The following article was published on The Conversation.
Monday’s medical myth: warts aren’t contagious
By Michael Tam, University of New South Wales
As a general practitioner (GP), I see a lot of warts. They’re a common skin complaint that most people experience at least one in their lives. Common warts are small dome-shaped lumps on the surface of the skin, typically on the back of fingers, hands, toes, and the front of the knee.
Patients who come in with common warts have usually guessed the growths on their skin are “warts”. But I’m often asked whether they’re contagious and whether any of the old wives’ tales work as cures.
The classic myth that warts are caused by touching toads is, of course, untrue. There are many folk remedies for warts that range from the magical (blacksmith’s water – the water that hot iron has been plunged), to the bizarre (taking a dead cat to a graveyard at midnight), and the gruesome (dripping the blood from the head of a decapitated eel onto the skin).
This article was published in Medical Observer.
This article was published in Medical Observer.
Apr 23 2012
Comment: Testicular self-examination
These were comments to the article “Monday’s medical myth: testicular self-examination is a waste of time” by Mark Frydenberg, published in The Conversation.
Thank you for your opinion, Prof Frydenberg, but can this really be considered a “myth”? I appreciate that your affiliated organisation Andrology Australia recommends routine testicular self-examination, but this is not the position of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, nor the US Preventive Services Task Force.
If I’ve read your article correctly, your rationale is that routine self-examination will lead to earlier detection and better survival, and that it has no harm. These claims need to be examined carefully. As has been pointed out already, there is no evidence that routine screening improves survival, and indeed, it is unlikely that any screening procedure will. This is not only because testicular cancer is relatively uncommon but because treatments are so effective at all testicular cancer stages. Continue reading