Black salve and other escharotic pastes
Black salve is a corrosive paste containing bloodroot and zinc chloride sold online to 'draw out' skin cancers. It burns whatever it touches, leaves disfiguring scars, does not reliably remove the cancer, and has let melanomas spread while people believed they were cured.
Overview
Escharotic pastes (black salve, Cansema, bloodroot paste) contain sanguinarine from Sanguinaria canadensis with zinc chloride and destroy tissue non-selectively, forming an eschar that falls away. They have no ability to distinguish tumour from normal skin, no margin control and no histology, so residual tumour is common and the resulting wounds are large and disfiguring; case series document melanoma progression to metastasis and loss of noses and ears after self-treatment. The FDA lists black salve among fake cancer cures and has issued warning letters, and it is illegal to market for cancer in the US and Australia. Basal and squamous cell skin cancers are among the most curable cancers with surgery, topical prescription agents or radiotherapy, which is why this product does so much avoidable harm.
How it works
Non-selective chemical necrosis of skin and underlying tissue; the sanguinarine has cytotoxic activity but no tumour selectivity.
- None as a treatment; a clear counselling example
- Disfiguring burns and scars
- Incomplete tumour removal, delayed diagnosis of melanoma
- Illegal to market for cancer
Latest papers
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