A new way to relieve pain,

 strains, stiffness

DALLAS, TEXAS --- Jeff Berthelsen, a 26-year-old triathlete, has had chronic knee problems since high school. After intensive training sessions, using emu oil on his knees helps alleviate pain and stiffness. Ronald Thomas, a senior triathlete, also uses emu oil to maintain flexibility and for back pain after competition.

Members of the American Emu Association have had similar reports from other athletes across the nation and from collegiate and professional sports teams, as well. "We're finding more athletes using emu-based creams and emu oil as part of their training regimen and for rehabilitation," said Neil Williams, president of the AEA. "And because emu oil is relatively new in the marketplace, most people are surprised about how effective it is."

Doug Atkinson, a team trainer with the National Basketball Association for 30 years, said he learned about the anti-inflammatory properties of emu oil in 1992. One of the Dallas Mavericks, Fat Lever, had undergone surgery on both knees and after two years in rehabilitation, was still unable to play because of swelling and inflammation. "Within six weeks after using emu oil, the inflammation and swelling was gone and Lever was able to practice and play without limitation," said Atkinson, who has retired and now owns a wellness firm that markets emu-based products.

One of the trainer's emu oil products is used throughout the NBA, by NFL teams and major league baseball teams, as well by as high school and college athletes. "Emu oil acts as a transdermal carrier, delivering relief directly to the muscle or joint," Atkinson said, "which also makes it effective for arthritis pain."

Allen Hurst, an emu producer, was a trainer in the National Football League for 22 years before retiring to his ranch. "We were always getting new products to try," he said, "and because we were dealing with well-conditioned athletes, if a product worked, it was extremely effective."

Hurst found that emu oil was beneficial in the training room because it penetrated the skin rapidly, as proven in laboratory studies. And when used with another product - such as an analgesic balm - it enhanced the performance of that product. "It doesn't take much oil to accomplish the relief you need," said the retired trainer, "and it also effective in wound care."

Some athletes using acupuncture, magnets, emu oil to cure ills

When Mark Takata first approached Steve Young and Jerry Rice about acupuncture treatments, the 49ers stars were nervous. "They said, `Don't stick needles in me,' '' said Takata, a licensed acupuncturist and former trainer with the team. ``I said, `No. You're big boys.' They had this phobia of Western injections, but ( acupuncture needles) are thin needles.'' Young and Rice relented to Takata's needles, and now both players use acupuncture regularly to help heal injuries -- a sign of a growing revolution in sports: More and more professional athletes are embracing alternative health practices, forcing teams to acknowledge the effectiveness of everything from shark cartilage to chiropractic care. "They can only live behind closed doors for so long,'' Takata said.

Among Bay Area teams, health care practices include: -- Magnets. Most of the Giants' relievers wear magnets of their bodies, to accelerate blood flow.
-- Healing stones. Several well known 49ers use them to relieve pain and expedite recovery.

Emu oil.

Some Warriors have used oil derived from the emu bird as an anti-inflammatory. ``We're open to it,'' says Warriors trainer Tom Abdenour.

Conventional health care is still the most common care that pro athletes receive. But -- driven by their desire to find cutting-edge products that will keep them off the disabled list and in the starting lineup - pro-athletes have expanded their range of health care dramatically. Just a few years ago, healing stones and emu oil would have been considered too unusual. "(Alternative health practices) are not the be-all and end-all, but they do have a place,'' said Giants trainer Mark Letendre.

Athletes realize that these practices can help prolong their careers - which, in an era of big-money contracts, are a significant factor. Older athletes are especially cognizant of this. "I think it's more of a philosophical change in how athletes treat their bodies,'' said Letendre, who has been the Giants' trainer for 13 seasons. ``If they have a healthy body, they can command a healthy salary . . .. If you're in one more year of baseball, that's an extra $1 million.''

Letendre would not reveal the names of the Giants' relievers who wear magnets, and the 49ers who use healing stones don't want to be identified publicly. One reason for this reluctance is that some alternative health practices still are considered too odd or experimental to discuss. Also, athletes are loath to reveal any "secrets'' that help them recover more quickly than their competitors.

Though more teams are acknowledging the effectiveness of acupuncture and chiropractic care, even these practices are considered too unusual by some teams. The Chicago Bulls, for example, don't have a chiropractor on staff, so Scottie Pippen has to hire one on his own. In the NBA Finals in June, Pippen received chiropractic care at least once during a game -- only because he brought a chiropractor to the game.

