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CAN SUN-DAMAGED SKIN BE REVERSED?

Here comes the sun! It’s that time of year when sun-worshippers cook like sausages, the fairskinned look even paler from layers of hard to rub in suntan lotion and the fake tanned reveal their orange hands, elbows and knees. In this article, we are asking the question, can sun-damaged skin be reversed? I have some good news for you.

Skin sun damage starts when we are young…

Sun damage to the skin starts at a young age but doesn’t reveal itself until many years later. Too much exposure to the sun’s UV (ultraviolet) rays can break down collagen and elastin fibres.

The fibres that we need to keep our skin smooth and tight, the same fibres that we produce less of as we age. In conclusion, too much sun exposure and the depleting production of collagen and elastin as we age results in photoaging and crepey skin.

Photoaging and crepey skin…

Photoaging or photodamage is the term used to describe how repeated sun exposure prematurely ages the skin causing DNA changes to skin cells resulting in wrinkles.

It can cause skin pigmentation changes, age spots, freckles, and a decrease in skin elasticity. As we age we produce less natural oils, oils that are needed to seal moisture into the skin preventing it from drying out.

Photoaging causes crepey skin, much like the crepe paper we would use at school to make creative art collages. If you remember, the multi-coloured crepe paper felt weird and was almost impossible to smooth out.

‘Crepey skin’ is a recognised condition, the skin looks and feels dry and made a lot worse by sunburn from overexposure to UV rays.

You can see the instant damage to cells and blood vessels in the skin when you get sunburnt, and this can result in the leathery skin texture that you see on people who spend a large majority of their time outside.

The severity of sunburn (firstdegree burns) depends on the type of skin type and time in the sun. Thankfully, awareness of sun-damaged skin has increased, the younger generation are well educated about it. It is important to protect your skin from UV rays because 65% of cancerous melanomas are caused by sun rays.

Please visit your doctor if you have concerns about moles on your body.

Can sun-damaged skin be reversed? I read what the experts say.

It’s good news!

According to dermatology specialists Dr Susan Bard and Dr Hadley King, it is possible to partially reverse some types of sun damage on your skin. If you have wrinkles, fine lines or other characteristics of sun damage a dermatologist can help you smooth out your skin.

Specialists use lasers, chemical peels and certain topical medications to treat or destroy sun-damaged skin.

Factional Laser Treatment (Fraxel)

During factional laser treatment, the lasers heat small areas under the skin which encourages regrowth of collagen that supports the skin and smooths out wrinkles from the inside out.

Ultrasound treatment (Ulthera)

Ulthear is a skin tightening procedure using targeted ultrasound. Heat breaks down some of the cells and stimulates the growth of collagen to tighten skin. The treatment uses concentrated ultrasound waves to create heat deep within the dermis and SMAS muscle.

Chemical peels

Chemical peels improve the appearance of sun-damaged skin by using a solution to remove the outer layer of old skin. The new skin that replaces it is usually smoother and less wrinkled in appearance.

Topical medications

Prescription creams such as tretinoin are frequently used for sun-damaged skin. Most dermatologists recommend applying tretinoin cream or gel daily. Talk to your doctor or chemist to find a cream that is appropriate for your skin type.

Curaderm (BEC5) cream – BEC5 cream, also known as Curaderm, is an effective, convenient and non-invasive treatment for non-melanoma skin cancer.

Curaderm cream is particularly potent when used to treat basal-cell carcinomas (BCC) and squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), although it is also effective on benign tumours such as sunspots, age spots, Keratoses and Keratocanthmoas.

Don’t stay out of the sun…

Overexposure to the sun’s rays is bad for you but there are great benefits to be had from being in the sun too, physically, and mentally.

The sun is mood-lifting, it triggers the release of serotonin in the brain which helps keep you calm and relaxed.

Without that release people can become depressed and develop the condition SAD (seasonal affective disorder).

Experts recommend that people should expose themselves to sunlight for 5 – 15 minutes a day for it to be beneficial.

Even though too much sun puts you at high risk of skin cancer, a balanced approach can help reduce the risks of certain cancers.

Other benefits are:

► The sun encourages the body to produce

Vitamin D which is good for the skin and bone health.

► The sun can help to heal psoriasis, eczema, jaundice and acne.

► The sun can also help relieve the symptoms of arthritis, lupus and bowel disease.

