Tea tree oil and silver together make more effice antiseptics

from Science Blog - by BJS - March 2009

In the fight against infected skin wounds, mixing tea tree oil and silver or putting them in liposomes, (small spheres made from natural lipids), greatly increases their antimicrobial activity and may minimise any side effects.

Wan Li Low and colleagues from the University of Wolverhampton presented research at the Society for General Microbiology meeting in Harrogate today (30 March) which showed that although both tea tree oil and silver (in the form of silver nitrate) were effective against a range of micro-organisms, when low concentrations of the two agents were combined, their antimicrobial activity increased.

Used alone, both silver and tea tree oil can cause side effects in patients. Over exposure to silver can cause a bluish-grey discolouration of the skin and applying unregulated amounts of tea tree oil externally can cause skin irritation. With increasing life expectancy, age related conditions such as chronic leg ulcers or bedsores are likely to become more common. Current treatments using traditional silver-based creams and dressings use relatively high metal concentrations. Creams containing lower amounts of the agents could provide safer and readily available over-the-counter antiseptic compounds for effective treatment without damaging the surrounding skin.