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Don’t Confuse a Product Called WartSTICK with Lip Balm!

Many people are familiar with over-the-counter wart treatments. They're typically liquid based or are packaged in an aerosol container with a special application tip. But did you know there is also a wart remover that uses a dry formulation in the form of a stick? Within the last year a company called Balassa Laboratories has repackaged an old formula of a solid stick wart remover (previously packaged under the name PediFix). The newly packaged product, called WartSTICK, is now available at popular chain drugstores such as CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens on-line. Our concern? It looks identical to a container of lip balm. The active ingredient in WartSTICK is salicylic acid, which should NEVER come in contact with the lips or mucous membranes inside your mouth.

Healthcare Practitioners Partner with Families to Protect Patients

Look at Your Medicine Before You Take It

Do you carefully read the label on your prescription bottle and look at the tablets before you take a dose of a new or refilled prescription medicine? Well, a 95-year-old woman did, and it helped to prevent a potentially serious mistake. Her doctor had recently increased the dose of her thyroid medicine. When she needed a refill, a staff person at her doctor's office mistakenly told the pharmacist to dispense the lower dose she had taken previously.

Poison Look-Alikes

The New Jersey Poison Information and Education System issued an alert about poisonings occurring when torch lamp oil (Tiki lamp oil) was mistaken for apple juice. In several unrelated incidents, individuals became critically ill, and one person died, after accidentally ingesting the oil. Lamp oils are particularly hazardous.