Celery

[Alarbman]

Someone mentioned "Celery" as a cheap Psorlen treatment to eat before using a UVA tanning bed. While on PUVA, I took the psorlen about 2 hours before treatment. Do you also eat the celery about 2 hours before the tanning bed?? Thanks ;)

[wildflowerAnn]

How does the psoralen help? I try to get about 10 minutes of sun on my skin each day and no more. I'll eat celery too before going out if this helps.

[Q28Guy]

Does eating celery help in general? or only if you are in phototherapy?

[Resist]

I find this hard to believe but if it is true wonder if it's true and how much is needed in the body to do any good with UV treatments. I mean, could you eat enough to even make a difference?

[SCCatman]

I said that.
It does contain psoralen, it is a natural pesticide (feel better?)
Worker picking it without gloves get a rash from it.
Other foods have it also, I thing lettece,but not sure, you canprobably google for it, but I only hear about eating cerery, so I guess it has the most.

psoralen makes you sensitive to shorter wavelenght light, so yuo get the UVB effect from UVA. UVA penetrates glass, where UVB does not, so if you sit next to a window, be carfull.

This can be helpfull for tanning beds.
If you are in the sun, you will be more sensitive; but if you are in the sun, you should forego the cerey and rely on the UVB, you are less likely to burn, will probably get better results, and it is healther.

Now for the conjecture

My understanding is that cerey has enough psoralen in it to be effective.

I would expect you take it about the same lenght of time before you tan as you would in UVA, i.e. two hours, you might want to throw in another 20 minutes to allow for digestion of the cerey as opposed to the pill.

I am guessing one or two stalks depending on your size, but dont really know.

Other may have more information.

Cerey by itsself (without phototherpy of some form (UVA, tanning bed, sun)) is of no use intreating P, it just makes you sensitive to shorter wavelenght lights. It is siniular to the effect of some antibiotics that make you sensitive to light.

Dennis

[SCCatman]

Wildflower, I would try for more sun, Ithink slowly building up to an hour a day or more would be good, talk to your derm. I think a good deep tan is good for P.

Unless you have a high risk of cancer.

I ask my derm about sun bathing, and he said that it "can only help" I did not ask how much though.

Those who go to the resorts and have goo dresults spend most of the day either inthe sun or in a salt bath.

Dennis

[Alarbman]

SC is right. Psorlin is the drug, or pill, that you take 2 hours before PUVA. It "synthisises" the skin to the UVA rays, for much better results than UVA alone. It's just that I never knew that celery had it till now. :cool:

[wildflowerAnn]

I had UVB treatments and so I'm supposed to avoid sun exposure on my meds because the instructions say if a person has had UVB treatments, he/she is susceptible to malignant melanoma on these medications. I didn't know about psorlin in celery. I don't eat enough of it to be concerned, but in my case, I don't think I should eat more! This is good information for those who want more sunrays and those who don't.

[SuzanneT]

This is very interesting! Dennis, am I understanding correctly that the celery turns the UVA into the UVB? Or at least partially? I am trying the tanning bed on days when I'm at work and can't get any sun (not like there isn't enough sun in southern California!) and the first time I went they tried to sell me on the UVA/UVB "European" bed, since supposedly you didn't burn as easily. Well, since I started out with only 5 min, I knew I wouldn't burn, and the UVB was WAY too expensive! Hmmmmm. I have lots and lots of celery in my garden, it's about a foot high now and really deep green, I think I'll try this! Maybe it will help get more of the UVB? And one more question.... I thought that a few years ago when the whole tanning bed controvery was ongoing that UVB was supposed to be really bad?

[SCCatman]

UVB is what gives you cancer; it is also what cures P. It is a trade off, and if you do it much, you should have your derm do a skin cancer check from time to time.
Narrow band UVB allows minmum exposure, so is best, but most expensive. It is only availble from doctors.

Cerery does not convert UVA to UVB, it makes you sensitive to UVA. Same end results.

For P, the more UVB and less UVA , the better.

If you eat cerery before tanning, you should cut your exposure time. How much I don't know.
Half the time might be a guess. You can always do more tommorrow, but if you burn, you will get P like never before.

Dennis

[Resist]

It's not that UVB causes cancer. It's that UVB are the burning rays and burning is what causes cancer. The key is to use just enough UVB and not get burned. That is why using the sun is so dangerous compared to using UVB light treatments under a doctor's care. But it is not only available from doctor, it can be purchased for home use with a prescription.

Now I wonder if eating celery makes the skin more sensitive to UV exposure is it the same as using a coal tar shampoo, because they make you more sensitive also.

[SCCatman]

No, or at most in part.
coal tar works on it own without sunlight, just better with sunlight.
Dennis

[Resist]

I know coal tar doesn't use UV to work. My point was coal tar makes the skin more sensitive to UV exposure, just as celery does. This in turn allows UV treatments to work better.

[Alarbman]

There are actually several products, including medications (Antibiotics, etc) that can cause UV sensitivity. Psoralin is probably the safer and best managed of the group.

[SuzanneT]

Okay, this makes sense now. And since I'm taking Soriatane, which states that it can make you more sensitive to UV (although I haven't seen that), I think I'll personally forgo the celery.