not contract it unless you have a genetic vulnerability towards it. I guess its been bred out of the gene pool. I also believe its "spread" by contact, not airborne. I'd worry more about tuberculosis...
You would expect this from the US Military... (Score:3, Funny)
You would expect this from the US Military. After all, they have alot of experience in using Duct Tape to suffocate undesirables...
Location: School of the Americas [soaw.org], Fort Benning, Georgia:
American General: "And as you can see, using Duct Tape, several Car Batteries, and a metal bed frame, you can quickly torture those nasty Zapatista Rebels into submission."
Mexican General: "Gosh, that's so easy! We need another source of cheap labor. I am ever so thankful General. Now, if only you could only cure these warts, I might be able to get one of my Zapatista slave girls to like me!"
America General looks at Diagram on the whiteboard. "Hmmm, well you know..."
Re:You would expect this from the US Military... (Score:2)
Pfft! Car Batteries indeed. Everybody knows that spraying mineral water up the subject's nose is cheaper and just as efficient; nothing beats a good, old fashioned tehuacanazo. And for those who like to add some pizzazz to their torturing sessions, just add some powdered pepper to the mineral water.
(Wish I was kidding, but less than 20 years ago the Mexican police commonly used this technique to interrogate "criminals". Sad times indeed)
Hmmm.... (Score:4, Funny)
News Headlines from 2050:
Duct Tape Cures Cancer!
Duct Tape Cures Aids!
Duct Tape Solves World Hunger!
Duct Tape Seals Cooling/Heating Ducts!
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Funny thing, is that Duct tape is almost completely worthless on heating ducts, the tempature they get to is too high and the duct tape gule melts and it falls right off. Go and take a look at your ducts, they don't have duct tape on them, they have some really shiney type tape (which I forget what it is called).
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:2, Informative)
I actually heard on the radio several months back that Duct Tape has been banned (at least in California) from use in ducting because it breaks down rather quickly.
It's called Foil Tape... (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:2)
Yep. The stuff was originally called -- or nicknamed anyway -- "Duck Tape", not "Duct Tape", owing to its waterproof properties. It was made for the army, to seal ammunition cases. The military still uses awesome quantities of the stuff for just about everything to this day.
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:2)
I've heard the same story--and I do believe that, like most things in America, the facination in and belief in Duck Tape came from the military. (Our coffee addition & love of cars came from there, too.)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:2, Interesting)
That's because most British folks pronounce words that end in 'er' with the 'ah' sound (and vice-versa). (To go to the ocean, they will drive their Toyota Coroller to the watah).
They actually mean gaffer's tape, which is similar to duct tape, but typically more fabric-like and less plastic-like. It also typically has an adhesive that doesn't leave a residue when removed. It gets the name because it is commonly used by gaffers. Gaffers are the electricians and/or lighting technicians who work in film, and therefore need such a tape to secure the temporary wiring commonly required on sets.
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:1)
The screen! It's so blue...
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:1)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
But... (Score:1)
Duct Tape Cures Bush (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Duct Tape Cures Bush (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:1)
I have found, however, that it is not a good idea to repair your toaster with duct tape.....
Original medical paper (Score:5, Informative)
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/issues/v156n10/rfu
Re:Original medical paper (Score:1)
Re:Original medical paper (Score:1)
Alanis Morissette is neither funny nor a troll... Harpy maybe... or possibly a banshee? (Especially considering her appearance in Smith's Dogma).
Now the troll in LotR:FotR, that was a funny troll... I laughed my ass off when it bounded onto the screen...
"Sticky-sided duct tape" (Score:5, Funny)
Simple wart treatment I've used: (Score:5, Funny)
2: 1 fork, tines heated red hot over gas stove
3: Apply hot fork tines CAREFULLY to center of wart area.
4: Swear a lot.
5: Big Profit!! (and no more wart, seriously)
Id say ill use duct tape in the future, but i think clearing off 1 wart this way scared all the others away permanently.
