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Skin
Care
AIMING BEYOND CONVENTIONAL CARE
A dermatologist uses emu oil in acute skin care.
By Beth Silva
-------------- (material omitted for brevity)
Esta Kronberg, a dermatologist specializing in
Dermatologic Surgery and Cosmetic Dermatology, is just one of a
growing number of medical experts that are taking a closer look
at emu oil -------------
Well known in the Houston medical field where
her practice has been located for the past 13 years, Kronberg's
goal is to provide her patients with the best skin care possible.
Also on the medical advisory board for the publication Derma, she
has been quoted in magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Allure and
Glamour. Her treatments embrace acute skin care problems including
burns, skin disease, psoriasis, roacea, eczema, as well as anti-aging
and general skin improvement treatments.
While some dermatologists may continually treat skin care patients
with routine medicine, Kronberg, in an effort to keep pace with
advances in both conventional and alternative medicine, utilizes
the best of both for the patient's benefit.
"A lot of times an emu oil product is my first
choice, even though I can choose any prescription that I wish, and
the irony is the emu oil works so well," concedes Kronberg.
Kronberg's husband, Bill Davis, was the first
of the pair to be introduced to emu oil. ---------- " I read
a small article in a chemical magazine that discussed the benefits
of emu oil and mentioned that it was an excellent moisturizer. It
caught my attention because we're always looking for pharmaceutical
grade, highly purified, high quality products for our (skin care
products) program. And our belief is that although there are many
products on the market, better can always be located. And so it
was we found emu oil."
After Davis obtained several emu oil samples,
he began sharing some with acquaintances. One such individual was
a woman about to undergo a plastic surgery treatment on her neck.
Davis explained that the procedure is painful, irritating to the
skin and results in redness as well as blistering and scabbing.
"Familiar with our (skin care) product program,
she inquired if we had something that could help," says Davis.
"I told her we were experimenting with a wonderful moisturizer,
and suggested she give it a try. I sent her a sample, and a request
that she let me know how it worked. After using the oil pre-and
postsurgery she reported that she experienced minimal pain with
no blistering or scabbing whatsoever. On her first checkup with
her surgeon, she noted that he was visibly impressed with her wound's
rapid progression and questioned her as to what she was using because
she had not disclosed that she wasn't using the product he normally
recommends. And this was our first real clue that this product indeed
has not only anti-inflammatory capabilities, but much more."
A short time after that incident, Davis supplied
an acquaintance, who is a nurse, with an oil sample. He explains
that this woman was on leave from a dermatology office (located
in a psoriasis treatment center) because her own 10 year experience
with sever psoriasis was not subsiding.
Recalls Davis, "Her first report a week later
was that she was already experiencing relief. Her itching was subsiding,
the discoloration was fading and she requested more oil! We ran
into her at a drug conference in California just three weeks later,
and we didn't recognize her at first. She was wearing short sleeves
for the first time in ten years, because it was a large portion
of her arms and legs that had been affected."
"I couldn't' believe what I saw and asked
her to let me have a closer examination," says Kronberg. "What
I found was that her psoriasis was almost completely resolved!"
------------ So the couple stepped up their research
into the oil's properties and Kronberg began using it on patients
- but not just anyone. She remarks, "I give it to the worst
patients with extremely severe problems, such as burns, rosacea,
psoriasis, eczema, and I've been extremely pleased with the results.
It brings immediate relief to a lot of individuals, and as a result,
I have a lot of happy patients."
She continued, "We have patients that come
in that have had laser resurfacing or bad chemical peels somewhere
else and are severely burned. We give them the emu oil as an application
and it calms things down tremendously and keeps the skin from scarring.
We also use the oil on sores that haven't initially healed. And
on patients with severe rosacea, emu oil calms down the redness
of skin and inflammation of blood vessels, and they don't break
out even though it's an oil. This is because the oil is non-comedogenic
(won't clog pores).
I've observed that the oil has an extreme anti-inflammatory
response and is a healing aid. Even when my topically applied steroids
and antibiotics don't work well on rosacea patients, once applied,
the emu oil will calm things down and the report immediate relief."
Another area in her practice that Kronberg uses
emu oil as a treatment is before-and-after application to sites
of laser tatoo removal. She relates that the oil stops the initial
onset of discomfort from stinging and pain associated with this
procedure and that it encourages a superior and faster healing process.
Kronberg also uses the oil on young patients.
She relates, "It's great for using on kids getting their shots.
If you medicate the area prior to injection with emu oil (emu oil
only, no anesthetic), and then directly afterwards, it diminishes
discomfort and they don't get achy and irritable later on."
Konberg says that she uses the oil for the same objective herself
when administering shots before traveling abroad.
She's not the only doctor with an interest in
using the oil to block pain before and after an injection procedure.
Dr. William Code of Duncan, British Columbia, has researched the
advantages of using emu oil with the local anesthetic Lidocaine
and has delivered several discourses on his research findings. And
there's even been a patent involving this same function for the
oil. The patent "Compositions Comprising Lidocaine and Emu
Oil and Methods of Use Thereof" was granted to inventor David
Rivlin in 1997.
Davis is very excited and optimistic about the
utilization of emu oil in medical procedures and relates he thinks
that emu oil lives up what it's been reported to do - as a "bioactive
transport," in that it has the capability to carry other ingredients
into the skin. "It actually takes the ingredients into the
skin with it as long as the ingredient molecule is small enough
to penetrate the skin. And since it takes it quickly, we tend to
see things improve faster."
Adds Davis, "And our feeling is that if at
all possible, start the healing process prior to a procedure in
order to accelerate the body's ability to heal itself. Emu oil is
doing that. We believe that if you can prep the skin with the oil
in advance of a procedure, similar to prepping your body prior to
a marathon, chances are that the healing process will be dramatically
improved, and that's what we've found. We're actually able to see
a 50 percent improvement time with patients recovering from laser
resurfacing, where they're going back to work in just two weeks,
vs. four weeks or more, and with no blisters or scabs!"
------------------------
Reprinted from Emu Today & Tomorrow, October
1998
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