A DMSO Tutorial, please?

[mvp]

DMSO is weird stuff. Crosses the blood-brain barrier (take that seriously!). Drags other stuff across the skin with it (for better and for worse). Helps with swelling-- of soft tissue… and pissed-off bone as in fresh splints(?). Some people make sweats using it. Can produce a chemical burn on skin.

I have an amateur, very incomplete knowledge of how to DMSO… even as I have watched people use it from time to time for different purposes. They all seemed to be quite clear and sure of their recipe and use. But I can’t think of an “industry standard” way of using DMSO the way, say, I think everyone agrees on how to wrap legs.

I also have a horse with a cut on a hind leg and swelling around that area is taking its own sweet time to go down. I suspect someone would use DMSO around that (there is a scab… no DMSO straight into the blood stream).

This is the occasion for me to start a thread asking for a very good, very complete tutorial on how y’all who know what you are doing use DMSO.

Thank you!

[Jungle_Monkey]

I only use DMSO when my vet tells me to use it.

[theresak]

I’d ask a vet.

If you think there might be infection in that swelling, I’d do a furacin + DMSO sweat for a few days. I’d hose the leg and change the wrap every 12 hours. Also see if hand walking helps the swelling go down.

If it’s just swelling, I’d either cover the wound and put a dry wrap on or do a plain furacin sweat. If you can poultice without getting anything close to the wound, that would work too.

My standard for cellulitis is a furacin + DMSO sweat for as many days as the leg/skin can withstand the DMSO. I can usually make it almost a week but eventually have to switch to poultice or a dry wrap. But hopefully by that time the IV/IM/oral antibiotics have knocked out most of the infection.

[IPEsq]

I would not use DMSO (including in a furacin sweat) anywhere near broken skin, personally. Because both of things can be quite irritating. Cut + swelling also suggests possibility of infection, meaning antibiotics are what you need not DMSO. A call for the vet, since whatever they did to get the cut could also cause swelling. In any case, I’d be cold hosing and dry wrapping to help with inflammation. Internal drugs (like NSAIDS and/or antibiotics) as prescribed.

Luckily, I haven’t had to go the IV DMSO route (which of course I would have a vet do!). I’ve generally just used as directed. If my vet says to sweat something, that’s DMSO + furacin. Wrapped or not, depending on location (was told to sweat a pectoral muscle having a reaction to an injection, which was definitely not wrapped). When in doubt, I tend to err on dry wrap or clay poultice. Definitely less risk of irritating the skin that way. If whatever it is is swollen really badly or is in an area that can’t be treated with compression (such as pecs, above), then I consult the vet. If the vet advises sweating, I’ll do that.

I’ve also been directed to apply it post-exercise on sore hocks, right over the lower joint area for a specific horse and his issues.

[Equibrit]

Use as directed; http://www.equaide.com/

[Peggy]

I would only use it if a vet suggested it. Which one has not done for many years.

@jawa Have you ever gotten the stuff on your skin and tasted the result shortly thereafter? May explain why the horse gets weird about it

[Hilary]

Another “on vet’s direction”. I used it when my horse had a suspensory injury in the acute phase to help reduce the inflammation. He was on stall rest at the time (and wrapped, and iced, and buted). During the first week of the injury I applied DMSO once a day, after icing, to the specific area of the injury, and left him unwrapped for about an hour. Then I rinsed and wrapped it. Vet said to wrap over the DMSO could cause a lot of discomfort. I used gloves. It’s definitely weird and scary stuff!

[mmeqcenter]

I do not use DMSO without Fura-zone (furacin). And gloves. I have no problem using it without vet’s directions, a DMSO sweat is a standard tool in my bag when it comes to swelling and minor injuries.
(*if it matters, I’m a chemist).
DMSO has been around for decades, and anything that’s been used that long will have a million different uses that each user swears up and down by. Whether or not they’re all valid/effective uses, well, horse people rely a lot on tradition.

[luvmyhackney]

@mmeqcenter

I do not use DMSO without Fura-zone (furacin). And gloves. I have no problem using it without vet’s directions, a DMSO sweat is a standard tool in my bag when it comes to swelling and minor injuries.
(*if it matters, I’m a chemist).
DMSO has been around for decades, and anything that’s been used that long will have a million different uses that each user swears up and down by. Whether or not they’re all valid/effective uses, well, horse people rely a lot on tradition.

Thats how I use it. No issues. Don’t forget the gloves.

[merrygoround]

I have seen a degloving, where a large flap of skin was hanging down, that had happened at least 12 hours before, dry and ugly, coated with DMSO after cold hosing, then sutured. It healed with a small scar.

I have known horses who have skin reactions to it. Individuals differ.

I would not wrap a sweat containing DMSO. But I would use it in combination with topical antibiotics.

It does not cause eye problems in humans.