Using DMSO to Treat a Burn
My life is a little chaotic right now. I’m in a temporary living situation, having moved across the country and awaiting completion of our new home. I’m in constant movement as I try to juggle work, a myriad of errands that come along with a big move, and getting my youngest ready to leave for college in a different state. So it was no surprise that I managed to injure myself in the form of a second degree burn on much of my forearm. This coming only 4 weeks after breaking my pinky toe through slamming into a moving box as I rushed through our old house at breakneck speed!
While my saga is a cautionary tale of impatience, with hopefully some useful tidbits on treating burns, what I really want you to take away from the narrative are three principles with broad application:
There is never only one way to treat a health condition - find what works for you in the current circumstances.
There are natural solutions to just about any ailment that will work with your body with far better results than compared to using conventional medical products.
DMSO should be in your medicine cabinet as a powerful solution to a range of problems when used appropriately.
The Cautionary Tale
Last week I was running out to the car balancing several items in my arms including the herbal tea I had just added boiling water to. I thought the lid was on my thermal mug but alas I managed to drip a fair amount on my arm as I offloaded the various bits and pieces into the car.
Already late for an appointment, I continued to arrange all my packages and got ready to drive off. It took a few minutes for the pain and redness to finally register as something that might warrant attention. Reluctantly I went back into the house and grabbed some ice but the damage had been done. Who knew tea could be so dangerous?!
When we packed up our household belongings for the move a month ago, it didn’t occur to me that we might need our first aid kit or contents of our medicine cabinet until we were safely in our new home. I’m getting a great lesson in patience and uncertainty through this process.
Day 1 of the burn saga was uneventful. Rather painful and red but manageable. I was already taking turmeric to help with the broken pinky toe (did I mention I’m learning patience – God is really pushing me to slow down!). I was busy and didn’t think there was much to worry about. I gently put on a little Healing Balm I had available from Kauai Farmacy which has healing botanicals added to coconut oil.
Day 2 saw a dark brown scab forming and some blisters in the middle where the tea first hit (and then dripped around the arm). Still, I mostly ignored it though the pain was increasing. The problem started that night when I accidentally scratched it in my sleep and tore off a chunk of the scab. Now it was really painful and the risk of infection became a concern.
I remembered I had received a delivery of DMSO gel from YumNaturals Emporium, a source of excellent natural medicine products in Canada. I had read Amandha Vollmer’s useful little book called Healing with DMSO, the complete guide, and was impressed with her scientific background and knowledge of botanical medicine which led me to visit her online store a few weeks prior.
As with any natural medicine product you need to be really certain of its quality and source and not just grab something from Costco or Amazon.
I like to test out the products I recommend, and had been hoping to encourage my Mum in the UK to try DMSO for her chronic leg pain. (See my earlier article on the topic of chronic pain). Due to a shipping snafu from Canada, the jar of DMSO gel (90% pure mixed with 10% aloe) hadn’t gone into my storage boxes and was re-routed to our temporary address.
The healing I experienced from DMSO was amazing but before we continue the saga, here’s some background for those unfamiliar with this all-natural substance.
Background to DMSO
DMSO stands for dimethyl sulfoxide and is naturally extracted from trees. It was first discovered as a useful by-product of paper-making in the 1950s; particularly its benefit as a cryoprotective agent (against the harmful effects of freezing) to preserve bone marrow and blood cells for preserving specimens and in the transplanting of organs. It was soon found to have many other intriguing properties which explain its almost supernatural ability to aid many different conditions.
Despite DMSO being widely used “behind-the-scenes” in mainstream medicine and pharmaceutical applications today, it is shunned as a remedy in its own right for a variety of reasons mostly related to money – it is cheap to produce, impossible to patent, and doesn’t require a doctor’s supervision.
As far back as the 1960s Big Pharma has been trying to discredit DMSO as you can watch in this old episode of 60 minutes. It is making something of a comeback in recent years thanks to natural medicine practitioners like Amandha Vollmer and physicians like A Midwestern Doctor who writes the Substack: The Forgotten Side of Medicine with a number of extensive articles on the benefits of DMSO for a wide variety of conditions.
Benefits of DMSO
Here’s a few of the properties that make DMSO such a powerful therapy:
Effective analgesic (pain killer), blocking nerves conducting pain signals.
Antimicrobial and bacteriostatic (inhibits the growth of bacteria).
Increases production of white blood cells and macrophages - important for immune function.
Reduces inflammation and swelling.
Improves blood supply to injured areas by dilating blood vessels and reducing blood viscosity.
Increases delivery of oxygen to cells.
Is transdermal, easily penetrating the skin and the blood-brain barrier.
Increases cell membrane permeability, allowing for the removal of toxins.
Excellent heavy metal detoxifier, binding to aluminum, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and nickel, enabling them to be eliminated through urination and sweating.
Has a calming effect on the central nervous system.
Acts as a carrier for other treatments (natural and pharmaceutical) increasing their effect. (*)
Protects against radiation damage and promotes DNA repair.
Is non-toxic and has an unquestionable safety profile.
Some of the conditions literature¹ has shown DMSO to be useful for include: chronic pain, infections such as Lyme disease, cancer, autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis, persistent migraines, neurological disorders like stroke and dementia, autism and learning disabilities, circulatory disorders like Raynaud’s and varicose veins, tissue injuries like sprains, burns and concussions, tinnitus, vision loss and dental problems, internal organ conditions like pancreatitis, liver cirrhosis, and endometriosis, lung conditions like COPD, asthma and cystic fibrosis, and prostrate and thyroid conditions.
