How to cure Tinea Versicolor; My personal journey

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The spot near my ankle spread up my legs and onto my torso. The skin began to become textured and would dry out heavily. I started to apply lotion to it daily and it spread further. Eventually in high school when I became extremely self-conscious of my discoloration, I went to visit a dermatologist. He told me I had Tinea versicolor (TV). I looked it up. Yup I had TV. I told my parents and called my grandparents in Bermuda as I remembered seeing it for the first time when returning home from a trip there. They said in their Carribean-esque accents “Yes Boy! We call dat Bermuda rot!”

 

Bermuda rot, also known as Hawaiian Rot, liver spots, beach fungus, or Tinea versicolor ended up being much harder to treat than I imagined. It’s a fungus and there are plenty of antifungal treatments on the market so I couldn’t understand why. From my original dermatology appointment I had taken an oral antifungual called Ketoconazole and also applied a topical one as well. It didn’t work. It didn’t even phase my TV.

I tried everything under the sun on my skin. I tried the classic treatments like sleeping with Antidandruff shampoos on my skin over night. The showers the next day always burned from the resulting slight chemical burn from whatever active ingredient had sat on my skin recently: Coal tar, pyrithione zinc, you name it. I tried Sulfur shampoos, I sprayed athlete’s foot’s spray all over my body, I slept in foot powder, I even rubbed yeast infection cream all over my body. Nothing worked. Nothing. I gave up. I felt like I was doomed to forever look like a human cheetah.

To make an already long story shorter I learned a great deal about the fungus. I learned how it worked and how your body normally destroys it. For example, there are immune cells called macrophages that destroy fungal cells in the dermis of your skin. For fungal infections that are systemic in nature, they simply can’t keep up with the destruction of the fungal cells (called hyphae). Researching new novel treatments led me to a compound called acidified nitrite which is a potent fungicidal. As a side project in graduate school, with a decent background in organic chemistry, I was able to make a lotion-based formula with this as the main ingredient and varying concentrations.

At first my skin was extremely irritated. It became inflamed. It began to darken and yellow (acidified nitrite temporarily stains the skin), but I though to myself “It must be doing something.” Knowing fungus loves moisture I kept my skin dry and only used the lotion. After two weeks of skin that looked extremely irritated I began to notice patches of clear skin where the fungus had died. I continued using it for another few weeks. Then, after so much progress had been made I attended a biology conference for a week and forgot my lotion. All my progress was to be lost, at least I thought.

By the time I had returned my fungus had disappeared. No more Tinea. No more textured skin. You could still see where the pigment was lacking from years of having the fungus but it was a complete and drastic change in appearance of my skin. I thought “Well I’m glad I have a cure for myself.”

Later after graduate school and once I had become professor, my now fiancé and I talked about starting an herbal company when I mentioned reading an article about a rare plant used to increase milk production in nursing mothers, also found in the Phillipines. I said “I bet I can get a hold of that plant.”

She smiled “You know what we should do?” she said. “What?” “We should sell your Tinea cure!” I thought that’s a terrible idea. It might irritate people’s skin, they may break out in a rash. It might not work for them. They might not use it right.

With enough encouragement from family and friends and research into their particular problems we started making a few select herbal supplements. So how do you start an herbal company that’s different than the rest in what seems like a saturated business niche? Well first you make sure you know what ingredients are actually in your product. It’s called mass spectrometry. It’s an analytical chemistry technique that tells you what and how much there is of a specific compound in whatever you’re examining. Most herbal companies just use whole plant parts that aren’t even tested for any level of specificity. I also set out to make compounded formulas as many problems exhibit a number of symptoms.

At first we let friends and friends of friends try our products. With online reviews some of them marketed themselves.

As you may have guessed, without any other treatments on the market, our Tinea Versicolor Treatment sold the best, which was ironic since I never even wanted to sell it.

Does it cure everyone who buys it? Nope. Like all medical products people respond differently in treatment just like how some headache treatments only work for some people. It isn’t magic. But it has an extremely high cure rate. Higher than anything I’ve ever encountered and having been in the business for years now we are usually a last ditch effort for people searching for a cure. We’ve developed a bit of a cult following.

Part of what makes TVT work is its concentration. Most antifungals on the market only contain about 1% of the active ingredient to minimize adverse reaction when such a large population of people are using your products for a number of types of fungal infections. This minimizes liability. TVT contains a higher concentration of active ingredient. It’s unique for a number of reasons and you can read all about it if you’re interested in the specific product information page. This post is about my personal journey.

Tinea usually reoccurs. In the beginning people often think it’s permanently curable. For me, it comes back and flares up about once a year in the Spring when the weather warms and I tend to sweat more. I use TVT for a few weeks, wait a week, and it restores my skin texture and tone. I’ve got the original bottle on a shelf in my bathroom with a label that’s barely legible. It reminds me that being consistent, in all aspects of life, is extremely important.

Sincerely,

Aaron Kampe,  Your Modern Medicine Man