The coal tar treatment thread

[D Foster]

Coal tar is a by product from the production of "Coke (fuel)" discovered in 1665 and first used for medical purposes in the 1800s.

The exact mechanism of action is unknown. It is a complex mixture of phenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and heterocyclic compounds. It demonstrates antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-itch, and antiparasitic properties. It is a keratolytic agent, which reduces the growth rate of skin cells and softens the skin's keratin.

It is on the World Health Organization's List of essential medicines and is mostly used to treat dandruff, psoriasis and head lice.

Side effects include skin irritation, sun sensitivity, allergic reactions, and skin discoloration. And as already mentioned it can be flammable.

It can also be used to seal roads (Tarmac) (Sealcoat). To fire a boiler, to manufacture paints, synthetic dyes, and photographic materials. It was also distilled to make creosote.

That was fun.

Thanks Fred you beat me to it, just not had time to look into it.

[Caroline]

Coal tar is a by product from the production of "Coke (fuel)" discovered in 1665 and first used for medical purposes in the 1800s.

The exact mechanism of action is unknown. It is a complex mixture of phenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and heterocyclic compounds. It demonstrates antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-itch, and antiparasitic properties. It is a keratolytic agent, which reduces the growth rate of skin cells and softens the skin's keratin.

It is on the World Health Organization's List of essential medicines and is mostly used to treat dandruff, psoriasis and head lice.

Side effects include skin irritation, sun sensitivity, allergic reactions, and skin discoloration. And as already mentioned it can be flammable.

It can also be used to seal roads (Tarmac) (Sealcoat). To fire a boiler, to manufacture paints, synthetic dyes, and photographic materials. It was also distilled to make creosote.

That was fun.

Good answer and excellent example of just trying something and finding out that it appears to work, without knowing the mechanism, only looking at the results. So different for what came after that. But in that times they did not have the opportunity to research the “why”. And apparently, nobody in this current scientific times, reaches the idea that it may be worth to research it.    It might open the road to new treatments.

Another example I have recently read, in another forum, is a guy who treated his plaques with honey. And he was very successfully with that. His plaques disappeared and the skin under it repaired.
Now The exact mechanism of action is unknown. It is a complex mixture of nutrients that are gathered by the bees.  It demonstrates antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-itch, and antiparasitic properties. It is apparently an agent, which reduces the growth rate of skin cells and softens the skin's keratin.
The advantage also is that the plaques stick to it.
Side effects are virtually zero and it has the big advantage over coal tar, that it is not inflammable.

So.... If I had to choose between coal tar and honey, I think I know the answer.

What.... !! I think I am just gonna try to cover my body with honey !!     

[D Foster]

I believe that constituents of tar and honey have been used in other medical products.

[Fred]

Thanks Fred you beat me to it, just not had time to look into it.

Sorry Dave I didn't mean to take over, I just found it an interesting question and got carried away.

But now it's moved to some bloke using honey on the internet ............................. I'm done and will leave you all to it.

[D Foster]

Thanks Fred you beat me to it, just not had time to look into it.

Sorry Dave I didn't mean to take over, I just found it an interesting question and got carried away.

But now it's moved to some bloke using honey on the internet ............................. I'm done and will leave you all to it.

I'm not complaining Fred just saying, it was very interesting. I am not sure about covering my body with honey as I'm sweet enough.

[Caroline]

Thanks Fred you beat me to it, just not had time to look into it.

Sorry Dave I didn't mean to take over, I just found it an interesting question and got carried away.

But now it's moved to some bloke using honey on the internet ............................. I'm done and will leave you all to it.

Yes, which demonstrates that it is a good luck shot of the coal tar, that it as easily could have been honey.

[Caroline]

Well... how funny.. I have sent my question on coal tar to the National Psoriasis Foundation. I did that on the fourth of march, with an expectation ... low, and I forgot about it.
But a few days ago I received an answer... how sweet.
I have been assigned a Patient Navigator called ******, well read the following.

Quote:

---

My name is *******, and I will be your Patient Navigator. I can help you learn more about psoriatic disease treatments, connect you to others living with psoriasis, and much more.

I apologize for the delay in responding to your email. I was looking for some additional research on this topic. Here is what I found:
Unfortunately, we do not know the exact mechanism of coal tar—it was discovered to be an effective treatment option through trial and error.
Researchers believe that the “active” or “working” ingredient in coal tar works to suppress DNA synthesis of specific genes that code for proteins involved in the immune response, thereby inhibiting increased skin cell production that results in the thick, plaque formations of psoriasis. Apart from just blocking the formation of plaques tar also works to break down existing plaques. 
Thus, tar treats psoriasis by helping to slow the rapid growth of skin cells and restore the skin’s appearance. In addition, it can help reduce the inflammation, itching, and scaling of psoriasis.
The higher the concentration of tar, the more potent the product.

If you would like to learn more, this research study titled, “Review of the mechanism of action of coal tar in psoriasis” goes more into depth on this topic.

It is important to note that coal tar alone might not be enough to treat your psoriasis. As it is applied directly onto the skin, it is not as successful in treating the systemic inflammation that is present through out the body. This systemic inflammation is necessary to treat as it can lead to other related health conditions (comorbidities) such as psoriatic arthritis, and cardiovascular disease.

So concluding... there is a lot of belief when it comes to coal tar.. and the guess is that might even suppress DNA synthesis, which I assume is very advanced, but again it is a guess.
I have looked into the research ****** is mentioning. The conclusions of the research is:

Results: Crude coal tar consists of thousands of ingredients, many of which are unidentified. Of these ingredients, the most research has gone into analyzing polycyclic aryl hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons are thought to be the most likely component of crude coal tar that leads to its effects in psoriasis. Of the aryl hydrocarbons, carbazole has been the most well studied in psoriasis and is hypothesized as being responsible for the treatment efficacy of crude coal tar.

Conclusions: Polycyclic aryl hydrocarbons, and specifically carbazole, are thought to be the mechanism by which crude coal tar has its effect in psoriasis. However, further research is warranted to fully characterize the mechanism of action of crude coal tar, with the potential to create new therapies for psoriasis.

So... there are thousands of ingredients and they focussed on one of the thousands (might be the essential one of course). I bet you can get this polycyclic aryl hydrocarbons out of the coal tar and put in in a cream to test that hypotheses, but I cannot find that they really did that. And they stay with a hypothesis in the end.
And they state that further research is necessary. So they don’t know.

So... no conclusion. I works, but we don't know why.

At this moment I get these crazy thoughts, about which idiot with psoriasis has been thinking in the past: “Come on... I have this garbage, I think it is coal tar. Oh... wait, lets put it on my psoriasis, who knows what happens? Hey, that is fun ... it stinks but it works.. lets tell my doctor. “.

Following this thought, I am thinking of trying peanut butter on my psoriasis, oh and perhaps mmm maybe chocolate paste.. if it doesn’t work, we still can have fun with it 

---

Edit by Fred: Removed name of person mentioned.

[Fred]

I have sent my question on coal tar to the National Psoriasis Foundation.

You would be better off asking a lamppost.

[jiml]

Well that was interesting and just proves that nobody knows and they are just guessing.

[Bill]

I could have told you as much, Caroline. The funny thing is that there are refined coal tar products for psoriasis, but how do the manufacturers know what to refine when nobody knows what the active fractions are? It never worked very well for me and these days I would sooner use an emollient and minimise the mess. When I did use it I ended up changing to Stockholm tar based topical as the amount of tar I was using was making me sick. It is toxic stuff!