Some have touted the therapy as a way to fight viruses and inflammation, support the immune system, improve blood circulation, speed healing, and more, not just in humans but also in pets.
What is ozone therapy?
Ozone is a combination of three oxygen atoms that most of us associate with ozone in the atmosphere. In the upper stratosphere, ozone can block harmful ultraviolet rays, which is a good thing. However, closer to the Earth’s surface, it can cause smog, which can damage our airways.
Ozone is most stable as a gas, but it can also exist in a liquid and solid form, where it is highly combustible.
Only ozone gas is used for these supposedly therapeutic purposes. An ozone generating device is used to create medical versions of the gas.
Not only can it be inflated through the rectum, but it can also be inserted through the ears or vagina, applied under a covering on the skin (an “ozone sauna”), mixed with blood, injected, or swallowed ( a mixture of ozone and oil or water).
However, inhaling it is highly dangerous.
Are there benefits of ozone therapy?
Once in your body, ozone purportedly has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, which may make it beneficial for chronic diseases, though the jury is still out, according to Dr. Eric Ascher, a family medicine physician at Lenox Hospital. Hill.
Small studies and case reports have investigated the effectiveness of therapies, although the cleveland clinic calls the evidence “low-quality and limited.”
It has been studied in connection with chronic pain other fibromyalgia.
The authors established in Egypt of one article published in 2021 He said one or two sessions of rectal ozone therapy seemed safe and might have helped improve blood oxygenation in two COVID-19 patients, although the study did not include placebos or other controls.
Another study of nine COVID-19 patients found that ozone-supplemented blood transfusions (blood was drawn from the patient, treated with ozone, and returned to their body) seemed to help speed recovery from pneumonia.
However, in 2020, a federal court in Texas banned a health and wellness center from promoting ozone therapy to treat COVID-19, labeling it “fraudulent promotion of alleged COVID-19 treatments that do no good and could be harmful.”
“There is some proposed theoretical benefit, but it doesn’t seem like great science,” Hoda said.
“It’s hard to quantify exactly how beneficial it is,” Ascher said.
Is ozone therapy safe?
Along with the efficacy, the safety of ozone therapy remains an open question. According to Ascher, rectal delivery can cause bloating and fatigue, as well as stomach and rectal discomfort. More problematic is the risk of gas embolism (a blood clot in the lungs) upon inhalation. Inhalation can also cause pulmonary edema (when the lungs fill with fluid), Hoda said.
People who have worked with ozone (using cleaning supplies or working in sewage treatment plants, among other industries) have experienced trouble breathing, coughing, and headaches. Long-term exposure can even trigger asthma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One problem is that to be effective, especially at killing germs, ozone therapy must be highly concentrated, making it dangerous, according to the FDA. “It can be toxic to human cells and could damage the mucosal lining of the colon,” Hoda said. “There’s also a good chance it could affect the gut microbiome, and that’s probably not something you want to do lightly.”
Ascher also recommends against ozone therapy in some of the situations in which it’s supposed to be helpful: if you’re fighting an infection or if your body is under stress.
“Your body may be thrown into a more severe, treatable, but uncomfortable infection called Herxheimer reaction,” he said. “You should also avoid it if you’re pregnant or have a history of heart disease.”
