What is Ozone Therapy? How Does It Work?

What is Ozone Therapy? How Does It Work?

Ozone therapy is the use of medical ozone, a reactive form of pure oxygen, for healing purposes. Interest in ozonotherapy, which has been used in clinics in Europe for more than 50 years, is increasing day by day. In our country, it is used in the treatment and prevention of many diseases as primary treatment or supportive treatment.

A healthy functioning body has a wonderful balance and the potential to regenerate itself. When the body's self-repair mechanism is interrupted, we get sick. Ozonotherapy allows the body to do its best to repair itself. Therefore, it is effective against many diseases.

Which diseases is ozonotherapy effective in the treatment of?

Ozone makes the immune system work more effectively and regularly. Due to this effect; It is applied as primary or supportive in the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, eye diseases and cancer.

Ozone has a direct killing effect against viruses, bacteria and fungi. Ozonotherapy is effective in the treatment and prevention of diseases caused by these microorganisms. In addition to acute infections such as influenza; It is also used in chronic diseases such as colitis, proctitis, rheumatism, arthritis.

Red blood cells act as oxygen carriers in our body. Ozonotherapy encourages red blood cells to work regularly and carry more oxygen. In other words, ozonotherapy increases the amount of oxygen reaching the cells. Sufficient oxygen means good circulation and healthy cells.

Ozonotherapy is also successfully applied in anti-aging applications, pain treatment, stress management, treatment and prevention of autoimmune diseases.

How is Ozonotherapy Applied? What are the Application Methods?

Ozonotherapy has different application methods;

• Minor ozonotherapy
• Major ozonotherapy
• Rectal ozone
• Bagging, trophy
• Sauna
• Intra-articular applications

Among these, major therapy, minor, rectal and bagging are the most commonly used methods.

Major Ozonotherapy:

• A certain amount of blood is taken from the person. The blood is ozonized and reintroduced intravenously like serum.
• It is the most preferred method because it provides a systemic, i.e. general effect on the body.
• In major therapy, ozone activates the body's antioxidant system, cleansing the blood and organs of free radicals.
• Blood vessels open and circulation becomes easier.
• In ozone minor therapy application, the amount of blood determined according to the needs of the body and the evaluations made is injected into the muscle after ozonized.

Minor Ozonotherapy

• Again, a certain amount of blood is taken from the person (the amount of blood taken is much less than that of the majore), the blood is ozonized and injected into the muscle instead of intravenously.
• It is frequently preferred in respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD.
• This method can also be used safely in people with allergies and dermatological problems.

Ozone Rectal Application:

In this application, ozone is given directly into the intestines through the rectum / anus. Its effect is systemic, that is, general. It is generally preferred in cases where major application is not possible.

Ozone Bagging:

This application is frequently preferred especially in wound treatments and even in the treatment of non-healing wounds observed on the feet of diabetics.

Ozone bagging eliminates foci of infection. Ozone accelerates the healing of the wound, damaged tissue.

How Many Sessions Should Ozone Therapy Be Applied?

The number and duration of sessions in ozonotherapy varies according to the needs of each patient and the disease. But usually 10 sessions of ozonotherapy is recommended. First 3 weeks; 2 times a week and then 1 session per week. 1 session lasts approximately 30-45 minutes

In 2020, the Place of Ozone Therapy in the Corona Pandemic Process

The whole world has been struggling with corona virus since the beginning of 2020, and we have been struggling with corona virus in our country since March. While vaccine applications continue, there are many researches and studies on the treatment of the disease and alleviation of its symptoms. Among all these studies, ozonotherapy and IV therapies stand out.

The first and most important protection for Covid-19 is "not getting the disease". For this, vaccination and physical barrier measures (mask distance hygiene) should be applied without interruption. It is also very important to strengthen our immune system and protect our general health. In order to strengthen our immune system, we need to keep the antioxidant reserves in our body high.

It is also true that in some cases, corona can be quite severe and even have bad consequences in people who do not have immune problems and who have chronic diseases. Of course, humanity will win the fight against corona, but there are still mechanisms that we have not yet fully understood about the virus and the course of the disease. So what should we do, should we wait and do nothing? Of course not! We must arm ourselves with all the shields we have for defense.

