DMSO is advertised for wellbeing, beauty and acute or chronic complaints. Its solvent properties do not establish these broad healing promises. Tradition or independently taking responsibility for use does not prove safety. The so-called health toolbox includes very different substances: charcoal, magnesium salts, selenium, borax, sodium bicarbonate, lactic acid, furfural, alkaline salts, zinc salt, silver, seawater, hydrogen peroxide, one’s own urine, sulphur, galactose (“mucilage sugar”), Lugol’s solution, healing clay and petroleum. This list does not recommend ingestion, skin treatment or combinations; some substances can cause considerable harm when misused. Milk thistle, mugwort, teasel, hawthorn, frankincense and propolis also require assessment by product, use and risks.
DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is not a universal umbrella remedy making arbitrary natural substances safer or more effective. It can alter skin absorption of other substances and also carry unwanted substances into the body. This establishes no general synergistic healing effect. Its ability to dissolve many organic and inorganic substances is useful in laboratories and industry; it does not make a homemade plant extract an assessed medicine. Composition, purity, concentration and application route require separate assessment. Do not independently make mixtures for treatment.
What is DMSO
Dimethyl sulfoxide is an organic sulphur compound manufactured industrially; its history is also linked to pulp production. Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) arises in the marine sulphur cycle and is involved in atmospheric and oxidation processes. A fixed lower limit of 30 million tonnes of DMS annually cannot be inferred from a single estimate; studies also distinguish compound mass from sulphur mass. This environmental context establishes no healing power. Designations such as DMSO Ph. Eur. refer to particular pharmacopoeial quality requirements. They neither authorise a medicine for every use nor guarantee that a freely sold product is suitable for ingestion or injection.
DMSO is converted in the body into dimethyl sulfone (MSM) and dimethyl sulfide (DMS), among other products. DMS can be eliminated through breath and skin and explains the characteristic garlic-like or sulphurous smell. Blanket figures of about one percent, an average residence time of 1.5 days and certain disappearance after two days cannot be transferred to every application and person. Metabolites can remain detectable longer. An oyster-like smell is a perception, not proof of healing or “detoxification”.
When and how the effects of DMSO were discovered
Chemist Alexander Saytzeff described DMSO in 1866. Its solvent properties made it interesting for laboratory work. Since the 1960s, uses involving biological tissues and cryopreservation have been investigated, among others. Protecting cells under defined freezing conditions is not general regeneration or a fountain of youth for humans. Numerous publications concern different models, preparations and routes; their number does not establish universal efficacy as a natural remedy.
Investigated effects and their limitations
Radical-scavenging, inflammation-related and pain-related mechanisms are investigated. They do not establish blanket promises of tissue regeneration, faster wound healing, smooth scars, higher oxygen saturation, cell protection or stabilisation of the autonomic nervous system. Muscle relaxation, blood-flow properties, vasodilation and transport processes each require clinical evidence for a specific preparation too. The US medicine RIMSO-50 is instilled into the bladder for symptomatic treatment of interstitial cystitis; this limited indication does not approve arbitrary external or oral self-treatment.
The so-called channel opener DMSO
DMSO can cross biological membranes and increase skin absorption of other substances. “Channel opener” is a simplified advertising term, not proof of healing in bone marrow, fatty tissue or joint capsules. Easier “entry or exit” is not automatically beneficial; contaminants and concurrently used products can increase risks. Skin and eye irritation and hypersensitivity are possible. Do not use technical material as a remedy; seek medical advice for illness or persistent symptoms.
DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is not a universal umbrella remedy making arbitrary natural substances safer or more effective. It can alter skin absorption of other substances and also carry unwanted substances into the body. This establishes no general synergistic healing effect. Its ability to dissolve many organic and inorganic substances is useful in laboratories and industry; it does not make a homemade plant extract an assessed medicine. Composition, purity, concentration and application route require separate assessment. Do not independently make mixtures for treatment.
What is DMSO
Dimethyl sulfoxide is an organic sulphur compound manufactured industrially; its history is also linked to pulp production. Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) arises in the marine sulphur cycle and is involved in atmospheric and oxidation processes. A fixed lower limit of 30 million tonnes of DMS annually cannot be inferred from a single estimate; studies also distinguish compound mass from sulphur mass. This environmental context establishes no healing power. Designations such as DMSO Ph. Eur. refer to particular pharmacopoeial quality requirements. They neither authorise a medicine for every use nor guarantee that a freely sold product is suitable for ingestion or injection.
DMSO is converted in the body into dimethyl sulfone (MSM) and dimethyl sulfide (DMS), among other products. DMS can be eliminated through breath and skin and explains the characteristic garlic-like or sulphurous smell. Blanket figures of about one percent, an average residence time of 1.5 days and certain disappearance after two days cannot be transferred to every application and person. Metabolites can remain detectable longer. An oyster-like smell is a perception, not proof of healing or “detoxification”.
When and how the effects of DMSO were discovered
Chemist Alexander Saytzeff described DMSO in 1866. Its solvent properties made it interesting for laboratory work. Since the 1960s, uses involving biological tissues and cryopreservation have been investigated, among others. Protecting cells under defined freezing conditions is not general regeneration or a fountain of youth for humans. Numerous publications concern different models, preparations and routes; their number does not establish universal efficacy as a natural remedy.
Investigated effects and their limitations
Radical-scavenging, inflammation-related and pain-related mechanisms are investigated. They do not establish blanket promises of tissue regeneration, faster wound healing, smooth scars, higher oxygen saturation, cell protection or stabilisation of the autonomic nervous system. Muscle relaxation, blood-flow properties, vasodilation and transport processes each require clinical evidence for a specific preparation too. The US medicine RIMSO-50 is instilled into the bladder for symptomatic treatment of interstitial cystitis; this limited indication does not approve arbitrary external or oral self-treatment.
The so-called channel opener DMSO
DMSO can cross biological membranes and increase skin absorption of other substances. “Channel opener” is a simplified advertising term, not proof of healing in bone marrow, fatty tissue or joint capsules. Easier “entry or exit” is not automatically beneficial; contaminants and concurrently used products can increase risks. Skin and eye irritation and hypersensitivity are possible. Do not use technical material as a remedy; seek medical advice for illness or persistent symptoms.
Sources: ILO/WHO: DMSO; RIMSO-50; Sigma-Aldrich: DMSO; Lana et al.: DMS.
