A study, appearing in the journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, has found that treating common warts by applying duct tape was more successful than cryotherapy – freezing them off with liquid nitrogen – a more common technique. The study looked at more than 50 patients ages 3 to 22.

Researchers say using duct tape has several advantages over cryotherapy, such as being more practical, less expensive and less threatening to children because it is not painful.

Warts are a common pediatric complaint, occurring in 5 to 10 percent of all pediatric patients, according to the study. Warts are benign growths caused by the human papillomaviruses. The peak incidence is between the ages of 12 and 16 years. Although two-thirds of all warts in children will resolve spontaneously without treatment within two years, patients frequently request treatment to hasten the resolution.

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