iontophoresis generator

Why not just use some DMSO instead of creating some monster circuit?

I suppose it might work. Only with charged meds though (mostly amines and acids, I guess), and probably not so much with lipophilic molecules. I wonder what electrolysis at the anode and cathode does to the stuff. Wouldn't it be great if the oxidation or reduction turned it into a carcinogen? ;-)

Tim

Next time you go for treatment, bring your portable DVM or just ask them what the voltage compliance and polarity are. Are these AMA-approved doctors, or was this some alternative therapy? (not that there's anything wrong with that.)

A constant-current source (or, technically, a sink if you use an NPN) is almost trivial:

+V --o----------o | | | o electrode [R1] e [CR1] | | k | [CR2] [R2] | k | | | | | Gnd Gnd

Use ohm's law to determine the value of R2 based on one diode drop (~0.6 - 0.7V. I'm not going to do your math here. ;-) If possible, use a pot to make it adjustable (but do put a fixed resistor in series to limit the max. current), and stick a milliammeter in there somewhare.

R1 can be anywhere from, say, 1K to 10K (depending on the beta of the transistor), the diodes are any small-signal silicon (1N914, 1N4148, etc.) 'k' indicates cathode, which should be on the Gnd side. "Gnd" s simply the DC return. The transistor can be almost any small-signal silicon (PN2222, 2N3904, 2N4401, etc.)

You might or might not need more than 9V voltage compliance; I don't know the figures for skin conductivity with an electrolyte; this is another reason to take your DVM to your next treatment.

Also, watch where they put the electrodes, and put yours in the same spots.

Just for the sake of contrariness, have you looked into DMSO? ;-)

Good Luck! Rich

It's more fun to design a circuit? ;-)

Cheers! Rich

milli-amps can kill! What's the resistance of the human body? I have a hard time getting less than 10k ohm with a DMM, but I think I've heard it's possible to get it down near 1 kohm. 1k Ohm at 5mA. What voltage do you need? You do the math.

George Herold

There's a wart-zapper that kills warts by passing ~100uA through it.

Kills healthy flesh too.

Cheers, James Arthur

e

Resistance? Megohms for dry, thick skin with light pressure. Hundreds of K for dry, thin skin and heavy pressure (squeezing the probes in your fingertips, say). Tens of K for moist skin (e.g., tongue). Single digit K or less for larger areas (e.g., defib paddles?). You have to puncture the skin for the lowest resistance,

10-100 ohms, most of which I understand flows through arteries and such (the surest way to kill yourself would be an ohmmeter probe in a vein and another in an artery!).

Tim

g /

ave

at

Thanks everyone for the valuable responses :-) As Tim said, the resistance of the human body depends on many factors and that's why current generators are used (with a limitation or clamp of the max voltage drop that may develop across the electrodes). If the electric path between the electrodes does not cross the upper thorax (i.e. the heart) or the head then the risk of is next to nothing. After all, electrotherapy in well accepted in medicine (I mean "orthodox" physical therapy or physiotherapy).

The diagram shown by Rich is the one I had in mind. I have read on a medical text that the DC current should be around 1 mA - nothing too dangerous if proper precautions are taken.

It does not look like a monster circuit to me :-) And according to the literature iontophoresis may be more effective than simple topical application of DMSO or similar stuff.

maxino

Maybe, but you won't test it on me, right? ;) And it's not so much the circuit, but all the stuff around it.

"May"?

If you want an adjustable constant current device, use a FET; i would preer a depletion mode unit so that an adjustable resistor (pot) would be the only part needed (not counting that 9V battery).

?monster? 3 items: battery,FET,resistor ??

To kill the wart, rub it with a cut piece of raw potato, and bury the potato in the back yard.

It might take awhile, and I really don't know how burying the potato helps, but presumably, potato has some sort of wart-unfriendly enzyme, or it could simply be the placebo effect.

Heck, why not do the experiment, and report on your results! ;-)

I get an occasional wart, and I burn them off with either a soldering iron or the hot end of a burning cigarette. But you have to get all of it, or it will grow back. I once tried the impermeable adhesive-tape trick, but a whole family of little baby warts started showing up around it, so I ended the experiment, and Mama wart came back to life, and the babies disappeared for real. This was a Plantar wart, which might have a different physiology than an "ordinary" wart.

I got rid of a plantar wart many years ago by surrounding it with a corn pad, and when it looked like sort of a "mesa", I sliced the top off and, with a tweezers or needle-nosed pliers, ripped the fibrous core out by the roots.

Hurt like a bastard, but it was a "good hurt" - it got rid of the wart, and in 50 years, it hasn't come back.

Good Luck! Rich

1: It stops you from trying to eat the infected potato

2: It grows new potatoes!

:^)