I'm adding Compound W to my shopping list, because I have a plantar wart on my toe. I'd get those occasionally in high school, and they were remarkably resilient to Compound W--I ended up having to get it frozen out at the doctor's office.
I did not make up the duct tape treatment, myself. I Googled plantar warts, when the Compound W wasn't working for me, and found it mentioned on the Mayo Clinic's website: [link] . In my opinion, the duct tape has it ALL over the salycilic acid. It was awesome. It did take a couple of months to work on one curmudgeonly wart, and sometimes I'd use Compound W, after 6 days of duct tape (see link), before reapplying the duct tape. If you Google 'plantar warts duct tape' you will be surprised at the number of hits praising this treatment.
That reminds me. I've had this tag for forever. And like four times last night I heard a 30 Rock quote I wanted to tag. But I wanted to mention that in case it seemed I suddenly changed it for some sinister reason.
Hmmm. I'd threaten you with my plantar warts, but they're all gone, due to the miracle that is duct tape.
I am trying to picture this, and... what is it about the duct tape that does the trick? Do you tape your feet to the floor so you'll never see those warts again?
See the Mayo Clinic link above, but in short, they believe it may irritate the skin around the wart, and prompt the immune system to attack the general area. Personally, I think it helps keep the wart from getting ground into the foot, because sometimes, I'd really feel like it was pulling on my skin. That's the problem with plantar warts, the body weight can force them inward, and then they "have babies".
You put the duct tape over the warts. You change it every day. The warts die. It works. Nobody is sure why. The body is weird. (Or: Duct tape is awesome.)
Some other websites recommend you change it every day. The Mayo Clinic says you leave it on for six days. I found it worked better if I tried for the six days. The tape was pretty non-perturbed by my showering, but once I switched from sandals to socks and shoes, it didn't stay in place as well, and I had to change it more often.
I wonder who came up with the treatment.
My theory is some old guy had plantar warts and wouldn't see a doctor and his wife started nagging him to do something, because she didn't want to catch them. In a fit of pique, he put duct tape over them, and she rolled her eyes and shut up. The next time he took a shower, he took it off, and the wart was gone.
eta...
It actually took care of the mosaic in a couple of weeks. But there were two separate ones, beside that. One took a couple of more weeks, and the last one is the only one that actually took two months.