Dead Sea: Post consultation with Dr Karin Schallreuter

Apologies for the huge delay in getting this post up, it’s been hectic since I got back from Germany and apparently, I brought the flu back with me!

Not only that, but the last few months have been very difficult and mentally, the Vitiligo is affecting me more than ever. It could be because I’m much more aware of the condition seeing as I’m actively searching to improve it but I it just seems to be playing on my mind a bit more.

This is going to be a long one!

OK, so the morning after the mental day of travelling mentioned in my previous post, I arrived at the Institute for Pigmentary Disorders which I believe is part of the University of Greifswald.

At reception(on the first floor), I was directed to the waiting room where I met 4 other Vitiligo sufferers also waiting for consultation. Initially,  Dr Schallreuter came in and spoke to us all together. She went through a detailed medical diagnosis of Vitiligo and gave the science behind her own developed Pseudocatalse cream.

My(uneducated) understanding of the Pseudocatalse cream is to counter the high oxidative stress that is common in the skin of almost all Vitiligo sufferers. People that have Vitiligo tend to have low catalase activity and this in turn stops the necessary reduction of of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the skin.

The Pseudocatalse cream has to be applied to the entire body once or twice a day depending on the severity of the Vitiligo. With application of the cream, you must stop using any products with fragrance on the skin, so no soaps or nice smelling deodorant. I believe there are fragrance-less products that you can use. In terms of hair washing, you should only be using things like baby shampoo. For women, you have to be extra careful with make-up  and there are some special type of cosmetics that are safe to use but I didn’t take note of these.

It is 95 Euro per bottle(I forget the size, possibly 500ml?) and you can order it from Germany to be delivered to your country. I believe it was about 35 euro shipping to Europe.

Dr Schallreuter then went on to demonstrate her primary treatment method, UVB light. She recommends the use of the Dermalight 1000 or the Dermalight 80 in very small doses(in my case, approximately 30 seconds a day for 30 days and then increased to twice a day) to “activate” the Pseudocatalse cream. This, I believe is where it differs from the usual doctors recommendation where they slowly increase the time UVB light over time eventually getting to near to 10 minutes per session. Dr Schallreuter keeps her doses low to ensure there is no risk of any side effects(skin cancer, blistering etc).

Dr Schallreuter went on to talk about the climotherapy trip to the Dead Sea which she runs once a year. There is no “miracle” here as some websites would have you believe, Jordon’s climate acts as natural Narrowband-UVB. In conjunction with using the  Pseudocatalse cream, you bath in the Dead Sea for 20mins which is 400m below sea level and the salt concentration is 28-36% and also acts as  Pseudocatalse.

We then as a group had an opportunity to ask any questions. I am paraphrasing here from memory but questions that were asked included:

Q: Does diet affect Vitilgo?

A: No, apart from green tea and certain spicy foods because of additives that they contain that can increase the oxidation in the skin.

Q: Following on from diet, what are your views on Nutritional Therapy?

A: I have seen cases relating to low Folic Acid and Vitamin B12, but if your blood count is ok, there is no medical evidence to prove that taking excessive amounts of vitamins can treat Vitiligo.

Q: Recently, Ginko Biloba has had some success in treating Vitiligo. Is it safe to take it?

A: Again, no conclusive medical research that it helps Vitiligo, but it is safe to take.

Following the Q&A, we were each taken in for our private consultation. I sat down with Dr Schallreuter, we discussed my depigmented patches and also any previous treatments I had tried. I stood(completely naked!) in darkened room, where Dr Schallreuter and her assistant(Angela) scanned me with a UV light to discover all Vitiligo patches. I was then asked to apply the Pseudocatalse to my whole body to test for any allergic reaction.

Following all consultations,  our group went into Griefswald center square and had some lunch, it was good to hear other stories and treatments that had been tried. It also gave me some appreciation of how mild my Vitiligo was in comparison. We met again for drinks that night in the hotel and since Germany stay in contact through a Facebook group.

The next day, we were asked to be at the University between 7.30 – 8.00am for a series of blood tests. The results would determine what concentration of  Pseudocatalse cream would be used and there were also test for how quickly phenylalanine was absorbed into the blood(if I remember correctly).  This followed another consultation where Dr Schallreuter set out a UVB time plan depending on if you were buying either of the Dermalight Lamps. In my case, I only really cared about treating my face at this point, so I opted for the Dermalight 80. I’ll go into what results I’ve had using the lamp in another post.

As for the Dead Sea, there was not a huge amount confirmed or discussed. Dr Schallreuter just said that once the dates and prices are finalised I would e-mailed with booking instructions.

That was it!

Going to Germany was really just a mandatory pre-requisite so that I could attend the Dead Sea Trip. I hadn’t really considered the lamp until it was suggested during the consultation. I felt it wouldn’t hurt in such low doses to give it a go. I had a good experience but only time will tell if the treatments(both UVB light and Dead Sea) are effective. Dr Schallreuter is a very professional and nice woman, she can be very direct and sometimes borders on blunt but she does inspire confidence and give hope.

I will warn that communication via e-mail can be very poor, a number of our group have complained about getting delayed responses and sometimes even ignored. Fortunately, I haven’t experienced this.

I may have missed some bits so I’ll probably update when I remember but feel free to ask any questions in the comments. Sorry for the delay in not replying to some of the others, I wasn’t getting notified correctly through e-mail of a new comment.

More to come.