Yet many alternative health products that athletes use are not based on "hard-core science'' or facts -- just anecdotal evidence that suggests the products can work.

The effectiveness of emu oil is also a subject of debate. Emus are flightless birds native to Australia. For thousands of years, aborigines used the birds in their diets and for health reasons: They believed that emu oil helped heal sore muscles and joints. Today, some doctors use emu oil to treat burn victims and as a solution for arthritis and tendinitis. In the world of professional sports, the biggest advocate of emu oil is Doug Atkinson, a former head trainer with the Bulls and Dallas Mavericks. "Eighty percent of NBA teams are actually buying emu oil,'' said Atkinson, who left the Mavericks last year and now runs his own health-products company. ``It relieves pain, it reduces swelling and discoloration from injuries, and it also helps with bruises. For open wounds, it reduces the healing time and the scarring.'' Several NBA players were so impressed with the effectiveness of emu oil that they invested in emu birds, Atkinson said. Derek Harper has a ranch that now features the birds, Atkinson said. None of the players Atkinson worked with, including Jason Kidd and Bulls center Luc Longley, was turned off by the fact that emu oil comes from a small, ostrich-like bird. (Emu oil is refined after the birds are killed. Commercial emu ranches have sprung up across the United States in the past 10 years.) "They know it comes from a bird . . . and they had no problem with that,'' Atkinson said. "It's no use being close-minded to any of this, (especially) in the professional sports world, which is different from the non-athletic world in that time is against you. Athletes don't have time that normal people do (to recover), so anything that you can do to shorten recovery time is what it's about.''

AIMING BEYOND

 CONVENTIONAL CARE

Well known in the Houston medical field where her practice has been located for the past 13 years, Kronberg's goal is to provide her patients with the best skin care possible. Also on the medical advisory board for the publication Derma, she has been quoted in magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Allure and Glamour. Her treatments embrace acute skin care problems including burns, skin disease, psoriasis, rosacea, eczema, as well as anti-aging and general skin improvement treatments.

While some dermatologists may continually treat skin care patients with routine medicine, Kronberg, in an effort to keep pace with advances in both conventional and alternative medicine, utilizes the best of both for the patient's benefit.

"A lot of times an emu oil product is my first choice, even though I can choose any prescription that I wish, and the irony is the emu oil works so well," concedes Kronberg. Kronberg's husband, Bill Davis, was the first of the pair to be introduced to emu oil. ---------- " I read a small article in a chemical magazine that discussed the benefits of emu oil and mentioned that it was an excellent moisturizer. It caught my attention because we're always looking for pharmaceutical grade, highly purified, high quality products for our (skin care products) program. And our belief is that although there are many products on the market, better can always be located. And so it was we found emu oil."

After Davis obtained several emu oil samples, he began sharing some with acquaintances. One such individual was a woman about to undergo a plastic surgery treatment on her neck. Davis explained that the procedure is painful, irritating to the skin and results in redness as well as blistering and scabbing.

"Familiar with our (skin care) product program, she inquired if we had something that could help," says Davis. "I told her we were experimenting with a wonderful moisturizer, and suggested she give it a try. I sent her a sample, and a request that she let me know how it worked. After using the oil pre-and post surgery she reported that she experienced minimal pain with no blistering or scabbing whatsoever. On her first checkup with her surgeon, she noted that he was visibly impressed with her wound's rapid progression and questioned her as to what she was using because she had not disclosed that she wasn't using the product he normally recommends. And this was our first real clue that this product indeed has not only anti-inflammatory capabilities, but much more."

A short time after that incident, Davis supplied an acquaintance, who is a nurse, with an oil sample. He explains that this woman was on leave from a dermatology office (located in a psoriasis treatment center) because her own 10-year experience with severe psoriasis was not subsiding. Recalls Davis, "Her first report a week later was that she was already experiencing relief. Her itching was subsiding, the discoloration was fading and she requested more oil! We ran into her at a drug conference in California just three weeks later, and we didn't recognize her at first. She was wearing short sleeves for the first time in ten years, because it was a large portion of her arms and legs that had been affected."

"I couldn't' believe what I saw and asked her to let me have a closer examination," says Kronberg. "What I found was that her psoriasis was almost completely resolved!"