Re:Simple wart treatment I've used: (Score:2, Funny)
I'd still take that 1/2 Jack Daniels though, just to be on the safe side.
your sig.... (atashi no baka da yo) (Score:1)
Re:your sig.... (atashi no baka da yo) (Score:1)
The scene where Obi Wan warns Vader in the death star hanger.
Re:your sig.... (atashi no baka da yo) (Score:1)
anata wa baka da... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Simple wart treatment I've used: (Score:4, Informative)
Cantharidin. It's a blistering agent, extracted from (what else) the blister beetle.
BTW, cantharidin is also the substance known as "Spanish Fly". Although I do not recommend that anyone try drinking wart remover, as this substance is highly toxic when taken internally.
Re:Simple wart treatment I've used: (Score:3, Funny)
That could lead to problems infinitly worse than warts.
Re:Simple wart treatment I've used: (Score:1)
How did they ... (Score:3, Funny)
Seriously though. Where do they come up with this stuff?
Re:How did they ... (Score:1, Funny)
- First solder: control group. Nothing is done to his wart.
- Second Solder: Doctors apply duct tape to his warts
- Third solder: Expose solders feet to a nuclear blast
- Forth solder: Exposed to Antrax.
Results:
- The forth solder dies from anthrax.
- The second solder does not have warts, but that's because his feet fell off off after the nuclear blast.
- The first solder still has warts.
- The second solder does not have warts.
Therefore, the method applied to the second solder (duct tape), cures warts, without curing the patient.
Hehe (Score:1)
If you can't fix it duct it!
Re:Hehe (Score:4, Funny)
And if you cover you nose and mouth... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:And if you cover you nose and mouth... (Score:2)
Pff, n00b. Obviously you aren't that skilled with duct tape.
Possible Method of Action (Score:5, Interesting)
Since common warts are caused by a virus, it seems unlikely that you could literally "suffocate" it.
I'm guessing that a possible mode of action is that, by irritating the area, the duct tape is setting up a mild, local inflammation. Most warts eventually go away spontaneously, when the immune system recgnizes the virus, and a bit of inflammation would speed this process up. A number of existing anti-wart agents are believed to work this way.
go away spontaniously? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Possible Method of Action (Score:2, Informative)
No more warty troll? (Score:1)
Most strange.
Well, Trolls aren't very bright, but then again they do have a thing for duct tape, don't they?
What to do? what to do?
Registered owner of the wartytroll.com domain....
Great so far, ..... (Score:5, Funny)
Warts? Try supplements (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, zinc is real safe, try taking it for a while and see if your warts don't disappear. Mine did.
Whatever you think... (Score:5, Interesting)
Warts respond to placibos like nothing else does. Your body's immune system can easily get rid of them. Stress prevents your immune system from removing them. Getting a "cure", any cure, will reduce your stress and your immune system will do its job.
The best placibo should be something ingrained in the mind with the ability to fix anything. Duct tape is an absolutely perfect placibo candidate.
Top story mods (Score:1)
Nail Varnish Works very well too (Score:1)
Ah hah! (Score:4, Funny)
What worked for me (Score:3, Interesting)
I heard about this on NPR (Score:2, Informative)
In fact, it seems to cure all warts, not just those covered by duct tape.
The directions were, cut a small piece of DT to cover the wart: (a) 6 days on; (b) 1 day off (c) repeate for a month or two.
Evidently parents really like this cus the duct tape is cheap and *stays on*.
