Gel, upon reading this particular term, you might have though of the hairstyling gel that most men use before. Well, I cannot blame you; this is actually what some people think when they hear this word. However, in today’s day and time, gels are now used in various aspects, not just in hairstyling, but also in the field of medicine. There are some medications that have their own different forms, and this includes gel form. The gel form of medications is often used in treating or relieving conditions that associate pain, for example, gout.
In this article, you will get to know Solaraze. A medication for gout that has various forms, including gel. Is it effective? Well, let’s see!
Do Topical Medicines Really Work?
It is inevitable that many will raise their eyebrows when talking about topical medicines. There will be some who will ask how these topical medications can affect them or in their condition. There may be some who will say that it must go to their body’s pathways, from their gastrointestinal tract up to their liver to be effective.
We know that the topical medications are the medicines that we people, simply apply to our skin and let relieve our pain. Furthermore, the topical medication mainly means, the application to the surface of the skin of the body or the mucus membrane in order to treat illnesses in a large scale of forms, including ointments, gels, lotions, foams, as well as creams. Furthermore, a lot of topical medications are epicutaneous or those that we apply directly to the skin.
Truthfully, topical medicines like Solaraze gel don’t follow the usual route of oral medications. They are intended to reach the bloodstream coming from the epidermis. After passing through the stratum corneum, the topical medicines will have any issues reaching in to the bloodstream. In contrast to the popular belief, the epidermis is actually eagerly penetrable.
You might ask, “Does this mean, lotions may also reach the bloodstream?” Actually, the answer to this question is a big, fat NO. why? This is mainly because the topical medicines each have a chemical vehicle, which is a substance that helps in penetrating the skin.
Solaraze…
We used Solaraze as an example a while ago, but what it is exactly?
Actually, Solaraze is not a medicine to be used for gout. It is in fact, a medication that is used in treating various kinds of inflammation and pain. It is a brand for the medication, diclofenac, which is also a part of the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs or NSAIDs. Not similar to the other NSAIDs, Solaraze gel is commonly used in treating solar keratosis. This is a condition, which may lead to cancer.
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs or NSAIDs remove the inflammation and pain by getting rid of the capacity of an individual to generate them in the first place. This exactly is what the Solaraze gel of when you apply them on the skin in treating inflammation and pain.
The Solaraze gel will help in deforming the cyclooxygenase enzymes in order to convert the arachidonic acid to prostaglandins. This just means that there will be no pain and inflammation signals that will be sent.
Aside from that, one more good thing about Solaraze gel is that it has a long half-life. This just means that it can stay in the body for a long period of time. In fact, it can stay for about 11 hours most specifically in the joints. On the other hand however, there is also a bad news to it; Solaraze gel is less effective in comparison to that of the other medications. This is mainly for the reason that it is a topical medication.
Drawbacks of using Solaraze Gel
One drawback of the Solaraze gel is that it has side effects. The Solaraze gel, just like any other NSAIDs in the market may cause gastrointestinal bleeding and ulceration. This is due to the fact that various types of cyclooxygenase, namely cox1 are responsible for the maintenance of the stomach’s epithelium.
Moreover, Solaraze gel also uses sodium salt, rather than potassium salt as its own base. The potassium salt works much faster, thus making the Solaraze gel much slower in doing its function. The gel may also encourage allergic reactions to the skin, most especially to people who are intolerant of sodium.
Lastly, the Solaraze Gel does not treat the rot cause of gout, which is the uric acid. It is safe to say that, yes, it is capable of relieving the pain and the inflammation, but there is a doubt of it treating gout.
