Beetle Juice

Yesterday, I took the twinnies to the pediatrician for their 4 year old well check. As always there were a couple of questions I had, and some re-evaluatiing to do. There was some good news, some weird news, and three referrals by the time we finished.

First, the good news! Logan has not had a seizure in a year! Therefore, seizures are officially no longer part of his diagnosis. Yay!! We think they were allergy related, as he was never on medication for seizures, and they were never regular in the first place.

Second good news: no shots! We're current until next year. Woohoooo! (don't hate because we vaccinate. Logan's issues did not come from vaccine injury.)

And now, the weird news. The truly bizarre. Logan has a wart on the inside of his left arm, between wrist and elbow. And he picks at it until it bleeds quite a lot. I didn't want to address this with the pediatrician, because we all know what happens when you show a doctor a wart that is growing. There is scary, painful freezing that will happen, and you just know that it isn't going to go over well.

Well. While Logan was getting his wart examined, the pediatrician looked at me intently and said,"In OUR office.." (and I'm thinking, yes.. we are in YOUR office..) "we freeze warts. But at a DERMATOLOGIST'S office, they use.... BEETLE JUICE! And beetle juice is painless and it does as good a job as freezing, and with Logan's sensory issues and his young age, I think beetle juice is the best, but it's up to you."

uh-HUH. Doctor, have you been inhaling a few too many alcohol wipes? So, I made him explain himself. Turns out? It's true! I totally googled this. Many species of blister beetles secrete a substance called Cantharidin. The Cantharidin is painted on the wart and covered with a very awesome bandaid (like there are any other kind) for 24 hours while the wart blisters. (bring in the Co-Flex! sensory kid, here. That bandaid has no chance.) Then, the bandaid is removed, and the blister is allowed to dry out. When the dried out blister falls off, it takes the wart with it. Easy Peasy! And no seriously painful freezing! How completely cool is this?!?! And now we have a referral for a dermatologist. For beetle juice.  My insurance company is gonna LOVE this one!

Has anyone ever done wart removal this way? Any helpful hints? I'd love to hear about it!

Also.. for those of you looking for updates about Jackson, you can keep current by visiting his site jacksonsjourney.specialhappens.com for his latest blog posts, his facebook page for the latest pictures and updates, or Living with Logan on facebook for daily updates from Jackson's Momma. You can also follow the hashtag #JacksonsJourney on twitter.

Bacon bandages by perpetualkid.com. Canthardine via the Google images. Blister beetle chart, and many MORE blister beetle photos, which are actually amazing, from Flickriver.