Ozonotherapy is being used both as a shield against corona and as a weapon against the disease. Many studies have already been published on this. As time passes, these studies will increase much more, but so far in publications;

• Ozone is cytoprotective (i.e. cell protective) against covid 19 (Potential Cytoprotective Activity of Ozone Therapy in SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. Martínez-Sánchez G, Schwartz A, Donna VD. Antioxidants (Basel). 2020 May 6;9(5):389.)
• Systemic ozone therapy appears to be useful in controlling inflammation, stimulating immunity, providing antiviral activity, and providing protection from acute coronary syndromes and ischemia-reperfusion injury. Therefore, systemic ozone therapy in combination with antivirals may be helpful and synergistic in COVID-19 positive patients.
• It showed that ozone therapy can promote the improvement of clinical condition and chest CT images in 2 covid-positive people, shorten the duration of viral transmission and hospitalization (J Med Virol. 2020 May 21;10.1002/jmv.26040. A preliminary evaluation on the efficacy of ozone therapy in the treatment of COVID-19 Zhishui Zheng 1, Minglin Dong 1, Ke Hu 1)
• Medical ozone can help reduce lung inflammation, slow viral growth, regulate pulmonary circulation and oxygenation, and prevent microvascular thrombosis. Ozone therapy can be considered a viable, cost-effective and easy-to-administer adjuvant therapy while awaiting synthesis of a therapy or development of a vaccine. (Review Med Gas Res. Jul-Sep 2020;10(3):134-138. doi: 10.4103/2045-9912.289462.Rationale for ozone-therapy as an adjuvant therapy in COVID-19: a narrative reviewGiovanni Tommaso Ranaldi 1, Emanuele Rocco Villani 2, Laura Franza)

Are There Side Effects of Ozone Therapy?

Ozone therapy is a very safe application. However, if it is done by the right people and the right application.

Errors made during implementation, lack of the right patient-treatment matching can lead to undesirable consequences.

• Following the rules set by the European Ozone Association in ozone therapy application
• Determining the right dose for each patient
• The reliability and accuracy of the medical equipment used during ozone therapy (ozone-resistant bottles should be used, blood bags should never be used, bacterial filters must be used, medical equipment used must be ozone-resistant, otherwise it may cause serious problems with testosterone balance) is a must.
• It is inconvenient to ozonize serum instead of blood

In order to be able to apply ozone therapy, it is not enough to be a physician, the physician must have a certificate of ozone therapy application.

Who Can Have Ozone Therapy?

• Ozone therapy without any side effects can be applied to everyone.
• The treatment has no side effects and there are no drug interactions.
• Therefore, ozone therapy has a great place in protecting human health and combating diseases.

Cases where ozone therapy is not recommended or where laboratory tests should be carefully evaluated before ozone therapy application are as follows:

• Severe anemia
• Hemophilia
• Hyperthyroidism
• Chronic pancreatitis,
• Recent heart infarction and diseases with active bleeding

Hair Breaking and Ozone Therapy

Alopecia Araeta with the medical name Alopecia Araeta is an autoimmune disorder with an unknown cause.

It has a genetic predisposition. In other words, having individuals in your family who suffer from hair loss increases your likelihood of being predisposed to this disease.

Hair loss is a disease that can affect hair and other body hair during the growth phase.

There is no definitive approved treatment. However, topical corticosteroids, ozone therapy and mesotherapy can be used.

It is observed in both sexes, men and women. However, it is more common in men. Ringworm occurs predominantly in young people. For every 100 people affected, 70 to 80 are under the age of 40.

The skin in the affected area is healthy and there is no inflammation. Ringworm is clinically variable and varies from person to person.

Unfortunately, the course of hair loss is unpredictable and can sometimes become chronic. In other words, the same situation can occur again and again.

It is an inevitable fact that the treatment is quite challenging for people who experience hair loss with hair loss.

However, positive results can be observed in the treatment of hair breakage with major and minor application of ozonotherapy.