# Warts! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364 "2004-03-30T18:50:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/21 "2004-03-31T16:57:32Z")
well…I meant _Pantaloons_, but mantaloons sounds good too. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/22 "2004-03-31T17:07:06Z")
Try to find a doctor who uses Cantherone, an epidermolytic agent made from the Mexican Blister Beetle (aka spanish fly). It really works well. My record is 53 warts of which only one came back, and a second dose took care of it. It had been legal in the U.S., then was banned and had to be bought in Canada, but I think it may be legal in the U.S. again. It is a (usually) totally painless blistering agent that works great. BTW, it was banned in the US simply because it had been used for so long that no real testing for safety and efficacy was done. Then it was exempted from such testing, but eventually the FDA demanded the testing be done and no one would do it because it was cheap and not patentable so there was no money to be made. Interestingly, when you get it from Canada there is a three page warning sheet, all but one paragraph of which deals with the dangers of the solvents used, not the active chemical itself. Available from Dormer Pharmaceuticals. ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/23 "2004-03-31T20:34:40Z")
Squirrels and Oak trees --\> scientific medicine Prarie dogs and Aspens --\> new-age quackery _duh._[sup]1[/sup] IIRC, there _have_ been some studies comparing the efficacy of oak trees to oak hat stands but the results were inconclusive due, no doubt, to the small sample size. Oh and “mantaloons” does not generate one single google hit. It’s definitely a keeper! [sup]1[/sup] Apparently this board need an animated Woot! Woot! Nyuck! Nyuck! Nyuck! smiley ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/24 "2004-03-31T21:39:06Z")
Go get yourself some dry ice and burn the hell out of it yourself. And to get you through the initial pain…just think of the irony of burning yourself with ice. I had one on my hand for like 2 years and it finally got deep enough to die when I used the ice on my hand for 5 minutes. It will turn very very black and then you have to dig it out. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/25 "2004-03-31T22:16:11Z")
What’s wrong with burning it with the heat of a soldering iron? Seems simpler. ---
**Author:** ![klockwerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/klockwerk/32/6475_2.png) [@klockwerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klockwerk)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/26 "2004-04-01T00:27:42Z")
I had about four or so warts. We tried the nitrogen stuff, and 1 one them left thanks to that, so I had three to deal with. After trying many treatments, I finally got them zapped at the laser clinic. It wasn’t very painful at all (2 on my hands/fingers, one on my middle toe) and you could actually hear the root of the wart crack as it was heated by the laser. So I got to play with lasers, and my warts went away for good. ---
**Author:** ![lightingtool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@lightingtool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lightingtool)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/27 "2004-04-01T01:14:03Z")
Huh. I had one on my knee a long time ago and the doc just numbed it up and sliced/dug it out. No ice, no pain. Took about 10 minutes. Why isn’t this more popular? This was around 1990, if it matters. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/28 "2004-04-15T11:17:09Z")
OK. It’s been a week now. I started April 6. I got my dead squirrel in my mantaloons, I’ve done the walking around the oak tree at midnight and, oh yes, the roll of silver 3M Scotch Duct Tape. Kept the tape on the wart 24x6, changed the tape daily 'cause it would get loose what with showering and the odd hand washing, etc. The wart (I call it Arthur) was about 2 mm high and maybe 5 mm accross. After 1 week it no longer rises above the surface of the rest of the fingertip (height = 0mm) and it is only about 3 mm accross. The inside of the wart is visible–a number of black dots which one of my coworkers says is indicative of a planter’s wart. Whatever. Seems to be working One note, because Arthur is on the business side of my fingertip I had to wrap the finger with tape. Just a ring, I don’t have a finger glove or anything. The result after a few days was a significantly raised (swollen? _macerated_?) pasty white ring of flesh where the tape was. After a couple hours on 04/13–the 7th day is a ‘rest’ day, no tape–the swelling & discoloration went away leaving a “scar” where Arthur was. This seems like it’s going to work. But the squirrel is positively _ripe_! ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/29 "2004-04-15T11:40:24Z")
> [@miss smartypants](#): > > Not about warts or duct tape, but interesting never the less… > One day her doc brought in some gold leaf saying she had heard of a new treatment. Gold leaf comes in very thin sheets and is usually used on craft projects–maybe some of you have done it. If you wish to try the gold leaf treatment be sure you are getting genuine 24 K Gold leaf. This is usually sold by jewelry supply houses, and the imitation gold leaf sold by craft supply stores is not gold but an alloy of other metals. Not gold, but a good imitation and much more economical. My favorite treatment was _concentrated nitric acid_ which due to gov’t regs. is difficult to obtain for personal use. I do not reccommend this, just mention it for the record. ---
