Verruca’s – Does Duct Tape Work?
Come on let’s admit it, a lot of us have had a verruca at some point in our lives or at least know someone with one! It’s no surprise because 12% of the population are affected at some point.
A Verruca is a wart on the sole of the foot, it is just given the fancy name of verruca to indicate its location on the body! It’s very clever because the virus that causes it manages to form a lesion which sits right above the layer of skin where the blood stream is (which has white blood cells in for fighting infections) so remains hidden from your body’s immune responders. We get them when there is a break in the skin. This is why swimming pools often get the blame for people getting verrucae because the non-slip flooring can cause lots of minor abrasions to the skin, especially once it’s a little soggy.
Just one google search shows how much banana skins and duct tape as treatments for verrucae has gone viral (ha ha see what I did there!). The theory is that covering the verruca and “starving it of oxygen” can stop it and “kill it”.
Verruca aren’t harmful and often will vanish on their own after a period of time. However this may take many years and can be painful or unsightly depending on where they are. They can also spread so many people prefer to have them treated.
There are lots of different treatments options and myths about treating a verruca including the need to “remove the root” – let’s make this very clear: verrucae don’t have any roots – they aren’t a plant after all!!
So does duct tape work?
A very old study tried using duct tape and banana skin on warts of children on their fingers (note – not verrucae on feet!). It had a very small number of children in the study and they found some of the warts improved, so it was concluded at the time that it might be as successful as some topical treatments available over the counter.
Research has since been done on people with verrucae and they have found these treatments DO NOT WORK. Sorry, banana skins in the bin and save the duct tape for something more fun:
Image courtesy of kroc.com
There are many more successful treatments available that have an 82% of verrucae, like SWIFT so if you have a stubborn verruca and you think you have tried everything, contact Eclipse Foot Clinic today and let us talk you through the different options available.