saretrostudy

As advanced as the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries have become in determining what to use on dry skin to remoisturize or on oily skin to cause drying, little is understood about an important anatomic structure that plays a key role, the sebaceous gland. The true function of the sebaceous gland has not been determined in its entirety.

Theories of its function to keep the skin soft and supple, manufacture lipids (fats) that prevent drying and have antimicrobial properties, and perhaps play a role in hair growth have all been offered. These are probably all correct yet the glands appear to have a multifunctional role of which we are just scratching the surface in defining their importance. Those of us interested in the disease responsible for the destruction of the sebaceous glands, sebaceous adenitis (SA), respect the importance of these glands even though we may not be scientific enough to understand everything about them.

It is difficult to devise a treatment for a disease of a structure that is poorly understood! However just as in any disease, sometimes “by accident” therapies are discovered that actually elicit an improvement in clinical symptoms. Treatments for SA include synthetic vitamin A (oral retinoids), natural vitamin A, fatty acids, Cyclosporine and topical emollients such as baby oil soaks, propylene glycol and bath oils/conditioners. Oral retinoids such as Accutane, Cyclosporine and high doses of fatty acids can all be quite expensive and many clients will not be able to afford these treatments. In addition, at best, the success rate in one study using oral retinoids found only a 50 percent response rate and that could take up to three months! Also, with any medication there is the potential for side effects, i.e., oral retinoids can cause dry eye and elevated cholesterol, high doses of fatty acids cause diarrhea in some patients. For these reasons, my first line therapy for a patient with SA is topical baby oil soaks followed by Palmolive dishwashing soap. (There are many permutations of this therapy — some owners have used Humectress conditioner, Alpha Keri oil, etc.) In my dermatology practice I have diagnosed various breeds of dogs with SA — Golden Retrievers, Standard and Miniature Poodles, Samoyeds, Dalmatians, Havanese, Maltese, Viszlas, Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherd Dogs, Springer Spaniels, Old English Sheepdogs, Akitas, Lhasa Apsos and mixed breeds. I have had nearly a 100 percent success rate using baby oil soaks (or variations) weekly as therapy.

The treatment is largely without side effects and inexpensive. The main drawback is that it is time-consuming but most owners do not mind, seeing that they are saving quite a bit of expense. Most patients begin to show improvement after the first couple of baths.

The lack of knowledge about what the sebaceous glands actually do proves to be stumbling block in understanding a disease that involves these structures. For years my area of research has been trying to develop an noninvasive test for SA that hopefully will be able to detect subclinical SA (before visible symptoms become evident). Initially my research was in collaboration with Procter & Gamble which employs or consults with the top skin lipid experts throughout the world. Working with Procter & Gamble we actually pinpointed the lipid structure of canine skin and found it to be quite different from human skin. Skin lipids of the dog had been studied some 20 years earlier using antiquated methods such as dipping dogs in vats of solvents! I was fortunate enough to make use of the most up-to-date technology through Procter & Gamble to study skin lipids. Determining what exactly makes up the skin lipids in dogs was step one.

Investigating what causes their destruction and what we can do about it is our big next step. When I mentioned that baby oil soaks applied topically to dogs with SA caused them to re-grow hair, not one of the lipid experts could offer a logical explanation. Those of us who have used baby oil soaks followed by a detergent shampoo KNOW we see results—new hair growth with reduction of scaling. We know it works, we just don’t know why!

reprinted with kind permission from Dr Jeromin
http://www.purrfectpet.com/

The above information is simply informational. It's intent is not to replace the advice of a veterinarian nor to assist you in making a diagnosis of your pet. Please consult with your own veterinarian for confirmation of any diagnosis. Your pets life may depend on it.

A Retrospective on the Use of Baby Oil Soaks

in the Treatment of Sebaceous Adenitis