Hydrogen Water Baths Help Clear Psoriasis and Reduce Skin Inflammation
- Authors
- Qinyuan Zhu, Yueshen Wu, Yongmei Li, Zihua Chen, Lanting Wang, Hao Xiong, Erhong Dai, Jianhua Wu, Bin Fan, Li Ping, Xiaoqun Luo
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Year
- 2018
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-018-26388-3
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Psoriasis
- Body System
- Integumentary
TL;DR
Bathing in hydrogen water significantly improves skin condition and reduces itching for patients with psoriasis and parapsoriasis en plaques.
Key Finding
After 8 weeks, 24.4% of patients bathing in hydrogen water achieved at least 75% improvement in psoriasis severity compared to only 2.9% in the control group, and 56.1% achieved at least 50% improvement versus 17.7% in controls.
Summary
This study tested whether bathing in hydrogen-enriched water could help people with psoriasis and parapsoriasis en plaques (chronic inflammatory skin conditions). Researchers compared 41 patients who bathed in hydrogen water to 34 control patients over 8 weeks. The hydrogen water group showed greater improvement in skin severity scores and itching compared to the control group, suggesting that hydrogen water's ability to neutralize harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species may help reduce inflammation in these skin diseases.
Practical Takeaway
This small human study suggests hydrogen-water bathing may support improvement in psoriasis and related skin conditions, particularly for itching. However, the study size is modest and longer-term effects are unknown; anyone with psoriasis should discuss hydrogen water as a complementary approach with their dermatologist rather than as a replacement for established treatments.
Abstract
Psoriasis and parapsoriasis en plaques are chronic inflammatory skin diseases, both representing therapeutic challenge in daily practice and adversely affecting the quality of life. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been evidenced to be involved in the pathogenesis of the chronic inflammatory diseases. We now report that hydrogen water, an effective ROS scavenger, has significant and rapid improvement in disease severity and quality of life for patients with psoriasis and parapsoriasis en plaques. At week 8, our parallel-controlled trial revealed 24.4% of patients (10/41) receiving hydrogen-water bathing achieved at least 75% improvement in Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) score compared with 2.9% of patients (1/34) of the control group (Pc = 0.022, OR = 0.094, 95%CI = [0.011, 0.777]). Of patients, 56.1% (23/41) who received bathing achieved at least 50% improvement in PASI score compared with only 17.7%(6/34) of the control group (P = 0.001, OR = 0.168, 95%CI = [0.057, 0.492]). The significant improvement of pruritus was also observed (P = 3.94 × 10-4). Besides, complete response was observed in 33.3% of patients (2/6) of parapsoriasis en plaques and partial response in 66.7% (4/6) at week 8. Our findings suggested that hydrogen-water bathing therapy could fulfill the unmet need for these chronic inflammatory skin diseases.