Like a lot of things in life it’s about getting a balance when it comes to exposure to the sun.

Looking after yourself is important and here are the best things you can do to help prevent sun-damaged skin:

► Always wear sunscreen when you are outside, one with an SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 30.

► Wear sunglasses to protect the eyes.

► Avoid using sunbeds.

► Apply extra cream on large moles or scars.

► If you get sunburn, take a cold shower to cool the skin down and apply an aftersun product. ► Keep your skin moisturised.

► Have a good skincare routine every day.

► Use exfoliants to remove dead skin.

► Drink plenty of water to hydrate our skin.

► Eat a diet high in antioxidants.

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Note: US$ prices are subject to shipping and handling (and additional taxes where appropriate). Disclaimer: All educational information is provided under the IAS terms and conditions (which may change without notice) and does not replace the advice of your physician. Restrictions may apply in some countries.

CV19, IVERMECTIN

AND D3

Given all the COVID-19 suffering, the promise for relief, and the growing vaccine sideeffects, is it any wonder that a fervent search for other drugs and supplements is growing? Dr. Ryan Cole, the CEO/ Medical Director of Cole Diagnostics, an independent IDAHO lab, may have some answers. Dr. Cole has seen over 350,000 patients in his career and conducted over 100,000 COVID-19 tests.

Dr. Cole has this to say about vitamin D3 (hereafter named as vitamin D):

► Coronavirus infections are seasonal.

► In reality, there are only low vitamin D seasons.

► Inflammatory (cytokine storms), are present in all COVID-19 cases and cannot be controlled without adequate vitamin D levels.

► Massive numbers of

Americans have low vitamin D levels.

► 96% of ICU patients are vitamin D deficient. In reality, there are only low vitamin D seasons.

► You cannot synthesize vitamin D from sunlight during fall and winter at 35-degrees north and above. ► If you live in northern climates, you are immune suppressed if you do not supplement with vitamin D during fall and winter.

► Scandinavian countries (Finland,

Norway, Sweden,

Denmark) test their citizens twice a year for vitamin D and fortify 35 foods with vitamin D.

► But many populations are left vulnerable to any seasonal viral infection- without a public health program to promote vitamin

D adequacy. ► There is no social disparity of care, but darker skin pigmentation inhibits sunshine vitamin D synthesis in the skin.

► Fauci says he personally takes 8,000-9,000 units of vitamin D per day.

Why has this has not become a public health message?

► The top three public health messages should be:

1. Vitamin D 2. Vitamin D 3. Vitamin D

Ivermectin Arrives

Ivermectin fits the treatment bill. Four billion doses of Ivermectin have safely been taken. Of the half million COVID-19 deaths in North America, there would be 375,000 less deaths if Ivermectin were administered!

Public health officials may have blood on their hands. 100% of Ivermectin treated patients don’t get ill. This works for all genetic variants.

Pre-Covid Cocktail

For patients desiring protection before possible exposure to COVID-19, such as travel into high-risk areas, a combination of Ivermectin, zinc, vitamin C, and vitamin D is recommended as part of the safety plan.

Dosages are as follows:

Ivermectin treatment under supervision, is typically being dosed at 0.2 mg per kg bodyweight, each 24hour period. Another way to calculate your personal treatment dose; divide your body weight in pounds by 33.

That’s how many Ivermectin 3 mg tablets you should take in one day. Take that many tabs on days 1, 3, 10, 17, and 25 (one month supply). In addition:

► Zinc Sulfate 50 mg/daily

► Vitamin C 3-5,000 mg/daily

Ivermectin Enters the Field

Recently, several groups of physicians and multidisciplinary committees have recommended that the Honduran government establish a new public health policy to administer weekly doses of Ivermectin (12 to 18 mg) in the healthy adult population.

[Editor’s note: Those with ‘lessor’ concerns, are typically availing themselves of a prophylactic dose of ivermectin as little as 3 mg per week].

This is because there are clinical and laboratory study results that justify its use for prophylaxis and to lower the viral load of SARSCoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19.

The Problem of “Experts”

And the public and the news media always take great comfort that an “expert” gave them this idea based on the “science.” Trouble is, you can always find another “expert” with equal credentials who will offer a completely contradictory perspective. Also, the Honduran government may not parallel other Latin-American countries, let alone European or SE Asian nations.

