Ozone therapy: what it is, how it works and for which diseases it is indicated

Oxygen-ozone therapy: for which pathologies is it indicated?

By Cristiano Antonino On Sep 30, 2022

There are more than 1200 scientific papers published internationally on the usefulness of oxygen-ozone therapy in human and veterinary medicine. But what does this treatment consist of and in which cases is it indicated?

Oxygen-ozone therapy: what is it?

Oxygen-ozone therapy is a medical treatment using a gaseous mixture of oxygen and ozone (also called medical ozone) in which ozone is present in concentrations 30 times lower than in industrial use.

This prodigious mixture has effects on metabolisms; it has biological effects for both local applications (disinfectant and trophic type on skin ulcers of various kinds) and systemic applications.

It is successfully used in certain bacterial and virus diseases (e.g. chronic hepatitis, herpes, cytomegalovirus, mononucleosis, papilloma-virus), chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

How is oxygen-ozone therapy performed?

The routes of administration are

local: indicated in the treatment of venous stasis ulcers and pressure sores and in cellulitis;
systemic: the mixture is injected intramuscularly, subcutaneously, intramuscularly, by infiltration into painful sites.

It is used in rheumatic affections and as a circulatory activator (increases resistance to exertion); it has an anti-inflammatory action and reduces blood viscosity; it also facilitates the elimination of cellular catabolites.

It has a pain-relieving and decontracting action: it improves microcirculation, reduces inflammation and spasticity.

Improves sleep-wake rhythm.

It does not interfere with other treatments.

In rheumatic diseases, a state of chronic low-grade silent inflammation is established and oxygen- ozone therapy intervenes at various levels with immunomodulating action (also useful in fibromyalgia).

To sum up, oxygen-ozone therapy is successfully used in the following diseases:

circulatory disorders (arterial and venous), cerebral sclerosis, age-related retinal maculopathy
rheumatic disorders (arthritis, arthrosis, osteoporosis)
viral and immune-deficiency diseases
allergic syndromes
chronic hepatitis
diseases of the nervous system: neurodegenerative diseases, neuritis, headaches
in disc hernias and protrusions (cervical and lumbar)
in peripheral and cerebral arteriopathies (including post-ischemic syndromes).