COMPARISON OF EFFICACY OF PHENOL AND SODIUM HYDROXIDE
MATRICECTOMIES FOR MANAGEMENT OF INGROWN TOENAILS
Abdul Jabbar Arif, Shahid Majeed, Ammara Arif Pak Armed Forces Med J 2015; 65(5): 630-34
Are there any studies/statistics supporting the idea about phenol being carcinogenic and that we should be avoiding phenol for our own health concerns. Any statistics of
podiatrists that have been affected?
I used phenol in England and mostly sodium hydroxide in the US. On balance, irrespective of what the 'articles' proclaim, I prefer phenol.
As for carcinogenic risks .....phhffftttt. Phenol used to be an active ingredient for sore throat spray and got pulled for that reason. The old stuff worked great, the new stuff sucks.
It seems that phenol is still the most popular. Do you know of any stats regarding podiatrists and cancer? It seems that if we don’t know any major stats that perhaps they aren’t there?
We have a local podiatrist here who is currently very sick with cancer. Until then he was doing quite a lot of phenolisations. Kind of makes you stop and think about the issue.
That's very sad, indeed. However, I would imagine there would be many more such reports if this can be linked to the use of phenol. Cancer, unfortunately, happens for many diverse reasons. One way, to investigate, is to have the diagnoses and attempt a correlation
with causative / contributing factors.
Association is not necessarily causation.
The EPA cancer classification for phenol is D, not classifiable as to humancarcinogenicity (IRIS 2006). ... The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has classified phenol as an A4 carcinogen (not classifiable as a human carcinogen) (ACGIH 2005). Toxicological Profile for Phenol - Agency for Toxic Substances and ...