PatchMD is a company that makes patches that carry vitamins through the skin in a time-release manner — Dr. Samlaska is involved with the company and excited about something he’s worked on.
He’s seen many patients who tell him, “Well I go outside every day and get my 15 or 20 minutes of sun exposure to get my vitamin D.”
The doctor’s response is typically, “You don’t need to get 10 or 15 minutes of sunshine to get your vitamin D. You can supplement, you can take oral supplements.”
Many patients don’t realize that oral supplementation can sometimes be a bit difficult to use because they’ve all got to be absorbed. Some patients actually get sick from taking oral supplements; they can make them feel nauseated due to the doses that need to be ingested in order to get tissue levels up.
Some fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin D, are poorly absorbed—so a larger dose is needed to get enough of it to where it’s functional.
Enter PatchMD. Vitamin patches are worn as topically; the skin is the delivery system and avoids the digestive system. Consumers can buy patches to help with acne, sleep issues, energy levels, anti-aging, menopause, focus, and even hangover prevention.
Those little patches have shown significant dose response when the patch is on. One patch delivers vitamins through the skin to be absorbed over an 8-hour period. After that, peel it off and it’s done. Put it on every day and the vitamin D problem is resolved.
Dr. Samlaska is getting involved with Patch MD to design a sun protection patch which will contain elements of a plant extract—Polypodium leucotomos—shown to be protective of the skin and help decrease radiation and damage so that people can be out long before they get the same amount of redness.
So far, Dr. Samlaska found that elements of that plant have been shown to be quite beneficial to treat Melasma patients. He also plans to add vitamin D to take care of the vitamin D issue, and vitamins C and E which are antioxidants proven helpful in stabilizing cells from sun damage, along with Niacin which is beneficial to decrease radiation damage from ultraviolet, and vitamin K.
Put all these into a patch and you’ve got yourself a sun protection patch, which Dr. Sam refers to as SPP.
The patch is not meant to replace sunscreen—it’s another weapon to augment protection against long-term sun damage and aid in prevention.
If someone’s out golfing or they have a job where they’re out all day—sunscreen isn’t enough. The patch is something people can put on daily to help minimize sun damage. Put one on the skin vitamin D and a bunch of other goodness that will help prevent sun damage on your skin.