Q: I’m in my 80s and have experienced skin warts or lesions diagnosed by my physician as seborrheic keratoses.
When these brown lesions appeared in the years prior to 2010, I would apply an adhesive bandage which I bought at the Dollar Tree Store. The bandages were labeled Silver, the natural antibacterial, and were distributed by Greenbrier International. In each instance, in a week or two after the application of the bandages, the lesions disappeared.
Apparently these silver bandages are no longer available since I’ve been unable to buy any more, even after searching on the internet. I’m interested if any of your clients may have had similar experiences with the use of silver bandages.
A: Silver has been used for countless years as a healing agent. In fact, it was quite common from the 1800s into the mid 1900s when antibiotics entered the medical field. It may surprise you to know that today hospitals use a silver treatment on wounds that are resistant and difficult to heal. And, as you have discovered, silver is incorporated into bandages for use on burns, scrapes and cuts on a smaller scale. While your Dollar Tree Store may not carry them, they are still available and much in demand through countless other locations. Silver interferes with bacteria by blocking the spread of germs in several ways. Interestingly, silver is not poisonous to the body nor is it addictive, but it successfully attacks harmful microbes. Laboratory testing has proven that silver reduces such bacteria as Staph, E-coli, pseudomonas and several other forms. Physicians in hospital settings used to use silver-sulfadiazine cream to cover severe burns and help promote healing. Unfortunately, because those dressings require change daily or twice daily, the dressing process can be painful and may slow wound healing. Modern membrane-like bandages are considered superior.
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration approved silver-coated adhesive bandages for home use in 2001 but prior to that, the organization was instrumental in shutting down facilities that attempted to sell silver for medicinal purposes. Their operation known as “Clean Sweep” was a rather large scare tactical attempt to close down every silver company who sold silver as the powerful antibiotic that it is. Speculation for this action leans toward the specific reason being that the silver competed with an extremely large antibiotic business that provided pharmaceutical companies with good profits. As fortification, the FDA found individuals who literally turned silver following its use, but that’s because the product was not used at the recommended 100 parts per million bur rather at 300,000 parts per million. The people referred to literally dipped their arms into the silver solution, took in gigantic quantities of silver, and became discolored.
Today people can make their own larger bandages by soaking a dressing in colloidal silver and applying it wet or allowing the pad to dry prior to use. On a smaller scale, home-made adhesive bandages with smaller gauze pads can be covered with a small amount of colloidal silver, allowed to dry, and used on skin warts or lesions. Minute particles of silver seep through the bandage and are then applied to a wound. It is extremely important to remember that you should avoid using anti-bacterial products when using silver bandages because the silver can be compromised.
Curad Silver Anti-bacterial Bandages, Assured Silver Bandages, Silver Strip Silverlon and others are available commercially. Visit your local pharmacy to determine what they have to offer. If silver dressings aren’t available, ask your pharmacist to stock some for you. Colloidal silver itself is rather pricey but is available from small bottles to gallon containers commercially. Good luck shopping.
