Medical Uses for Duct Tape

Duct tape is perhaps one of the most versatile materials ever created. While many consider its uses in medicine to be legend and myth, there is emerging research which indicates that this adhesive strip may actually have life-saving properties. It has been used for cuts and scrapes as well as skin irritations. The medical uses for duct tape continue to grow as more people come to accept it as a viable stop-gap treatment for emergency care.

Wart Treatment

• Recent medical studies have found that duct tape may be an effective treatment against plantar warts. Doctors working for the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington treated a cross section of patients presenting with plantar warts by having them apply pieces of duct tape to the wart each day. The warts were effectively treated in 85 percent of cases, making a strong argument for duct tape being a more effective treatment than the standard practice of freezing the wart with liquid nitrogen.

Poor Man's Suture

• Duct tape makes an effective suture in a crisis situation. In the Forbes' article, “The Other Greatest Tools Ever,” David M. Ewalt describes the medical properties of duct tape. “Some emergency medical technician handbooks even describe how to use duct tape to close up sucking chest wounds like gunshots.” Duct tape functions as a temporary suture, closing the wound until better medical care may be administered.

All Purpose Life Saver

• Duct tape was also used by the Apollo 13 astronauts in their near fatal moon mission. According to Octanecreative.com, a site using information gathered from NASA's own records, the astronauts used the tape to create air scrubbers for their weakened oxygen supply, which kept the men alive long enough to engineer a rescue.