So the couple stepped up their research into the oil's properties and Kronberg began using it on patients - but not just anyone. She remarks, "I give it to the worst patients with extremely severe problems, such as burns, rosacea, psoriasis, eczema, and I've been extremely pleased with the results. It brings immediate relief to a lot of individuals, and as a result, I have a lot of happy patients."

She continued, "We have patients that come in that have had laser resurfacing or bad chemical peels somewhere else and are severely burned. We give them the emu oil as an application and it calms things down tremendously and keeps the skin from scarring. We also use the oil on sores that haven't initially healed. And on patients with severe rosacea, emu oil calms down the redness of skin and inflammation of blood vessels, and they don't break out even though it's oil. This is because the oil is non-comedogenic (won't clog pores).

I've observed that the oil has an extreme anti-inflammatory response and is a healing aid. Even when my topically applied steroids and antibiotics don't work well on rosacea patients, once applied, the emu oil will calm things down and the report immediate relief."

Another area in her practice that Kronberg uses emu oil as a treatment is before-and-after application to sites of laser tatoo removal. She relates that the oil stops the initial onset of discomfort from stinging and pain associated with this procedure and that it encourages a superior and faster healing process.

Kronberg also uses the oil on young patients. She relates, "It's great for using on kids getting their shots. If you medicate the area prior to injection with emu oil (emu oil only, no anesthetic), and then directly afterwards, it diminishes discomfort and they don't get achy and irritable later on." Kronberg says that she uses the oil for the same objective herself when administering shots before traveling abroad.

She's not the only doctor with an interest in using the oil to block pain before and after an injection procedure. Dr. William Code of Duncan, British Columbia, has researched the advantages of using emu oil with the local anesthetic Lidocaine and has delivered several discourses on his research findings. And there's even been a patent involving this same function for the oil. The patent "Compositions Comprising Lidocaine and Emu Oil and Methods of Use Thereof" was granted to inventor David Rivlin in 1997.

Davis is very excited and optimistic about the utilization of emu oil in medical procedures and relates he thinks that emu oil lives up what it's been reported to do - as a "bioactive transport," in that it has the capability to carry other ingredients into the skin. "It actually takes the ingredients into the skin with it as long as the ingredient molecule is small enough to penetrate the skin. And since it takes it quickly, we tend to see things improve faster."

Adds Davis, "And our feeling is that if at all possible, start the healing process prior to a procedure in order to accelerate the body's ability to heal itself. Emu oil is doing that. We believe that if you can prep the skin with the oil in advance of a procedure, similar to prepping your body prior to a marathon, chances are that the healing process will be dramatically improved, and that's what we've found. We're actually able to see a 50 percent improvement time with patients recovering from laser resurfacing, where they're going back to work in just two weeks, vs. four weeks or more, and with no blisters or scabs!"

On an ordinary day, Dr. Dan Dean will use an emu oil product on an average of a dozen patients in his private practice in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Pure emu oil is employed by the physician mainly on clients suffering from various burns and abrasions. "In addition to abrasions and burns I also use pure emu oil on scars and wounds," says Dean, who has spent the past 30 years in private family practice. "I do a lot of in-office skin surgeries, and anytime the patient walks out of the office they have the oil to use on the wound because emu oil enhances wound healing." The patients are told to apply the emu oil or to remoisten the bandage three times daily, usually until their next appointment. During allergy season emu oil is employed often by the doctor, who has developed a nasal spray product, one of several emu oil products from his product line The Dean's List. He relates that he's interested in making pure emu oil as well as medicinal emu oil products available to his patients.

One product that he uses perhaps the most often during allergy season is Emusol nasal spray (98% pure emu oil). "I've probably had well over 500 people use my nasal spray with very good success," says Dean. "The nasal spray has been practically a miracle drug -- it does such a fantastic job. These people say they can now breathe. I also use it for kids with bloody noses. It moistens the nasal mucosa and brings it back to its normal function."

Utilizing Emu Oil with Conventional Drugs

In addition to pure emu oil, Dean relates that he also employs emu oil in conjunction with some conventional drugs including antifungal medications. "I think the oil has an inherent anti-fungal property itself," remarks the physician. "When I mix it or combine it with a known topical antifungal or a known topical anticeritic drug for psoriasis, I see a benefit from using that as compared to using just the topical medications by themselves. I have seen the difference and I use the oil combination quite often. We're seeing the fungus under the nails healing much faster. People are saying, 'I've had this for years and now it's healed.' By using the oil we've corrected the problem much more quickly." The doctor remarks that he also uses the oil in conjunction with a topical antibiotic.