Planters wart removal (Score:4, Interesting)
I had a stressful period last year. Because of that I developed some planters warts. (FYI, warts are caused by a virus. However on a healthy individual, the virus doesn't normally cause problems. Things like job problems, lack of sleep, near-death experience, etc.. raises stress levels which in turn adversely affects your immune system. Ever notice how pimples appeared right before prom when you were a kid?). I went to my family doctor to treatment when I had only 1 to deal with. I assumed I had a splinter under the skin that festered up into a ball or something. Nope. Planters wart. He said it could be cut out, burnt out, or frozen out. He recommended freezing. That's what I opted to go with. A few shots of liquid nitrogen later and I was on my way. Well it blistered, pussed up, caused more pain. Eventually the blistering went down but the wart remained. I didn't do anything about it for a while, about 4-5 months. It slowly grew. Then one day I noticed that about 4 more little bitty ones just popped up. Eww.. That's when I called my HS dermatologist. He worked miracles on me before like the case of sporo-tricosys (sp?) I developed on my elbow. He had me come in right away. He took one look at them and told me what he was going to do. He said he was going to give me shots right in the warts with a certain substance that was supposed to disolve warts. It didn't sound like fun but the original wart had grown to be about the size of a quarter, hard and crusty, and oozed puss on occasion. I bit the bullet and let him do it. He was nice enough to give me locals in each wart before proceding and to have a pretty nurse hold my ass down while he did it. He shot all of the warts (and suspect areas) full of whatever that stuff was. He also instructed me to not wash my feet for about a day. The day after that I went to take a shower. The little bastards had already turned black! The huge thing on my heal was blackish green. Cool! Anyways, the little ones slowly popped out over the course of a week or two. The skin immediately around them dried a little bit and they just fell out. The stuff inside the big one, under the hard layer of skin, turned to goo and literally oozed out one day. Made a nice green stain on my sock too. Over the next month that dead skin got harder and eventually peeled off.
I'm happy to say I'm wart-free now. Moral of the story, give a dermatologist a chance to fight skin problems BEFORE taking drastic measures like burning, cutting, or freezing. The really can work miracles some times.
Re:Planters wart removal (Score:2, Insightful)
I can't decide if it should be +1 or -1 though.
Re:Planters wart removal (Score:2)
I can't decide if it should be +1 or -1 though.
I think I had one of those in High School. It was on the palm of my hand, just below my 'pinkey knuckle'. Because I never did anything in class, one day I spent about an hour just picking at it, trying to see what it was.
After picking, and pulling, and a little digging, I finally squeezed it hard enough that a 1/8" 'thing' popped out of my hand like a zit.
It bled like hell after that, but never came back.
Gaff Tape - The Rolls Royce™ of Duct Tape (Score:2)
You can apply gaffers tape to any surface and remove it *years later* with no sticky crap left over (see duct, electrical, packing, & masking tape) It is very strong and excellent for taping down cables(it is used by stage crews to do just that), or a quick hinge on a box, or cover a blister(wart) or pretty much anything that duct tape will do.
Unfortunately, it does not like to stick to wet surfaces; apply it to dry surfaces and it is great!
Best yet, it comes in all manner of colors(white, black, blue, green, neon pink & neon green are some I have seen)!
It's usually sold at pro-audio music stores (Think PA systems). Definitely worth finding.
If you can't... (Score:1)
sorry couldn't help it. Oops.. one more...
If duct tape can't fix it, it's broke.
Sorry, I feel better now
since this supposed to be about humor... (Score:2, Funny)
Because it has a light side and a dark side, and it binds the universe together.
NOT considered suffocation (Score:2, Informative)
I heard an interview with the researcher on NPR this morning (recording of the show [npr.org]), and there is no known cause.
The researcher's hypothesis is that the irritation of the tape encourages immune response. One piece of anecdotal evidence supporting that is that some people claimed that other warts elsewhere on the body were also affected to some degree.
I don't believe it! (Score:1, Funny)
Oh well.
Re:I don't believe it! (Score:1)
well... (Score:1)
it's great to see our homeland defense money going towards counterterrorism. i think i've figured out their reasoning. since this monumental discovery can rid our society of warts, whenever we see some shady guy at the airport, all we have to do is check him for warts. from here on, having warts == terrorist (or shady tourist. eitherway, go home!)
Two words: Soldering iron... You gotta want it. (Score:2)
Re:This is great news (Score:5, Informative)
The virus that causes warts is easily spread from lymphatic fluid from a punctured wart.
Re:This is great news (Score:1)
Re:This is great news (Score:1)
I wonder what else might best be left alone - or treated in a nonsurgical manner.