There still aren’t any ointments containing steroids, but instead, ointments with an immunesupressor, tacrolimus, are being sold. It’s been on the market for nearly 20 years, but there are still many nebulous aspects, like its side effects, about this ointment. This ointment could bring about more side than steroidal ointment. I do not recommend this ointment to my patients. I’ve treated a patient who got a large and hard erythma on the cheek because of Protopic. It should not be used for the face, in particular, which is more exposed to the sun. Ironically, however, it is effective in reducing skin redness, and many patients use this just to take away the redness. Let me remind you that the main component in this ointment is immunesupressor! You can think of it as chemotherapy. When Protopic went on the market, I sensed a kind of insanity in modern medicine. Although you only apply it on the skin, I don’t see why you should take the risk just to treat AD, which isn’t fatal.

However, as I’ve written in section 4 about Vitamin B2 and B6, AD patients often worry about redness of their face. Although it may not seem bad from a third person’s point of view, but the patients themselves are self-conscious and some even look down while they speak. These patients sometimes take Protopic for immediate and temporary help and ignore the side effects that may come in the future.

However, if you’ve taken large amounts of Vitamin B2 and B6 and still haven’t been able to reduce skin redness, Protopic can be used as the final response. However, Vitamins, for this use, are not covered by health insurance at normal hospitals that accept insurance, which is why I don’t have patients take large amounts of vitamins. Furthermore, the most common case is that a dermatologist doesn’t know the benefits of Vitamin B2 and B6.

In addition, there may be tours to American dermatologists that actively recommend patients to take these kinds of immmunosupressant-containing ointment. Although the host of this tour claimed to have cured AD through it, this person had said that after getting treatment in America, “even if your skin get inflammations sometimes, you won’t need to use steroidal ointments and using ground-breaking medicine for Atopic Dermatitis will allow you to have healthy normal skin and take control of your life”. Is this really so? In order to make sure this tour really cures AD for a lifetime, you must wait for a couple dozen years to make sure. Furthermore, I must add that using an ointment with warnings from the FDA over several years is extremely dangerous. I think this description of the tour is incredibly negligent.

Protopic will probably be banned after causing massive damage like thalidomide did. The biggest fear about this is that it’s too late after there have been fatal accidents.

The Daily Yomiyuri printed this article of March 12, 2005.

AD treatment drug could cause cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called for medical personnel to limit the short-term use of Protopic (tacrolimus), developed by Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., to when all other AD treatment methods fail since there is a possibility that it causes cancer.
It has been confirmed, through animal tests that show signs of animals getting cancer, that the higher the dosage, the higher the risk to get cancer, and that of the patients who have used it, there have been a couple reports of cancer.

However, Protopic is covered by healthy insurance. This is why despite the warnings or the FDA, an equivalent to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, it’s been accepted by the Japanese Dermatological Association and is widely used in Japanese dermatological clinics.

The Japanese Dermatological Association’s standard treatment for Atopic Dermatitis is using steroid ointments and, to alleviate skin redness, Protopic ointment. This is it. However, because these methods are not enough, disappointed patients turn to corrupt AD businesses. It is preposterous to change the standard treatment using steroids just to respond to AD businesses. “Tuberculosis businesses”, an AD business equivalent, failed; modern medicine already solved ways to treat Tuberculosis so people didn’t fall for it.

The biggest flaw in many dermatologists is that they know nothing about dietetics. They don’t know that “Nourishment is Medicine” and that “you are what you eat”, and are only a group solely interested in skin. Therefore, the Japanese Dermatological Association cannot devise an effective way of treating AD. I don’t disagree with using steroids, and I actually believe in short-term use of steroids, but I know that patients must do more to treat AD. I think day and night of effective combinations of supplements or ointments that have no side effects to treat AD.

However, the Japanese Dermatological Association is under the illusion that steroids and Protopic are enough. Aren’t pharmaceutical companies the only one benefiting from this? They are mere lapdogs of pharmaceutical companies. Why do universities even have a department of dermatology? What’s the point of the Japanese Dermatological Association?