Pain Reduction

Another benefit of emu oil as noted by the doctor's findings is that emu oil lessens pain in patients with bums and in patients with abrasions. "When we use the pure oil on the wounds, they're not using as much pain medication," comments Dean. "For example, we gave an 8-year-old boy with burns a liquid codeine, and when he returned I asked how much he had left and he said, 'Most of it, because I didn't need it.' Recently I used pure emu oil on post-radiation burn on two ladies. They've related that the burning sensation subsides and they don't need as much of their pain medication. In addition, another patient's wife said her husband didn't complain as much of the pain (typical burning pain associated with that particular ailment) just a few days after applying emu oil."

Emu oil is great for sunburns as well. "It stops the pain therefore we don't need as much painkillers," says Dean. "I see most of your college students with sunburns from tanning beds and that pain is eased remarkably with just the oil."

Reducing Time of Healing

Of great interest are Dean's findings with emu oil in relation to quicker wound healing. He relates, "I have noticed that with a typical third degree burn and with various abrasions where it normally takes six weeks to heal, we're seeing healing much quicker, in almost half the time. Also when we remove skin lesions in the office, these wound incisions heal quicker when emu oil is applied."

Lack of Complications Using Emu Oil

Naturally patients not familiar with emu oil question the doctor as to what type of side effects they might experience with emu oil. "Since it's a natural product, the answer is, technically none," says Dean. "But although many individuals feel that taking aspirin is safe -- some people react to aspirin. I'm sure that there's somebody out there somewhere that may get a reaction from emu oil, but I've not experienced it."

When applying emu oil to fresh burns or wounds the first day, Dean maintains that his patients haven't experienced any negative reaction. "Emu oil is a natural product and we would be less apt to expect any type of an allergic or contact type reaction when using it," he says.

Don't Self-Diagnose -- Work With a Physician

While much good has been reported about emu oil, Dean cautions individuals not to take treatment into their own hands, especially when it comes to serious injuries or illnesses. "It is very, very important that people don't think this is such a miracle that they can go home and start treating third degree bums," advises Dr. Dean. "They need to see their physician have the conventional care before they start using emu oil. Because what can happen is that they may take a second degree burn and drive it to a third degree burn if it is not taken care of properly. Further, a burn may not heal even when applying pure emu oil because there may be extenuating circumstances involved such as lack of circulation. A different type burn such as a chemical burn may require special care, as would a burn that has already gotten bacteria into it. And a lot of people don't know when their last tetanus shot was, so if they were to treat their burns at home without the aid of their physician, they may run into serious problems."

If a physician is not familiar with the benefits of emu oil, Dean says that the patient should go ahead and see their physician and bring up the benefits of the oil and suggest that it be used, or ask them to call Dr. Dean himself and let him explain what he's done with it. And then once the ailment is treated and when the patient feels comfortable about applying the oil to the wound, then Dean feels they can go ahead and start applying it.

Just the Beginning

While the Australian aborigines have employed emu fat [emu oil is rendered and refined emu fat] for medicinal and cosmetic purposes for centuries, it wasn't until the late 1980's that emu oil began being researched in seriously for its beneficial properties. Additional public awareness and the findings of physicians like Dean and others no doubt will spur on additional research.

"Some work is currently being done with emu oil -- adding additional compounds to enhance its healing process or the oil enhancing conventional therapy," relates Dean. "So there is a great deal more that we're going to find out about the oil. But it would be much easier and much better if we could get emu oil into a wound care center or university for example for additional experimentation by itself and with conventional drugs. I think what we've done with the oil so far is gotten our toe in the door. Now we need to get more of the medical field involved to confirm what I and others have started to do in a more scientific and technical mariner."

Dean has been employing emu oil in his practices for the past several years and feels confident he's working with a winner. "It seems we have a fantastic product here," says the doctor.

"I have started using massage treatments in my [chiropractic] practice," explained Dr. Headly [formerly from Tonkawa, Oklahoma, and now Colorado]. "Since I have been doing massage, emu oil has become a major part of my practice. I do both massage and adjustments and the emu oil is used virtually from head to toe. People with chronic shoulder and knee problems get help from the adjusting, but the emu oil really does the final trick during the massage. I find it absolutely amazing.

