Ozone Therapy for Allergies: Hay Fever, Asthma, Eczema, and Other Immune Conditions

At A Glance

1. Overactive and imbalanced immune responses cause allergic diseases. Allergies are not a problem of histamine or allergens.
2. Toxic exposures, nutrient deficiencies, stress, trauma, and dysbiosis contribute to immune dysfunctions. This explains why allergic diseases and their severity are on the rise. 
3. Genetics, toxic exposures (like mold toxins and hormone disruptors), infections, gut dysbiosis, leaky gut, inflammation, dietary factors, sleep deprivation, and stress worsen allergies.
4. Most conventional treatments focus on suppressing immune responses or blocking histamine receptors.
5. Ozone therapy helps by stimulating regulatory T cells, normalizing oxidative stress and inflammation, and stimulating mitochondrial function. These changes can improve the gut flora and barrier. 
6. Small clinical trials suggest that ozone IV therapy and rectal insufflation may help with asthma and improve lung function. 
7. For skin conditions like eczema, ozone oil, water, and gas application to the skin may help by renormalizing skin flora and immune responses.
8. There are, however, very few peer-reviewed publications on the benefits of ozone therapy for allergic rhinitis (hay fever); although anecdotally, autohemotherapy, ear insufflation, and rectal insufflation may offer some relief. 

While ozone gas inhalation could worsen allergies and asthma, ozone therapy can help balance the immune system and alleviate the symptoms. Currently, evidence supporting the safety and effectiveness of ozone therapy for allergic conditions is limited and not universally accepted. However, clinical anecdotes and several plausible mechanisms exist.

In this article, we’ll cover how ozone IV therapy, rectal insufflation, ear insufflation, and breathing ozone oil may help with allergies or other allergic conditions. Before we explore how ozone therapy helps, let’s first understand the underlying immune dysfunctions. Then, we’ll review the available evidence—whether clinical or in animals—that informs the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of ozone therapy for each autoimmune condition. 

Note: While ozone therapy is very safe and may help with allergies, it can aggravate allergies for some people. If you have a severe allergy or anaphylaxis, please start ozone therapy under medical supervision and with life-saving medications in reach. Also, avoid inhaling ozone if you have allergies or asthma.

What Are Allergic Diseases?

Hay fever, asthma, eczema, hives, anaphylaxis, and food allergies all have one thing in common: an allergic immune response.

Allergic diseases are all disorders of the immune system, not simply issues with IgE, histamine, or the allergens you're exposed to. Researchers still don’t know what causes them, but many theories and known contributing factors exist.

If you have children, you’ll know that toddlers go through a phase where they eat things off the ground and put everything in their mouths. They may also get sick a lot (and, unfortunately, sometimes give you whatever they have). It’s perhaps a phase of the immune system and gut flora education. 

This is why excessive cleanliness during childhood increases the risk of allergies [1]. Whereas growing up around animals, on a farm, or even with a parasite infection reduces the risk of allergies. 

That's not to say you should let your toddler eat everything off the ground or intentionally infect them with parasites. Rather, try safe options to support their gut flora and immune system, like probiotics and exposure to pets. 

Either way, allergic diseases arise from three similar factors to those causing autoimmune diseases:

1. Genetic tendency, such as when allergies run in the family.
2. Leaky gut or intestinal permeability, which tends to go hand in hand with gut dysbiosis.
3. Environmental contributing factors, such as exposure to allergens at a high dose, certain types of pollution, mold exposure, and heavy metals.

Your immune system has various types of helper T cells (Th), which coordinate immune responses depending on what categories of pathogens you’re exposed to. For allergic diseases, it tends to be Th2 and Th17. Th2 cells typically react to parasites and some toxins. 

During the development of immune cells, the developing Th cells could become either Th17 or regulatory T cells. In short, regulatory T cells inhibit excessive and imbalanced immune responses, whereas Th17 cells contribute to allergies and autoimmune diseases. 

If you have allergies, you have overactive Th17 cells and underactive regulatory T cells.

Currently, nobody fully understands why and how allergies develop. Despite advances in allergy research, more people are developing allergic diseases [2]. The branch of the immune system that overreacts to allergies (Th2) protects you from parasites, although most allergens have nothing in common with parasites. 

Immunologist Ruslan Medzhitov hypothesized that allergic reactions protect you from toxins, ideally preventing the toxins from entering your body altogether. This makes sense given that mold toxins and heavy metals can lead to allergy-dominant immune responses [3],[4]. 

Levels of modern-day hormone disruptors and toxins are increasing across the board, most likely ticking off your immune system just as much as causing cell danger response [5]. 

