Today I mixed 12 mg sirolimus (12 1mg pills) with 7oz. Aquaphor and 50ml Transcutol. The rationale for using more Transcutol than I’ve read on this board is twofold.
Aquaphor is really viscous.
This research article: PMC6848246.
Excepts: “Transcutol® has been formulated at concentrations of up to 49.9% in topically applied FDA-approved products.” “Transcutol® does not compromise the integrity of the skin structures. With superior solubilization power, unique physicochemical properties, and well-established safety profile, it is an ideal penetration/permeation enhancer.” Caveat: " Nonetheless, its full potential in dermal delivery may be untapped if its role is not thoroughly understood."
I’m looking for feedback. I have some metformin and have green tea extract coming so I’ll probably add those to the mix. Maybe some Vit E as well. I so appreciate this board and it’s excellent moderator.
69 years old. Grew up in Midwest without sunscreen. Dermatology has me on 6 month checks to check for precancerous skin growths. When taking these photos I noticed that light and background make a big difference. So if I do post the changes in 6 months or so the comparison will not be scientific.
I have asked him to share his results here. Lets see if he does that. I don’t want to be a middle man who shares private info which was sent to me. Hope everyone understands
@kennyrayj you bring up an excellent point for skin quality pictures: is there a research standard — or any standard at all — for taking skin pictures for a before/after observation? Ideally some research standard would have already certified such lighting/resolution/etc. but it would be nice to know so if we decide to share pictures, we have the tools to make them extra-useful.
Thanks Ericross2. You have me thinking on how to best record and present changes. Light just went on: When I see my dermatologist in July I’ll ask then to take a photo. When I do post changes I’ll just try to be realistic. For those who want to take a deep dive:
That Nuzzio guy is a twitter troll. He constantly trashes oral rapamycin because he thinks the leading researchers who take it look old. In his book, how are you look in the mirror is all that counts. It’s not surprising that he is using it as a skin cream.
I prepared a new rapamycin spray. This time I am using rapamycin, transcutol and na-pcs moisturizing factor (instead of water) for better absorption. Will compare it with rapamycin cream (transcutol, cera ve moisturizer). Both have pretty high concentration of rapamycin. The cream (used for 1 month) didn’t show much progress with spots. Probably 1 mo is not enough.
I added green tea extract and metformin to my diy cream so it’s now as follows:
-7oz. Aquaphor (mixed half of the14 oz size)
-12 mg sirolimus (12 1mg pills)
-1.5g metformin
-Green tea liquid extract (Horbaach brand), 2ml
-60ml Transcutol
Hi. I assume you are spraying it on your face? If so, does it get into your eyes and if so does it irritate your eyes? I’ve been using my rapa cream just on my head and back of hands in an attempt to reduce age spots but would use it on my face if it’s non-irritating or otherwise safe if it gets into my eyes.
And quick general question - you blend the rapamycin pills into a powder w/ mortar and pestle, mix into the transcutol, and then mix in to the aquaphor?
Though dmso is not necessarily the best to increase skin penetration for all substances. Another to maybe consider is alpha Terpineol.sometimes spelled without the ‘o’ as just alpha Terpinol . It performed at only 2.5% better than any concentration of dmso for Lidocaine. Specifically better than 10% dmso for Lidocaine penetration that is to make it work better only topically by quite a bit than all conventional sold substances such as emla cream etc. There are many other articles about using Terpenes for skin penetration of various other compounds though i did not see any for specifically Rapamycin nor Tacrolimus.
I apologize if this has already been covered, but I used to work with DMSO as a solvent in a biochem lab (DNA polymerases) and we were VERY careful not to get it on our skin because it would (potentially, but very likely) carry whatever you had in the solution into your bloodstream via through your skin. So if you have a class-100 clean room environment in your home in which you mix your pure Rapamycin into pure DMSO, in glassware that has been triple-washed and then autoclaved, I’d say you are very safe. But if your home looks like mine, I have a class-0 clean room at best (I.e. no clean room environment) and can’t be sure what else I will get in the solution. Plus many of us are putting this in creams/etc. which I’m not sure were intended to be used internally, let alone injected in the bloodstream. Even the Rapamycin capsules: I don’t have an answer for this, but aren’t the actual capsule outside intended to protect the Rapamycin from destruction in the stomach/intestines and may not have been intended for direct use in the bloodstream? So, with the caveat that most of us appear to be pretty sophisticated about this kind of risk, and that you are seeing positive impacts of Rapamycin so this clearly isn’t a major issue (if at all), how are you thinking about passing these other potential impurities through your skin into your blood? — it’s something I keep thinking about, and I’m not generally a nervous guy.
basically it only absorbs things into your bloodstream to any appreciable extent that are under 500 daltons and not all even of that category. That is under a molecular weight of 500 of which rapamycin is NOT since it is greater than 500 being at 914.2
“because it would (potentially, but very likely) carry whatever you had in the solution into your bloodstream”
It’s not just that, I don’t like DMSO for the way it feels and smells, not to mention that you can sometimes actually taste it after applying it to your skin. I find Transcutol very pleasant both in smell and how it feels on my skin.
That is also why Transcutol and not DMSO is found in cosmetics.
Transcutol penetrates deep into the dermal layer but not into the bloodstream.
