I have to start this article by expressing that I will give you information on natural remedy research and various treatment research concerning skin concerns and the tremendous impact of essential oils. I will express my experience and my opinion as well. If you have questions, please talk to your doctor. This is for you to hear my story and to spur you along toward the possible options available to you.
My Story
A lot of you know that I grew up in Africa. This was before the huge warnings against sunburns, and I was burned badly a number of times. I remember lying on my bed with fans on me as my entire body was on fire. Well, now we know what damage can be done that can only be seen years and years later. In the past 5 years both of my parents and my brother have had various kinds of skin cancer that has had to be removed.
Someone very close to me has had it pretty bad. He used a topical cream used to kill all abnormal cells, leaving a wound to be replaced by good skin cells. This is generally used these days for people who have large areas of damaged skin cells. It seems to have worked very well, but it sometimes needs to be done multiple times to make sure you really get rid of everything. From what I have read about it, it seems a viable option for some. Bad cells are usually filtered out of our bodies by our amazing various systems. Some cells seem to not be attacked and eliminated from our bodies, but are allowed to remain and multiply. Those bad cells shut down our natural defenses against them. From what I understand, this cream kicks those natural systems into high gear, targeting those bad skin cells so they are effectively burned out and replaced by new cells.
As for me, last year I got a spot on my forearm. Different from any spot on my body. You know when something looks odd, even if you have freckles like me. It was almost the size of the top of a pencil eraser. I was advised to ignore it. After some time it got sore, healed, sore again, healed, then pealed and got dark. I wish I took pictures, but I didn’t. Instead, I began to place essential oils on it twice daily.
My regime: I began to place high quality frankincense and thyme essential oils on the spot twice a day. Just one drop of each.
My results: within 2 weeks the spot became light pink. Another 2 weeks, and it became a light scar. Currently it is completely gone. *Update: after 8 years, that spot is still gone. I’ve used this method on other spots with the same results.
I am still going to a recommended dermatologist to have it checked, as I would advise anyone who suspects something on their skin.
**Dermatologist side note: I did go to someone. Let’s just say that when he walked in my daughter’s jaw dropped. His face had undergone so many surgeries that he could barely blink, let alone smile. When I asked about a dark spot and was told it will one day be a “liver spot”, I asked why. It went like this:
Me: Why is it there?
Dr.: It’s a skin spot.
Me: But is it damaged skin?
Dr.: Yes.
Me: So, the skin cells are damaged? Why is it coming out now?
Dr.: It had to come out sometime. Why not now?
Me: Well, what can I do to help it?
Dr.: We can bleach it, inject ——- into it, or inject it with ——, which are all different kind of chemical bleaches.
Me: But……if they’re damaged skin cells, isn’t there something I can do to help those cells heal, instead of just covering them up, something natural?
Dr.: …*blank look*…..
Me: Never Mind.
I swear, that’s exactly how it went! I was in bizzaro world for 20 expensive minutes! This is why I said, find a recommended dermatologist. My parents have a wonderful Dr. – They do exist (Though I am not sure he knows anything about natural remedies, I know he will take me seriously and look into whether something is a real threat or not.).
Why Essential Oils?
Essential oils, like other things in the world, are made up of molecules. Molecules are bonded atoms. Each oil contains different elements, giving each oil different properties. Not only this, but when oils are combined there is something called a synergistic effect. In other words, if you have 10 particular types of molecules in one oil combined with 6 types in a second oil, some may over lap, some may not. There is addition and multiplication. Learn more about essential oil safety here.
There has been more and more investigation into the direct aspects of certain oils over the past few years. There hasn’t been a lot of long term studies, because frankly – it’s not big money for the large pharmaceutical companies. But recently the interest in natural remedies from the public has demanded more attention be given to such powerful natural elements like essential oil.
Natural Remedy Research with Essential Oils
One of these molecules in some essential oils is monoterpene.
“Early reports had indicated that essential oil components, especially monoterpenes, have multiple pharmacological effects on mevalonate metabolism which could account for the terpene-tumor suppressive activity (Elson, 1995). Monoterpenes have been shown to exert chemo-preventive as well as chemotherapeutic activities in mammary tumor models”(phase I and II).
What has been studied concerning other aspects of essential oils?
- Myristicin (found in Nutmeg) is an organ protector and healer. Primarily, studies were made on the effects of tumors in rats with great results.
- Citral (found in high amounts in lemongrass) was found to greatly protect against inflammatory cancers such as skin cancer. 3
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d-limonene (in Orange, and Sweet Fennel) fights cancer on multiple levels! 4
- diallyl sulfide (di-, tri-sulfides) (in garlic) has also been found to be super effective in tumor stages I and II. 5
I could go on and on and on. Check out the article: Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic Potentials of Essential Oils and Their Individual Volatile Constituents: A Review. It is pretty technical, but full of great resources and information.
The point is that there IS scientific evidence out there suggesting the powerful impact of essential oils on various cancers. The reason why they are not used every day in our hospitals…well, that’s another discussion. You can come to your own conclusions on that.
Why Frankincense and Thyme?
Frankincense
Frankincense has been specifically studied over the years for many purposes, but recently there has been breakthroughs in natural remedy research specifically using frankincense. Reports have shown effectiveness in not only targeting ovarian tumors, but also brain, breast, colon, pancreatic, prostate, and stomach tumors.7
Learn how to make your own frankincense extract.
Thyme
In one study, thyme essential oil exhibited the strongest cytotoxicity towards three human toxic cells: PC-3, A549, and MCF-7 tumor cell lines. 8 Another shows how damaged cell death occurred in breast patients. 9
Knowing this about these two oils, I chose them…and my educated choice has paid off tremendously so far.
This has opened up a world of hope for me. Those close to me have just started using frankincense and thyme on their troubled skin spots as well.
As for now, have hope!
Again, my purpose in writing this to you is to demonstrate that there is research and that this research is gaining more support as more of the public demands for it to be done. I do not want to give you a set of things to do, but merely get the ideas flowing. Check out the links, do some research, see a reputable dermatologist and naturaopath (prevention is key), and above all….have hope!
References:
Edris AE. Pharmaceutical and therapeutic potentials of essential oils and their individual volatile constituents: a review. Phytother Res. 2007;21(4):308-23.
Henderson C, Smith A, Ure J, Brown K, Bacon E, Wolf C. 1998. Increased skin tumorigenesis in mice lacking ?-class glutathi-one S-transferase. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95: 5275–5280
Milner JA. 2001. A historical perspective on garlic and cancer. J Nutr 131: 1027S–1031S
Parija T, Das B. 2003. Involvement of YY1 and its correlation with c-myc in NDEA induced hepatocarcinogenesis, its prevention by d-limonene. Mol Biol Rep 30: 41–46.
Zheng G, Kenny P, Lam L. 1992. Inhibition of benzo[a]-pyrene-induced tumorigenesis by myristicin, a volatile aroma constituent of parsley leaf oil. Carcinogenesis 13:1921–1923
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