Allergies Arise From Many Contributing Factors

Many factors contribute to allergies or worsen symptom severity, with some degree of additive or synergistic effects. Stress, oxidative stress, toxic exposures, dysbiosis, and anything that increases systemic inflammation can aggravate them. If you take care of one of these, you can improve your symptoms.

Why Do People Still Struggle With Allergies Despite Numerous Conventional Options?

In most cases, allergic disease drugs suppress some aspects of the immune system. These can increase the risk of infections and certain cancers. Corticosteroids, specific enzyme inhibitors, biologics, and antihistamines don’t address the root causes, and all have side effects. 

More importantly, patients need to continue taking these medications to manage their symptoms for the rest of their lives. When they need to come off these medications or shots, whether due to side effects or financial reasons, the rebound inflammatory symptoms can be severe. 

You may wonder if there are treatments that increase regulatory T cells. Currently, the one mainstream treatment that targets regulatory T cells is allergy shots or allergen immunotherapy–they inject the very allergen you’re allergic to in increasing doses. Hence, your body learns to ignore them. 

Regulatory T cells need to know when to work and when to shut off, too. Otherwise, if the immune response remains suppressed, it will eventually allow cancer cells to grow. Also, the shots can trigger severe allergic reactions, so the medical office will need to monitor you after each shot. You’ll need to return for regular shots, which can cost thousands a year. They can also become less effective or stop working.

This is not to say that it's inherently wrong to seek medications or shots to manage symptoms. Everyone is at a different place in their journey. In some situations, you may still need some medications, even when everything else is optimal. 

Not everyone is ready to overhaul their lives to fight for a complete cure, either. And if you have a severe anaphylaxis reaction or an asthma attack, it is essential that you have life-saving medications within reach.

Thus, it is important to be aware of your options and possibilities beyond what mainstream medicine offers. Some options may even be frowned upon by doctors but have plenty of evidence for safety, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness. 

How Does Ozone Therapy Help With Allergies? Plausible Mechanisms?

Ozone therapy is not a cure, but it can be a very powerful tool for allergies as it fills in the following gaps not currently addressed by mainstream treatments.

Stimulating Regulatory T Cells While Inhibiting Opposing Pro-Inflammatory Responses

In a clinical trial, 20 multiple sclerosis patients were compared with 20 healthy controls. The participants received 25 µg/mL ozone-oxygen autohemotherapy on 100 mL of blood twice a week for six months. 

After six months, the frequency of regulatory T cells and their other functional measures, such as gene readouts specific to regulatory T cells, increased. Correspondingly, inflammatory cytokines decreased, while anti-inflammatory cytokines rose [6]. While MS is not an allergic disease, be believe these immune changes likely are applicable to allergies.

Supporting Healthy Detoxification of Immune-Disrupting Toxins

Endocrine disruptors that are ubiquitous around us may account for increasing incidences of autoimmune and allergic diseases. For example, everyone is exposed to pesticides in food and water, off-gassing from cars and new furniture, and plastic building blocks from food containers. 

Your immune cells have receptors for these chemicals, so the chemicals can change their functions. Dealing with these chemicals in your body depletes glutathione, which your regulatory T cells need to function properly [7]. In animals, many of these chemicals can throw off the immune system [8].

By activating Nrf2 pathways, ozone-oxygen therapy supports detoxification and glutathione production. It can help your body remove these toxins more effectively [9]. Rectal insufflation also delivers more oxygen and ozonated byproducts to the liver, speeding up liver clearance of many substances from the bloodstream [10]. 

Reducing Inflammation and Oxidative Stress

By renormalizing oxidative stress and jump-starting Nrf2, ozone therapy inhibits Nf-kB, a key cellular manager that orchestrates inflammation. As a result, inflammatory cytokines go down. Other benefits of ozone therapy, such as stimulating regulatory T cells and improving the gut flora, also help reduce inflammation.

In a test tube study, the stimulation of Nrf2 with a chemical 4-octyl itaconate reduced histamine and inflammatory cytokine release from mast cells [11]. While we don’t know if ozone therapy stabilizes mast cells, this may explain why ozone therapy helps tremendously with mold toxins, which tend to cause mast cell problems.

Antimicrobial (in cases with ongoing infections contributing to the disease)

Some, but not all, cases of allergic conditions are symptoms of chronic infections, especially parasite infections, but the immune system cannot fight off the infections. These infections often remain undiagnosed or go undetected with conventional tests. 

In some cases, killing off the parasite resolves the diseases and helps with symptoms like chronic hives. In many Hashimoto’s cases, treating the parasite infection improved the antibody and thyroid hormone levels [12],[13]. 

