14 DAY TRIAL // Even if using duct tape was considered by common people as an easy and costless method for getting rid of annoying warts in children, a recent research carried out by a team of scientists at the Maastricht University found that the all-purposes sticky fixer has no effect on the excrescences on the skin which are caused by a virus and most of the times cure on their own.
Presenting their findings in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Maatrischt University researchers pointed out the fact that warts are too much for a simple sticky duct tape, and they can only be removed by resorting to cryotherapy, by freezing off the warts, or by burning them off with high concentrations of salicylic acid.
The study was conducted on 103 children with ages ranging between 4 to 12, all of them having warts on their skin. The 103 subjects have been randomly assigned to the treatment group or the control group. The 51 children in the treatment group received duct tape treatment and had to wear sticky fixer on the warts for a 6 weeks period - the duct tape covering the wart was changed once a week. On the other hand, the 52 children assigned to the control group received a placebo consisting in a corn pad protection ring.
Overall results of the study proved that only 16% of the participants in the duct tape intervention group had their warts removed by using the sticky fixer, as compared to 6% of their peers in the non-treatment group who resorted to the placebo. According to the team of scientists, the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant.
The Maastricht researchers led by Dr. Marloes de Haen stated: "Considering the serious discomfort of cryotherapy and the awkwardness of applying salicylic acid for a long time, simply applying tape would be a cheap and helpful alternative, especially in children." However, the findings of the 6 weeks study were completely disappointing, as "the warts of eight children (16 percent) in the duct tape group and the warts of hree children (6 percent) in the placebo group had disappeared."
The conclusions of the current trial were that sticky duct tape is no better than placebo when it comes to removing warts in school children: "We do not think that when subjected to firm investigation, the duct tape would do much better than placebo or better than other effective interventions," the team wrote.