duct tape vs. plantar warts: it really works

Once again a poorly designed study tests the duct tape cure and finds it lacking:

The patients were instructed to wear the bandage for a week, remove it after the seventh day and then, on the eighth day, soak the wart in water, and lightly scrape it with an emory board. They repeated the treatment for two months or until the wart disappeared. It was the same regimen as in the 2002 study.

Duct tape showed paltry success in the new study. Eight of the 39 patients (21 percent) who got the duct tape treatment saw their warts disappear. Nine of the 41 patients (22 percent) who got only moleskin saw their warts vanish. There was no significant difference between the two groups.

The study failed to observe necessary protocols.

1. You have to soak your foot for at least fifteen minutes, significantly softening the skin.
2. You have to use a pumice stone. An emory board simply won't remove enough dead tissue. You have to be aggressive. (Wash your hands thoroughly when done, and spray the pumice stone with Lysol. Spray the insides of your shoes, too.)
3. You have to use "real" duct tape, not transparent duct tape.
4. You have to stick with it, replacing the tape whenever it comes off. (This means obsessively carrying duct tape wherever you go.)

The result: cheap, effective, and painless. No more plantar warts.