Precautions When Using DMSO
DMSO is entirely safe but its proper use will ensure the most beneficial outcome.
Skin irritation. Depending on your sensitivity it could cause temporary warmth, redness, peeling, itching or even a burning sensation. You can lower the concentration you use and it is commonly mixed with pure aloe vera to alleviate issues. Constant use on one area could cause the skin there to become leathery. This will go away once use is discontinued or the location moved.
Clean skin. You should always wash the area of application before use. Whatever DMSO comes into contact with can potentially be carried into the body. This includes chemicals in makeup or skin lotions and even the substances in man-made clothes fibers. Wash after exercise as your skin will be eliminating toxins which can be carried back into the body with a DMSO application.
Detoxification reactions. DMSO is used by the liver to create glutathione enhancing your detoxification capabilities. If you have been consuming ultra-processed foods, alcohol, tobacco or conventional produce treated with pesticides/herbicides, you can find that the rate of eliminating these toxins from the body increases. Symptoms can include headache, bloating, nausea, skin rashes and mood changes. Drink plenty of clean water. Resting and periodic fasting may also help.
DMSO Odor. Pure DMSO itself has no odor. But inside the body it metabolizes and can give off a sulfur-based smell which may be unpleasant. Some people can taste the DMSO as soon as they apply it to their skin. Others experience no taste or smell but their partners or friends may complain. A mouthwash using wintergreen essential oil in water may do the trick or a few drops of food-grade 3% hydrogen peroxide further diluted in water – just make sure to spit-out either mouthwash.
Dosing and Time-Outs. Topical dilutions of DMSO range from 40 percent to 90 percent for most applications. It can be used as a liquid diluted in water, or as a gel mixed with aloe vera. It can also be mixed with coconut or jojoba oil. Do your research on the best dosage for your situation. It is also beneficial to take periodic time-outs for long-term use to enable the clearing out of metabolites from the body. One day off a week or a month. If you’ve been using for 6-months straight you might need a week off.
Reactivity of Materials. Be careful what touches the skin where DMSO has been applied. It reacts with soft metals like aluminum, copper, iron or tin (but not stainless steel or pure gold/silver) and most plastics. If you can keep the skin uncovered for at least 30-minutes after application and try to wear only pure cotton next to the area to be safe.
Do Not Consume Alcohol. While DMSO can have a protective effect on the liver, the timing of alcohol use compared to the DMSO ingestion or application can lead to the inhibition of alcohol break-down which can be dangerous.
(*) Use with Pharmaceuticals. DMSO enhances the action of anything else you are putting into the body so it should be used with caution if you are taking pharmaceutical drugs. Here I need to quote directly from Amandha Vollmer
Don’t let the precautions put you off. The benefits of DMSO are just too widespread to not give it a try especially for difficult to treat health conditions.
Back to the Burn Saga
Knowing all the pros and cons of DMSO I decided to try it on the morning of Day 3. After a cool shower I gingerly applied the gel to my sore arm. Within 10 minutes the pain I had been experiencing for two days entirely disappeared. There were no adverse effects so I applied it twice a day for the next four days.
On day 4 I was worried I was applying too much as I felt the need for a third application before I went to bed. The only formula I had was 90% dilution so I first poured pure jojoba oil on my arm and then added the DMSO gel.
I probably should have started the DMSO sooner as the literature shows it is best applied to burns as soon as possible. In the DMSO Handbook for Doctors Archie H. Scott describes a cook who tipped a pot of boiling oil on himself. He had second degree burns over much of his body. Doctors applied a solution of 50% DMSO, 50% aloe three times the first day then every 8 hours for the next 2 days after which he was able to return to work, and healed with no scarring.
I was worried about doing further damage in my sleep so I sought out some kind of dressing to apply at night or when out in the sun. My friend who is a nurse, recommended a dressing that was impregnated with colloidal silver which has been very useful also. Colloidal silver is the most common natural treatment for burns (my supply was inaccessible in our storage boxes!) but DMSO is highly recommended to be used in conjunction with colloidal silver for wounds so the combination worked out well.
It was quite funny when my husband suddenly asked on day 6 if I was eating something new as my breath had been smelling weird. Our temporary living situation has upset our routine somewhat so I looked through the fridge to see what I might have bought that I didn’t usually eat. It took me a few minutes to realize it must be the DMSO. I didn’t taste or smell anything but he has a sensitive nose. My breath went back to normal after discontinuing use.
Here’s my arm on day 8. Quite a fun design at this point. It doesn’t hurt at all. I’m now putting the Healing Balm on it after my morning shower and organic coconut oil (from the kitchen!) if it dries out later in the day. I’m keeping it covered at night and when outside to protect the virgin skin from the sun.
I’ll update the post with future photos to see if it fully heals with no scarring. It’s looking good so far!
¹I have used several sources for the details of DMSO including Healing with DMSO: the complete guide to safe and natural treatments for managing pain, inflammation, and other chronic ailments with dimethyl sulfoxide by Amandha Vollmer, The DMSO handbook for Doctors by Archie H. Scott, and the extensive Substack writings on the topic by A Midwestern Doctor, all of which list out extensive scientific literature.
²See chapter 3, page 41 of Amandha Vollmer’s book Healing with DMSO.
