A persistent drip is rarely about a loose handle; it’s almost always a worn seal somewhere inside the faucet body. Most faucets made in recent decades rely on a cartridge, a ball assembly, or a ceramic disc to control flow, and each of those wears down the same way any moving mechanical part eventually does, letting a small trickle through even with the handle turned fully off. Cranking the handle harder doesn’t reach that internal seal at all, and it can damage the mechanism faster, so a hard tighten only buys a few quiet days before the drip returns.
The real fix is swapping out whichever specific part failed, cartridge, washer, or disc, matched correctly to that faucet’s make and internal mechanism, and it’s normally a contained job rather than a full faucet swap. Since the common cartridge styles are kept on hand, most of these repairs wrap up in a single visit rather than needing a second trip once the correct part is confirmed.