According to an American Chiropractic Association survey, back pain alone brings chiropractors nearly half their patients. Together, neuromusculoskeletal problems such as neck, back, and joint pain accounted for 86 percent of the average chiropractor's practice last year. Dr. Headly's patients are no different, and according to Dr. Headly, emu oil is helping those patients get relief. "I can get results using chiropractic alone on lower back pain," said Dr. Headly. "However, it seems that when I use the emu oil in conjunction with the chiropractic, the relief is quicker and the muscles stay relaxed longer, and therefore the treatment lasts longer."

According to Dr. Ron Westbrook, [chiropractor, Decatur, Texas] emu oil has been in use in his practice for approximately eight months, and he and his patients both are enjoying some of the little comforts that accompany using the oil, rather than the conventional conductive gels and creams. "What I enjoy most about using the emu oil is that I have a lot more freedom of motion when massaging," said Dr. Westbrook. "The patient is more comfortable because I am not pulling on the skin . . . However, the most significant observation I have made is that THE TREATMENTS WITH THE OIL LAST LONGER THAN WITHOUT. THE OIL RELAXES THE MUSCLES SO WELL THAT THE TREATMENTS HOLD FOR A LONGER PERIOD OF TIME," he explained Dr. Headly illustrated that there are ligaments and muscles that are attached to the spine. When the spine is misaligned, anything that can cause those tissues to become loose or more fluid is great help. The more fluid the muscles the less likely they will pull back out of alignment. "I can push the spine back, but by the time the patient gets back into their car, it can be out of alignment again, because the muscles and tendons are just too tight," explained Dr. Headly. "With the oil and massage working together, and the deep penetration, the loosened muscles hold longer."

Dr. Headly revealed she had a patient who had experienced numerous surgeries. Due to those surgeries, the abdominal skin tissues had lost elasticity to the point of becoming dough-like in texture. Dr. Headly stated that after conducting massage treatments using the emu oil on the patient's abdomen, the texture of the skin changed and elasticity was renewed. Even the scar tissue began healing. "I was amazed to see the kind of healing this oil can do," said Dr. Headly. "My patient was so impressed with the results of the oil, she has sent in an application to be a distributor. She wants to bed able to get the oil whenever she needs it!"

According to Dr. Headly, chiropractic adjustment can even be made to relieve hemorrhoids. However, depending on the severity of the condition the adjustment may not be able to offer complete relief, as was the condition with one of Dr. Headly's patients. "This particular patient told me that the adjustment worked great for the internal condition, but not the external discomfort," explained Dr. Headly. "I gave her some emu oil to try, and she came in later with her eyes as big as half dollars, demanding to know what that stuff was and where she could get more of it. She just kept saying, "It worked, it worked!"

Hundreds of patients who have visited Dr. Dan Dean of Dan C. Dean D.O. & Associates in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan are receiving relief from various ailments, thanks in part to treatments with emu oil. A commodity acknowledged for centuries [in its native Australia] for its medicinal purposes, emu oil is just beginning to be touted and recognized by some in the medical field in this country.

Typical of the medical practitioner, Dean was at first somewhat skeptical about the reputed medicinal and cosmetic benefits of emu oil. The doctor remarks that his initial research in earnest on the oil happened on a trip to Australia several years ago. But the physician, also an avid thoroughbred horse enthusiast, was won over only after emu oil was used to save one of his top racers, The Rebalizer. Dean explains that the horse picked up a Salmonella infection, was treated at the Michigan State University, but developed an allergic reaction to all the IV steroids, antibiotics, etc., it received and subsequently lost all its hair and much of its stamina.

Knowing that emu oil had a reputation to stimulate skin and hair growth, the doctor decided to give it a try on his favored horse. Ultra sensitive to touch, The Rebalizer had to be stilled for the first few applications of pure emu oil to his bare hide. But Dean says that after twice-a-day applications for three days, the animal welcomed the employment of the oil. Shortly after the treatments began, his horse's health and hair returned! Dean says that after researching the oil further, he began using it on himself, his family and then patients, with incredible results.

Now, two years later, hundreds of the doctor's patients (as well as some patients of other physicians sent to Dean) are realizing benefit from emu oil. On a typical day the doctor uses the oil on individuals suffering from burns, abrasions, sore joints, eczema, arthritis, colitis, psoriasis, and as a wound application immediately following surgery.

"It's all voluntary," says Dean. "I explain to the patients what the oil is and what I'll be doing. I've had exceptional results with the oil and we haven't had one patient complain. Actually, many people come in and ask for it. When surgery patients leave they are given a small container of the pure oil to be applied to their wound three times a day to speed up the healing process. In the office we use the pure emu oil directly on open burns, abrasions and ulcerations. We only use pure emu oil with no added ingredients. It's an amazing substance."