Ivermectin as a Wonder Drug

Ivermectin proposes SO many potential effects to treat a range of diseases, with its antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-cancer properties that it has been referred to as a wonder drug. [1] It is highly effective against many microorganisms including some viruses.

In a recent comprehensive systematic review, the antiviral effects of Ivermectin appear to work on RNA viruses such as Zika, dengue, yellow fever, West Nile disease, etc.

Inflammation is an intrinsic defense mechanism triggered by the immune system against infection or injury. Chronic inflammation allows the host to recover or adapt through cellular and humoral responses, whereas acute inflammation leads to cytokine storms, which can result in tissue damage.

In a recent review, the paper presented the overlapping outcomes of cancer inflammation with virusinduced inflammation. [2] The study emphasizes how antiinflammatory drugs that work against cancer inflammation may ALSO work against the inflammation caused by the COVID-19 viral infection.

FDA Prevails … In Error

The FDA does not approve Ivermectin for COVID-19, owing to a variety of possible side-effects. Ha! But this does not include vaccines, which ironically are proving to have many potentially harmful side effects, including blood clots for AstraZenica’s vaccine.

While cancer remains second among the diseases associated with mortality worldwide, cancer patients’ mortality rates are often observed over extended periods after illness, usually ranging from months to years. However, the mortality rates associated with COVID-19 disease are robust.

Overlapping Inflammatory Mechanisms Ivermectin Treats COVID-19

A new double-blind study has determined that Ivermectin is an efficacious treatment for mild COVID-19. [4]

Conducted in Cali, Colombia, the study participants were identified by simple random sampling from the state’s health department electronic database of patients with symptomatic, laboratoryconfirmed COVID-19 during the study period.

A total of 476 adult patients with mild disease and symptoms for 7 days or fewer (at home or hospitalized) were enrolled during mid-2020 and followed up through December 21, 2020. Patients were randomized to receive Ivermectin, 300 μg/ kg of body weight per day for 5 days (n=200) or placebo (n=200). The Primary outcome was the time to resolution of symptoms within a 21-day follow-up period. Adverse events were also collected.

The median time to resolving of symptoms was 10-days in the Ivermectin group compared with 12 days in the placebo group. By day 21, 82% in the Ivermectin group and 79% in the placebo group had resolved symptoms.

Since both cancer and COVID-19 disease share overlapping inflammatory mechanisms, repurposing some anticancer and anti-inflammatory drugs for COVID-19 may lower mortality rates.

Here, are reviewed some of these inflammatory mechanisms. Also, the researchers propose some potential chemotherapeutic agents to mediate in them.[3]

Also studied are the repercussions of antiinflammatory drugs such as glucocorticoids and hydroxychloroquine with zinc or antiviral drugs such as Ivermectin, against SARS-CoV-2 induced cytokine storm.

Comparative Effectiveness

There is an urgent need for effective treatments to prevent or attenuate lung and systemic inflammation, endotheliitis, and thrombosis related to COVID-19. [5]

The aim of yet one more study was to assess the effectiveness of a multidrug-therapy consisting of Ivermectin, Azithromycin, Montelukast and Acetylsalicylic Acid (“TNR4” therapy) to prevent hospitalization and death among ambulatory COVID-19 cases in Tlaxcala, Mexico.[6]

A comparative effectiveness study was performed among 768 confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases aged 18 to 80 years, who received ambulatory care at the Ministry of Health of Tlaxcala, Mexico. A total of 481 cases received the TNR4 therapy, while 287 received another treatment (comparison group).

All participants received home visits and/or phone calls for clinical evaluation during the 14 days after enrollment.

Nearly 85% of cases who received the TNR4 recovered within 14 days compared to 59% in the comparison group.

Likelihood of recovery within 14 days was 3.4 times greater among the TNR4 group than in the comparison group.

Patients treated with TNR4 had a 75% and 81% lower risk of being hospitalized or death, respectively than the comparison group.

TNR4 therapy improved recovery and prevented risk of hospitalization and death among ambulatory COVID-19 cases.

High Compound Library Screen

In FDA-approved studies for parasitic indications, Ivermectin has been the focus of growing attention in the last 8 years due to its potential as an antiviral. [6-7] Researchers first identified Ivermectin in a high throughput compound library screen as an agent potently able to inhibit recognition of the nuclear localizing Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) integrase protein by the host importin (IMP) α/β1 heterodimer.

