intoxicating information on alcohols

[Guest guest]

I want to thank Jen and Adam for detailing Dr. Nase's position

regarding the fatty alcohols for me. They quoted sections from his

book or provided links to posts, both of which I need to look at in

greater detail. I appreciate the information.

Jen also included a link to Dr. Sy's explanation, from February

10, 2000. (Many here are already familiar with Dr. Sy, a

dermatologist in private practice who sells her line of proprietary

skin care products.) Her writing reflects my thoughts on this topic

as well:

http://www.escribe.com/health/rosacea-support/m9797.html

Marjorie

Marjorie Lazoff, MD

I hope Dr. Sy won't mind that I cut-and-paste the core of that

message:

" Cetyl alcohol & stearyl alcohol both belong to the family of " fatty

alcohols " . They are used in products as skin conditioning agents,

emollient, viscosity increasing agent (thickener), emulsifying

agents, stabilizer, surfactant. If you feel the raw material for both

(& other fatty alcohols) in your hands, you'll find them to be thick

and greasy. You'll never call it an alcohol. Similarly, if you feel

the raw material of lanolin (an excellent emollient people are

familiar with), you'll never guess that an alternative name for

lanolin is " wool alcohol " , as it is a refined derivative from

sebaceous secretions of sheeps. Using this simile, my point is this:

just because an ingredient has the word alcohol attached to it, does

not mean it is the type of alcohol such as isopropyl alcohol or SD

alcohol that a lay person is familiar with. (I have my controversial

and contrarian views on the use of SD alcohol on rosaceans but that

is another entirely different long discussion.)

So, why do some rosaceans react to liquid cleansers containing cetyl

alcohol etc while others don't? My guess is the ff. 1) The culprit is

probaly not cetyl alcohol but may be the percentage amount of sodium

lauryl sulfate in the formulation. SLS is the main cleansing agent in

soaps & cleansers. It is very effective but, above a certain

percentage, it can cause irritation in some people with delicate

sensitive skin. In other words, a certain amount is optimal but

beyond that percentage, can cause irritation. This explains

why and many of my rosacea patients did not react to Sy

Cleansing Lotion. 2) The stage of rosacea - Those with advanced

rosacea and chemical intolerance, get irritated by even ordinary

products. When applying products on skin that is acutely inflamed and

has lost its normal protective barrier, it can feel like adding salt

to open wounds. My experience has been that once inflammation is gone

and skin barrier repaired/healed, these same individuals will be able

to use many products again without irritation. 3) psychological

discrimination - it is very human to have irrational fear when

one is concerned or obsessed with a health problem. If you keep

hearing news about alcohol being absolutely anathema to rosaceans,

wouldn't you feel the burning sensation already (subconsciously) even

before you apply the stuff on your face? This is the reason why

double blind studies are done in academia - to remove commitment bias

and subjective preconceived ideas. "