**Author:** ![FX45\_4Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4bbf92/32.png) [@FX45\_4Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FX45_4Ever)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/30 "2004-04-15T14:09:23Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’ve heard the duct tape thing before; it’s worth a try, isn’t it? > > Interestingly (or actually probably not), I just learned the proper definition of _macerate_ - I had always (wrongly)understood it to mean ‘grind or chop into small pieces’, and I was wondering how duct tape would do this to skin under any ordinary circumstances, but it turns out the word means something entirely different - to soak, steep or moisten. Perhaps your were thinking of **masticate** which means to chew… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/31 "2004-04-16T08:04:36Z")
In the summer of '02 I went to the Philippines with family and we were often barefoot. I got plantar warts (warts on the foot) that month. I had tried OTC treatments and even cutting out the warts but to no avail. I could never cut deep enough to remove the dark skin of the wart. The warts just spread to the point where a couple even popped up on my other foot and even my sister got it! A year would pass before I found what would remove them. Duct tape. Yes! They worked on me. I would put a square piece of duct tape over the wart and keep it on for almost a week. It took two months for mine to go away because the first few weeks the warts kept coming back. Then one day, after removing the tape, letting the skin air dry, and clipping off the skin, I realized that that I was able to clip off the brownish wart skin. They never came back after that! Another “remedy” I heard from a few people a few months back is spending a day on the beach, walking barefoot in the sand. I wonder if it works! ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/32 "2004-04-26T19:49:09Z")
Duct tape did the deed. The wart is gone. Cool. I’ll miss it. Really. Anyone want to buy a squirrel hide? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/33 "2004-04-26T20:01:20Z")
> [@Vision of Love](#): > > Another “remedy” I heard from a few people a few months back is spending a day on the beach, walking barefoot in the sand. I wonder if it works! Cant hurt=) Besides, I am craving some sun and sand, it has been a cold rainy and nasty day today=( ---
**Author:** ![DaToad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DaToad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaToad)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/34 "2004-04-26T21:48:52Z")
You’ed better watch it pal. We do not cause warts. 🙂 A home remedy: When I was a kid my mother put a slice of potato on mine, wrapped it with cloth, and left in on overnight. She did this for three nights. They went away. No pain either. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/35 "2004-04-26T23:24:54Z")
I will have to remember the duct tape. As for my wart, we were doing it wrong. I’m left-handed, so we had to spin the squirrel deosil. Actually, I went back to the dermatologist. He’s a short little guy whose overall demeanor comes across as an elderly Austrian watch-maker with hair as bright white as his lab coat. He looked at the re-appeared wart, run a finger across it and simply said “Bumpy.” He then re-froze it, and so far, that seems to have been successful. Seems like a nice guy, but certainly economical with the words! Other than “Bumpy” I don’t think he said ten more words while I was in his office. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/36 "2004-04-27T00:52:35Z")
> [@FX45 4Ever](#): > > Perhaps your were thinking of **masticate** which means to chew… > 🙂 Actually, the confusion arose because of the context in which I saw the word - the making of slow gin and other flavoured liqueurs - the fruit is steeped (macerated) in the spirit, but as it is often chopped, cut or crushed first (although not so often whe using sloes, actually), I misunderstood this to be the meaning of _macerate_. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/37 "2004-04-27T00:53:46Z")
Slo **e** Gin - I can’t believe that typo; I’m sure that was the hamsters, not me. ---
**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/38 "2004-04-27T01:56:24Z")
Duct tape killed mine. Started to rot away after a week, left it on for 2 more weeks and the little sucker was gone. Scientific explanation? Tight duct tape make you pump more blood to the wart area, causing the wart to die from the antibodies that come with the blood. Overflow and rot. Not a pretty sight, but doesnt leave a scar either, and worth a try. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/39 "2004-04-27T03:49:43Z")
How could I go about freezing one off with liquid nitrogen myself? I’ve got access to it and all the other goodies that you find in a molecular bio lab, like pipettes and stuff. I can get dry ice (and concentrated acids for that matter) too, but I figure that if LN2 is what the doctors use, it’s probably the best way to go. I’ve repeatedly used the over-the-counter stuff you can buy on little pads or in liquid form, I think it’s salycylic acid (sp?), which would burn it off over the course of a few weeks, but it’d grow back. I’d rather not go the duct tape route as I’d rather not wear duct-tape around two finger tips for two months. I find playing with liquid nitrogen kind of fun, and I’m an impoverished student, so I’d rather try the do-it-yourself method first. ---
**Author:** ![Kegg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Kegg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kegg)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364/40 "2004-04-27T10:03:25Z")
Isn’t salycylic acid realy asprin?? and wasn’t any one heard of spunk watter for warts?? * * * Spelling and grammer subject ot change without notice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warts/237364.md?page=3)