Ivermectin demonstrated its ability to bind directly to IMPα to cause conformational changes that prevent its function in nuclear import of key viral as well as host proteins.

Cell culture experiments have shown strong antiviral action towards a range of viruses, including HIV1, dengue, Zika and West Nile Virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, Chikungunya, pseudorabies virus, adenovirus, and SARS-CoV-2 (which causes COVID-19).

Close to 70 clinical trials are currently in progress worldwide for SARSCoV-2. Although few of these studies have been completed, the results that are available, as well as those from observational/ retrospective studies, indicate clinical benefit.

There is urgent therapeutic need for COVID-19, a disease for which there are currently no widely effective approved treatments and the emergency-use authorized drugs do not result in significant and widespread patient improvement.

The FDA-approved drug Ivermectin has long been shown to be both an antihelmintic agent, (a group of antiparasitic drugs that expel parasitic worms [helminths]) and a potent inhibitor of viruses such as Yellow Fever Virus.

More Potent Therapeutic Antiviral Dose

In a current study, Ivermectin is packaged as an orally administrable nanoparticle that could serve as a vehicle to deliver a more potent therapeutic antiviral dose.

It could also demonstrate efficacy to decrease expression of viral spike protein and its receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), both of which are keys to lowering disease transmission rates.

The study also reports that the targeted nanoparticle delivered Ivermectin can inhibit the nuclear transport activities mediated through heterodimers as a possible mechanism of action.

Moreover, it sheds light on Ivermectin loaded, orally administrable, biodegradable nanoparticles. These can be a potential treatment option for the novel coronavirus through a multilevel inhibition.

As both ACE2 targeting and the presence of spike protein are features shared among this class of virus, this platform technology has the potential to serve as a therapeutic tool not only for COVID-19 but for other coronavirus strains as well.

Great Burden to Healthcare Worldwide

Viruses such as human cytomegalovirus, human papillomavirus (HPV), EpsteinBarr virus, HIV, and SARSCoV-2, represent a great burden to human health worldwide. [8-9]

The FDA-approved antiparasite drug Ivermectin is also an antibacterial, antiviral, and anticancer agent, which offers more potentiality to improve global public health, and it can effectively inhibit the replication of SARSCoV-2 in vitro.

This study sought to identify Ivermectin-related virus infection pathway alterations in human ovarian cancer cells. Stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) quantitative proteomics was used to analyze human ovarian cancer cells treated with and without Ivermectin (20 μmol/L) for 24 h, which identified many Ivermectinrelated proteins in ovarian cancer cells.

Gene Ontology analysis revealed 10 statistically significant cellular components, 13 molecular functions, and 11 biological processes.

These findings demonstrate the broad-spectrum antiviral property of Ivermectin for COVID-19 treatment in the context of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine in virusrelated diseases.

Screening Identifies Potentially Effective Drugs

The small molecule macrocyclic lactone Ivermectin, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for parasitic infections, has received renewed attention in the last eight years due to its exciting potential as an antiviral. [10]

Astonishingly, cell culture experiments show robust antiviral action towards HIV1, dengue virus, Zika virus, West Nile virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, Chikungunya virus, Pseudorabies virus, adenovirus, and SARS-CoV-2.

This mini-review discusses the case for Ivermectin as a host-directed broadspectrum antiviral agent for a range of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.

COVID-19 is a critical pandemic that has affected human communities worldwide and (we repeat) there is an urgent need to develop effective drugs. [11]

Although there are many candidate drug-compounds that may be useful for treating COVID-19, the evaluation of these drugs is time-consuming and costly. Thus, screening to identify potentially effective drugs prior to experimental validation is necessary.

Numerous drugs were successfully screened, including many known antiviral drug compounds such as sorafenib, sorafenib, alvocidib, mitoxantrone, geldanamycin, fluticasone, and quercetin. [12]

One thing more … COVID-19 is likely mutating and is turning on younger age groups. [13]

We will continue to report these scientific interventions, missteps, and discoveries with discernment.

References:

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Ivermectin 100x 3 mg tablets $39.99

Note: US$ prices are subject to shipping and handling (and additional taxes where appropriate). Disclaimer: All educational information is provided under the IAS terms and conditions (which may change without notice) and does not replace the advice of your physician. Restrictions may apply in some countries.