A recent study reveals that diluted bleach can be used to treat skin related problems in the future.
The study was conducted by the researchers at Stanford University, California, led by dermatologist Dr Thomas Leung, The research reveals that the common household bleach, when applied in extremely diluted form may heal inflammation of skin. Bleach can also be used as an anti ageing agent, reveals the study.
Whenever the animal skin cells get damaged, the immune cells bulge out on the body part in the form of inflammation. But the inflammation itself needs to be dealt cautiously. Leung and co-mates tried to find out whether bleach, a not so popular treatment for eczema, has a positive effect on other skin-related problems.
The findings are based on tests conducted on mice that included bathing them with a solution containing .0005 percent of bleach for around 30 minutes. The mice introduced to bleach showed up milder burns on radioactive therapies as compared to the mice exposed to regular water.
According to the researchers, diluted bleach can be used to treat cancer patients with problems post radioactive sessions. Radiotherapy often causes sun burn like reactions. "An effective way to prevent and treat radiation dermatitis would be of tremendous benefit to many patients receiving radiation therapy," said Susan Knox, associate professor of radiation oncology and co-author of the study in a statement, reveals medical express.
"I can't say it is going to work, but this is a clinical treatment that we didn't quite understand, we've applied it in mice and other diseases and we hope to translate it back into humans shortly," said Leung, reports BBC.
The bathing caused one more positive effect on the mice. They were looking much younger with fresh, thicker skin. "We found that if we blocked NF-kB activity in elderly laboratory mice by bathing them in the bleach solution, the animals' skin began to look younger. It went from old and fragile to thicker, with increased cell proliferation," said Leung in a statement. The effect was found to be gone after 24 hours indicating regular usage of such elements can reduce anti-ageing effects.
The researchers want to carry out similar tests on human cells in the coming days . "It's possible that, in addition to being beneficial to radiation dermatitis, it could also aid in healing wounds like diabetic ulcers," Leung said in a statement.