Ozone therapy can help break the biofilm and work with the immune system to clear these pathogens. Chronic infections like Lyme, parasites, and Candida have awful die-off symptoms. I recommend working with an experienced doctor who has helped many patients clear their chronic infections safely. Also, start ozone therapy at a very low dose and increase gradually. 

Stimulating Mitochondrial Function

Mitochondrial dysfunctions and cell danger responses are key features of all chronic inflammatory diseases [7]. Some researchers believe that allergic conditions and autoimmunity start with damaged or danger-sensing mitochondria [14]. 

By providing oxygen, stimulating Nrf2, and jump-starting the mitochondria, ozone-oxygen therapy may mitigate some immune dysfunctions and allergy symptoms.

Improving Gut Flora and Gut Barrier Health

The gut flora is tightly linked to your immune system, as over 80% of your immune cells are in the gut. Nowadays, numerous factors can throw off your gut flora, from the lack of fiber in your diet to toxic exposures and stress. 

This is why some probiotics could relieve allergies but won’t fix the problem. Your gut flora composition is also determined by what you feed your gut bacteria and the state of your gut lining. If your gut lining has dysfunctional mitochondria, which use less oxygen, it leaves more oxygen available to your gut bacteria. 

Most friendly bacteria in your gut, like lactobacilli, don’t like oxygen or can somewhat tolerate oxygen. Whereas, many pathogenic bacteria like salmonella and staphylococci like oxygen. In short, an unhealthy gut lining begets an unhealthy gut flora [15]. 

Ozone therapy, especially rectal insufflation, helps rebalance the gut flora and strengthen the gut barrier by jump-starting the mitochondria in the gut lining cells. This could be crucial for re-balancing inflammation and modulating the immune system [16]. 

Skin conditions such as eczema also involve imbalances in the skin microbiota. In these cases, ozone oil, gas, glycerin, or water application may rebalance the skin flora and alleviates symptoms of the conditions [17]. 

Clinical Evidence for Ozone-Oxygen Therapy for Allergic Diseases

Allergic Rhinitis (Seasonal Allergy or Hay Fever)

Trial 1 involved 100 children aged five to 10 years, divided into two groups:

• Group 1: 47 participants received complex conventional treatments, including:
  
  • 10 drops of cetirizine hydrochloride daily for two weeks.
  • Fluticasone furoate nasal spray.
  • Oxymetazoline HCl inhalation twice daily for one week.
  • Educating the parents on keeping the environment allergy-free. 
• Group 2: 53 participants received the same treatment combined with ozone therapy. The ozone therapy group received wave-guided ultrasonic spraying of 10% ozonated olive oil emulsion into the nasal mucosa. 

Both treatments were administered one to two days after symptom onset and three months after the start of the observation. Researchers measured various immune responses in the blood and compared both study groups with 83 healthy children living in the same city. 

In comparison to Group 1, the ozone group (Group 2) had significantly faster normalization of well-being, appetite, sleep, coughs, nasal breathing, sneezing, and reduction of mucus. Group 1 achieved complete remission at 16.8 days, compared to Group 2 at 13.1 days. 

Group 1 had a significant increase in all T cells measured during complete remission, compared to Group 2, with only a minor increase in one type of T cells. Also, the conventional group had persistent increases in various immunoglobulins (IgA, IgE, and IgM), but the ozone group only had some increases in IgE. 

These findings suggest that ozone therapy, even local treatments like breathing ozone oil, works differently than conventional treatments, such as by normalizing immune responses. Whereas, conventional treatments tend to block local processes, such as histamine responses, inflammatory responses, or blood vessels that contribute to swelling. 

Therefore, adding ozone oil nebulization can enhance the overall effectiveness of conventional treatments and mitigate some of the drug side effects [18].

Trial 2 examined 100 children (65 girls and 35 boys) children aged five to 10 years old who have both atopic dermatitis and persistent allergic rhinitis. The study compared:

• Group 1: standard conventional treatments including:
  
  • Creating hypoallergenic living conditions.
  • An individual hypoallergenic diet.
  • Bathing emulsion Emolium II.
  • Topical mometasone furoate once every seven to ten days.
  • Courses of treatment with drugs Hilak Forte, Linex, and Creon.
  • Cetirizine hydrochloride orally 10 drops once a day for two weeks.
  • Oxymetazoline hydrochloride 0.05% spray inhalation twice a day for a week.
  • Fluticasone furoate 27.5 mcg spray into the nasal passage once a day for two weeks.
• Group 2: same treatments as Group 1 with two courses of ozone therapy, including:
  
  • Topical applications of ozone oil to the eczema lesions twice a day for 15 days.
  • Rectal insufflations every other day for a total of eight applications.
  • Ultrasonic treatment of the nasal mucosa with 10% ozone oil emulsion spray [19]. 