The doctor utilizes the oil's moisturizing properties by compounding an emu oil nasal spray and cough syrup formula for some of his patients. "When cold and flue season starts, we'll use the oil on a minimum of 15 patients a day," he says.

When asked what impresses him most about the oil's properties as a practicing physician, Dean replies, "the thing that's most impressive about the oil is I can actually see [photos accompanied the magazine article] the way it affects open wound healing, which I'm very interested in."

The doctor is also presently researching wound healing utilizing emu oil to learn more about the oil's properties with Dr. Leigh Hopkins, a comrade who is a clinical professor of pharmacy with a degree in biochemistry.

"We've got the cart before the horse," says Dean. "We know the oil works, but we want to look deeper into the microphysiology and biology of just why it does work." Actually, emu oil is being utilized and researched quietly by a growing number of individuals in the medical field including cancer centers interested in the oil's effects on burns sustained by patients during radiation treatments. Dean himself has a growing number of patients being referred to him by other medical professionals. Of this he says, "Slowly we're getting other physicians interested in the oil. It's a little hard to convince doctors, but I don't push the emu oil on them, I let them come to me. Now some are asking, What are you using? Why did so-and-so heal so fast?

An 80-year-old diabetic patient with gangrene of the toes and serious heel ulceration was recently referred to Dean. "The surgeon who sent the patient down said it looked like they were going to have to amputate the foot," relates the doctor. "But I suggested that we first try the emu oil. And by using the emu oil we were able to completely heal the ulceration on the heel and there's no gangrene in the toes -they're just as pink as can be. The surgeon's comment was that it looks like emu oil turned this thing around. We're not going to amputate.' We used only pure oil in the treatment and it saved this gentlemen's foot!"

Patients of open-heart surgery also receive emu oil on their freshly stitched incision. Dean says that when they return to their thoracic surgeon for a follow up with a well-healed sternum incision, the surgeons always comment on how fast the incision healed.

Convalescents of a nearby extended care facility also benefit from the medicinal advantage of emu oil. Dean says that he is currently using the oil on individuals with pressure sores. "We're using the oil when the sore is actually a grade 1 - when we just see the inflammation of the skin. And I think because of the oil's penetrability, we're able to prevent the sores rather than having to cure them," he remarks.

Dean is helping to spread the interest in emu oil. He delivered the slide presentation, "Wound Management with Emu Oil," at the 1998 Annual American Emu Association Convention in San Antonio. He relates that he was recently approached by a drug company (that usually features a discourse on one of their own products) to deliver a presentation on emu oil to an all-doctor audience. He mentions that he has also been petitioned by an Alternative Medicine group out of Chicago to speak on emu oil.

To better serve individuals requesting the oil, Dean recently began offering a line of several specially formulated and pre-tested emu oil products for medicinal and cosmetic applications called 'The Dean's List." And this May the doctor received a Humanitarian award for his continuing work in the field of family practice, as well as a New Product Award for his product line from the Award Committee for the International Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Inventors Clubs of America Inc.

Through Rishada Emu Inc., Dean currently has available six products, which he says contain a high percentage of emu oil and include a hand lotion, skin moisturizer, skin tightener, body cleanser, shampoo, and 100 percent pure emu oil. "I'm real excited about all our products and people's response to them is amazing," says the doctor, who has additional emu oil products on line.

Dean says that he will continue to research the oil and use it in his practice. "I wouldn't quit!" he says.

Notation:

1. Series 1 was a severe gasoline burn on the arm of an 8-year-old patient, covering most of the lower inner art and around the elbow. The burn was treated with only pure emu oil, no antibiotics. With in 21 days the lesions were almost completely healed, with minimal scarring.
2. Series 2 showed a gravel abrasion, from a motorcycle accident, on the inner arm. After cleaning and deriding, the area was treated with pure emu oil on an occlusive dressing. With in 3 weeks, the lesions were completely healed, which normally would have taken 4-6 weeks.
3. Series 3 were photos of an elderly woman with severe eczema on her face. She had previously been treated for approximately eight weeks by a physician with conventional therapy (cortisone, antibiotics, IV, oral). All prior medications were discontinued, and after three weeks of applying only pure emu oil, the area was nearly normal with healthy color to the skin.

INSET: