Soldering Iron Cauterization

Medical hacks are not for the weak of stomach, so read further at your own risk. [Todd Harrison] shows you how to remove a stubborn skin wart using a good ol’ soldering iron, and a fair endurance for pain. After all, cauterization is a well known and documented medical procedure. If you have the stomach for this, read on, or better, check out his 9 minute video after the break. If there are kids around, turn down the volume between 1:40 to 2:20.

[Todd] had a recurring wart on his right hand index finger, and couldn’t get rid of it despite many attempts. Every time he thought it was gone, it would come back. He even tried some of the expensive commercial kits that claim to get rid of warts by rapidly freezing them, but he had no joy. Finally, he figured it was time to cauterize the sucker. Like any self-respecting engineer, he starts off by cleaning the problem area with some rubbing alcohol. He starts applying the iron at around the 1:48 mark and goes on till about 4:17. At which stage he even evaluates the technique that he used, which ended up causing blistering of the sensitive skin around the wart due to radiated heat, and how it may be better to hold the soldering iron at a different angle and move it around the next time he attempts this procedure.

From then on, it’s a matter of waiting and observing for many days to see how it goes. Day two is obviously not too good, with a swollen blister which is “not the best looking thing”. Around day eight (@5:39), he cuts the skin while doing some yard work, but nothing a band-aid can’t fix. By day fourteen (@6:41), parts of the skin are dried and ready to fall off. He uses his handy and trusted diagonal cutters (naturally!) to snip off the skin with the dead wart. From then on, he’s on his way to full recovery and all back to normal a mere forty days later. He say’s it works for him every time, which means he’s obviously tried this at least a couple of times.

Bonus points to him for wearing the Hackaday shirt while doing the surgery! Thanks [Morris] for tipping us off. [Todd] is no green horn and is an old Hackaday alum. We’ve featured a lot of his exploits earlier, like this DeWalt Radio repair, 1976 Pong Clone repair, and the Scooby-Doo Alarm Clock repair.

Filed under: how-to, Medical hacks

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