Ozone gas (O3) was discovered in the mid-nineteenth century, however, the first report of ozone therapy was published by Wolff in 1974. Nikola Tesla also inadvertently created ozone when he produced lightning from his Tesla Coil in 1891. Otherwise known as autohemotherapy, it has been around for roughly 150 years and was used before the discovery of penicillin as a treatment for pneumonia and other illnesses. According to the Chung Institute of Integrative Medicine, the therapy is composed of 3 oxygen atoms and is technically an “energized” form of oxygen with extra electrons. Ozone is synthesized naturally when UV the sun’s UV rays mix with oxygen in the air or when lightning strikes oxygen. The smell of fresh rain after a storm is most likely ozone. It keeps people and other animals safe at high altitudes by absorbing harmful UV rays and in cities by filtering out clean air from smog. It’s possible that over 10 million people have received oxygen therapies to assist with 300 different conditions over the last 70 years. Ozone therapy activates bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeast, protozoa, procures stimulation of oxygen metabolism and activates the immune system (Elvis & Etka). It works by disrupting the strength of the bacteria cell envelope through oxidation of the phospholipids and lipoproteins (Elvis & Etka).
When antibiotics were discovered, oxygen-ozone therapy was merely forgotten about. The therapy has many benefits over antibiotics. Antibiotics kill good and bad bacteria while leaving the body in a weaker state. This is largely due to damage in the gut microbiome where 70% of the immune system lives in and around. On the other hand, ozone therapy kills the pathogenic cells while simultaneously upregulating the immune system, making it work harder, leaving the body at a healthier state. Additionally, antibiotics eventually become ineffective when they build up a tolerance to disease causing cells, whereas ozone therapy is unable to do the same. In an interview with The Wellness Hour, Dr. Lebowitz describes how drug companies don’t like this treatment because it makes them look bad when disease is treated faster and with a lot less side effects than antibiotics.
According to Dr. Lebowitz, ozone treatments mobilize stem cells from bone marrow which then circulates through the blood, creating benefits for many weeks. It mobilizes the immune system and is generally designed for well people who want to stay well. In his clinic, he sees people who are doing ozone therapy as a preventative treatment and receive it 2-3 times a year. He explains that oftentimes people get treatment before doing something where they’re going to be exposed to a lot of germs like getting on an airplane. It can make people more energized and clear minded due to oxygen saturation in the body when blood gets mixed with ozone gases. The immune system goes into a surveillance where it’s always scanning the body systems looking for and killing off pathogens to keep people safe. When the body undergoes oxidative stress and people get a cold, or a cancer cell begins to take hold, the path to disease begins. A benefit of ozone therapy is to prevent the body from actually being able to develop an illness.
Dr. Lebowitz also treats people in his clinic with various chronic illnesses. In the path of treating viruses, “O3 damages the viral capsid and upsets the reproductive cycle by disrupting the virus-to-cell contact with peroxidation” (Elvis & Etka). Since the cell enzyme coating is already weak and able to contract viruses, it’s also susceptible to oxidation and elimination from the body making it able to replace them with healthy cells. Diabetic issues are also related to oxidative stress in the body and research has found that O3 affects the level of glycemia by activating the antioxidant system (Elvis & Etka). Oxygen is naturally anti-inflammatory. Dr. Lebowitz described how he personally relieved pain from bicep tendonitis from lifting weights by experiencing a single ozone treatment. A clinical trial cited by Elvis & Etka explains that ozone therapy has even been effective in helping remedy anti inflammatory disease such as asthma and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD). Dr. Lebowitz treats people with shingles, explaining that he’s shortened recovery time in patients from 6-8 weeks to a single day. His most famous healing case is with a woman with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. He gave her 4 bottles twice a week and after 16 weeks went back to the oncologist who repeated a head-to-toe body scan to find that the cancer was gone.
There have been many different studies done showing that ozone therapy may be able to help remedy chronic, nonhealing or ischemic wounds for the disinfectant and antibacterial properties. It’s problematic to let wounds go unhealed because morbidities, or disease is often attracted to the wound area. In one case cited by Agosti et al, a 46 year-old-man had his right tibia and fibula amputated after a motorcycle accident. He went to an ozone therapy clinic after 2 months of gradual healing because he was still experiencing pain and after a 5 week treatment of oxygen-ozone therapy the pain had subsided. Agosti et al determined that ozone therapy can be beneficial in “speeding the healing and reducing the pain thanks to its disinfectant property and by the increase of endogenous oxygen free radicals' scavenging properties.” The study also showed that opioid dosage could be cut in half when pairing with ozone therapy, reducing nausea in patients. Many people suffer from trauma, surgery, acute illness, or chronic disease conditions and have a difficult time healing. This article describes the cause as improperly balanced parts of the healthy tissue repair response including inflammation, angiogenesis, matrix deposition, and cell recruitment. The detoxifying properties of ozone therapy help support healthy tissue regenerations.
Sources
Degli Agosti, Irene, et al. “Effectiveness of a Short-Term Treatment of Oxygen-Ozone Therapy into Healing in a Posttraumatic Wound.” Case Reports in Medicine, Hindawi Publishing Corporation, 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5055932/.
Elvis, Am, and Js Ekta. “Ozone Therapy: A Clinical Review.” Journal of Natural Science, Biology and Medicine, vol. 2, no. 1, June 2011, p. 66., doi:10.4103/0976-9668.82319. Liebowitz, Howard, and Alvarez
“Ozone Therapy.” Chung Institute of Integrative Medicine, chunginstitute.com/ozone-therapy/.
Randy . “What Is Ozone Therapy? with Dr. Howard Liebowitz.” YouTube, The Wellness Hour, 28 Oct. 2017, www.youtube.com/results?search_query=what+is+ozone+therapy.