Doctors at Princess Alexandra Emergency Department in Brisbane were shocked when the man entered the ward in September last year.
He was using a ‘strong narcotic analgesic used to relieve pain’ to combat the agony and doctors initially believed they would have to operate.
However, he was sent home to tend to
the wound with proper instructions and it healed within three months.
The man had admitted to staff he had
been applying an alternative medicine to the area, which staff believe was a
type of Black salve.
The ointment, also known as drawing salve, contains sanguinarine – derived from bloodroot – and is often mixed with zinc chloride, working as a corrosive.
The paste is used on a topical area,
moles, scars and sometimes cancer, it destroys skin tissue, leaving being a
black scar which later falls off.
Black salves were popular in the
early 1900s to treat skin lesions, but have been listed as a 'fake cancer
treatment' by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2004, and the
organisation is actively trying to ban it in the U.S.
In Australia, the Therapeutic Goods
Administration (TGA) condemned the ointments as recently as 2012, although they
are not yet banned.
The TGA says it is ‘unaware of any
credible, scientific evidence that black salve, red salve or cansema can cure
or treat cancer.’
However, the warnings have not
stopped the widespread use of Black salve in Australia.
‘I think it’s used a lot more
commonly than we realise,’ dermatologist Dr Erin McMeniman said.
‘Patients are often quite secretive
about where they get it from, but dermatologists often end up seeing cases
where there are major complications.
‘Most commonly the tumour is not
adequately treated and then 12 months later it’s still growing beneath the scar
the cancema [black salve] has produced.’
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