Duct Tape Occlusion Therapy

Yes, I said Duct Tape. The kind you buy at a hardware store for taping up... ducts.... as well as fixing anything else that breaks anywhere in the universe....

Believe it or not, this is a scientifically reviewed treatment. Here's the Wikipedia page on the use of it for treatment of warts, the process I'm using for MC is similar except without the abrasion step - there are links to the scientific reviews down the bottom of the page.

Duct tape occlusion therapy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now the jury is out a little on if it really works, but in my opinion it seems to be doing the job. Here's my take on it:

Firstly, the disease auto-inoculates. I can't stress enough how important this is. So covering each lump with duct tape seals it off from infecting the adjacent skin. It's logical, and obvious. Even if it doesn't do anything else it does this very well.

Secondly, it causes an inflammatory response in the lump. This makes the lump break down, and the bodies immune system goes to work killing the virus. The medical texts call it a "minor trauma" which is what the cryotherapy etc are doing as well - by damaging the lump the body sends lots of little killer cells to attack the site of the inflammation, thereby killig the virus as well. Apparently it might be a minor allergic reaction to the glue in the tape causing the "trauma".

I used the plastic duct tape, not the stuff with the woven material in it. I just found it stuck better, the other stuff came off in the shower. I just cut small squares of tape about 7-8mm wide and stuck them to the skin over the lump. Leave them there for up to a week, or if they come off replace as soon as possible. After a week take the tape off, see how it is all going, then put new tape on. Well that's my plan, I just finished the first week today and so far so good.

Now I started with cryotherapy, and I think that worked well so I'd have to recommend it. But the problem is you might get new lumps between doctors visits which will auto-inoculate, so you want to be able to do something straight away when the lumps appear. Duct tape is cheap, easy, harmless and seems to work.

PS: Hope you have a sense of humour. The first couple of days when I got undressed I forgot I had the tape on and laughed out loud- it does look quite comical :-)

I'll update this blog once a week or so, or if anything notable happens. I am quietly confident...