December 25, 2010

Herpes Cold Sore: Viroxyn vs. Bactine

Just got back from the ADA convention in Orlando and went by this booth that was touting a 100% cure or your money back for Herpes Simplex 1. The booth was complete with the carny type sales guy who could read your name badge from a mile away and yells out your first name to get your attention amidst the hundreds of conventioneers all around you. The booth was nice, complete with a pretty sales girl and lots of posters. They even gave me a DVD to review the product at my office. The product is called Viroxyn and comes in a 3 pack of vial that you crack open and apply to your cold sore. They said if you use it in the prodromal stage which it when you first start to feel it but it is not erupted yet, the cold sore may never appear.
This is the point where I had to ask the proverbal, “How much” question. The sales guy blurted out without even missing a beat, “Retails for $49 for a 3 pack”. He went on to say I can sell this product at my office and I can sell it to all my patients, blah, blah, blah and everyone will love me for having this product in my office.
I took the DVD and thanked him for the information and began to leave the booth when I got the Billy Mays, “BUT WAIT! Here at the show ONLY, you can get this miracle product for half off”. I have to admit I almost fell for that little deal. The product sounded too good to be true, they were at the prestigious ADA Annual Convention, and there was a money back guarantee. Hum, that little voice inside my head said, “Better not! The wife won’t like you spending money on the convention floor. Besides you already spent too much here, already”. So I answered back with my typical excuse that I had already used at least 100 times earlier that day, “Great! Maybe I’ll be back later to get some”. I smiled really big and turned quickly and left the booth as fast as possible trying to avoid the guy in the next booth wanting to sell me gelled inserts for my shoes.
I have to admit I was actually interested in the product to cure Herpes Simplex 1 in my patient’s mouths. Then about a week later I finally got around to looking at the DVD on Viroxyn. Their little sales pitch I was supposed to use in my office was, “Do you or any member in your family every suffer form cold sores or fever blisters”? I quickly looked the product up on the internet and sure enough it was even being sold on Amazon.com for $42.95. Then I looks at the reviews and they were generally good until one caught my eye titled, “Don’t waste your money” or something like that. The review said that the active ingredients (Benzalkonium Chloride 0.13%) in the expensive Viroxyn is the very same as what is in a $3 two oz bottle of Bactine. Yep, Bactine that gets the itch out.
So I am recommending you try this for your Herpes cold sore and write me back and tell me how it worked! Just load up a cotton ball with Bactine and rub it lightly until the lidocaine in Bactine gets the sore numb enough to rub it deeply into the sore without breaking the scabby tissue and making it bleed. Maybe one of my staff will get another cold sore in the near future for me to document with photos for us all to see for our self.

Viroxyn            VS.         Bactine 

 

References:

1. Sex Transm Dis. 2010 Sep;37(9):579-84. Benzalkonium chloride causes colposcopic changes and increased susceptibility to genital herpes infection in mice. Vincent KLBell BAJohnston RKStegall RVargas GTan AStanberry LRRosenthal SLMilligan GNMotamedi MBourne N. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555, USA.

2. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2000 Nov;46(5):685-93. In vitro inactivation of Chlamydia trachomatis and of a panel of DNA (HSV-2, CMV, adenovirus, BK virus) and RNA (RSV, enterovirus) viruses by the spermicide benzalkonium chloride. Bélec LTevi-Benissan CBianchi ACotigny SBeumont-Mauviel MSi-Mohamed AMalkin JE. Laboratoire de virologie, Hôpital Broussais, Paris, France. Unité INSERM U430 and Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), H opital Broussais. laurent.belec@brs.ap-hop-paris.fr

3. J Hosp Infect. 1998 Apr;38(4):283-95. The action of three antiseptics/disinfectants against enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. Wood APayne D. Inveresk Research, Tranent, Scotland.

4. Dermatology. 1997;195 Suppl 2:29-35. Inactivation of human viruses by povidone-iodine in comparison with other antiseptics. Kawana RKitamura TNakagomi OMatsumoto IArita MYoshihara NYanagi KYamada AMorita OYoshida YFuruya YChiba S. Morioka Yuuai General Hospital, Japan.

5. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1993 Jul;32(1):71-82. The inhibitory effect of spermicidal agents on replication of HSV-2 and HIV-1 in-vitro. Jennings RClegg A. Department of Experimental and Clinical Microbiology, University of Sheffield Medical School, UK.

6. Fertil Contracept Sex. 1989 Jun;17(6):503-8. [Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and contraception]. [Article in French] Erny RPorte H.

7. Appl Microbiol. 1964 Mar;12(2):132-7. Inactivation of viruses by benzalkonium chloride. Armstrong JAFroelich EJ.