Why do some doctors warn their products about “Hoxsey-type” products, saying that “all they do is burn the skin”?
In one word, ignorance. This is not to say we don’t think licensed physicians are an important part of the process. We end up telling many of our prospective customers to stop their guessing and go to a doctor and get a qualified diagnosis before trying to fix what they don’t understand. In a perfect world, doctors would have enough knowledge about escharotic preparations that they wouldn’t put out this kind of misinformation. In time, this will be the case. For now it’s not. Like most misinformation, this one has a grain of truth. Cansema® contains zinc chloride, a mildly caustic compound (see previous question), and in a high enough concentration, it can chemically burn the skin — just like aspirin, taken in sufficiently quantity — or any non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drug, by way of example, will burn holes in your G.I. tract. In actual practice, Cansema® is very discriminatory in its action. You can apply it to healthy tissue with great regularity, and in vain, never get a sca