The study found no adverse effects from ozone therapy. In addition, Group 2 experienced faster remission of symptoms. On average, Group 1 took 18.7 ± 0.7 days, while Group 2 took 14.2 ± 0.9 days from the start of treatment. Group 1 had symptoms return at 4.2 ± 0.3 months after remission, while Group 2 was in remission for 8.5 ± 0.2 months. 

Group 2 also had more toll-like receptors on various immune cells, including lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophils, suggesting enhanced antibacterial response. The study concluded that the two courses of ozone therapy doubled the period of remission for children with two atopic conditions together.

Asma

In a before-after clinical trial, 113 asthmatic patients (15–50 years old) received major autohemotherapy (4 or 8 mg, administered in 15 sessions per cycle) and rectal insufflation (10 mg, administered in 20 sessions per cycle). All received three cycles of treatment in about 1.5 years. Before the ozone treatments, all participants had elevated oxidative stress. 

All three types of treatment reduced the allergic antibody IgE and HLA-DR immune response marker, while increasing glutathione and antioxidant enzymes, thus normalizing their redox status. 

Lung function and asthmatic symptom tests also improved. The study also found that the improvement was better in the 8 mg autohemotherapy group than in the 4 mg autohemotherapy or 10 mg rectal insufflation groups [20]. 

Eczema

In some cases, the skin bacteria Staphylococcus aureus can worsen symptoms and trigger flare-ups. Ozone therapy and topical ozone oil help eczema by leveraging ozone’s bactericidal and immune-balancing properties. 

A randomized split-side clinical trial evaluated the effects of topical ozone therapy on microbiome diversity in eczema lesions. The study involved patients with moderate to severe bilateral eczema lesions. The researchers treated one side of each patient with ozone hydrotherapy followed by ozonated oil, while the control group received tap water and the same non-ozonated olive oil. 

Treatment with ozone hydrotherapy and ozonated oil resulted in higher micro-ecological diversity after ozone treatment (p < 0.05) and a marginal reduction in the S. aureus proportion after ozone treatment (p = 0.07). 

Eczema severity was also significantly reduced compared to the control group. The study concluded that topical ozone therapy is highly effective in treating eczema by altering the skin flora, normalizing inflammation, reducing harmful bacteria, and promoting a healthier skin environment [21].

Conclusión

Ozone therapy addresses several mechanisms not currently addressed by conventional treatments for allergic diseases. The limited (but positive) clinical evidence suggests that it might be a helpful adjunct, and possibly sole treatment, for allergic conditions. When introducing ozone therapy in people with allergic conditions, it’s crucial to start low and slow, with medical attention and life-saving medications in reach.

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Referencias

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2 Website https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/30/1178433166/theresa-macphail-allergic-allergies

3 Kraft, S., Buchenauer, L. and Polte, T. (2021) Mold, mycotoxins and a dysregulated immune system: A combination of concern? Int. J. Mol. Sci., MDPI AG 22, 12269 

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5 Ehrlich, V., Bil, W., Vandebriel, R., Granum, B., Luijten, M., Lindeman, B., et al. (2023) Consideration of pathways for immunotoxicity of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Environ Health 22, 19 

6 Tahmasebi, S., Qasim, M. T., Krivenkova, M. V., Zekiy, A. O., Thangavelu, L., Aravindhan, S., et al. (2021) The effects of oxygen-ozone therapy on regulatory T-cell responses in multiple sclerosis patients. Cell Biol. Int., Wiley 45, 1498–1509 

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10 Zaky, S., Fouad, E. A. and Kotb, H. I. M. (2011) The effect of rectal ozone on the portal vein oxygenation and pharmacokinetics of propranolol in liver cirrhosis (a preliminary human study). Br. J. Clin. Pharmacol. 71, 411–415 

11 Hu, B., Zhao, S., Huang, M. and Ren, J. (2020) Nuclear factor E2 related factor (NRF2) inhibits mast cell- mediated allergic inflammation via SIRT4-mediated mitochondrial metabolism. Annals of Palliative Medicine, AME Publishing Company 9, 3839847–3833847 

12 El-Zawawy, H. T., Farag, H. F., Tolba, M. M. and Abdalsamea, H. A. (2020) Improving Hashimoto’s thyroiditis by eradicating : Relation to IL-17. Ther Adv Endocrinol Metab 11, 2042018820907013 

13 Rajič, B., Arapović, J., Raguž, K., Bošković, M., Babić, S. M. and Maslać, S. (2015) Eradication of Blastocystis hominis prevents the development of symptomatic Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: a case report. J Infect Dev Ctries 9, 788–791 

14 Autoimmunity origins may lie in defective mitochondria (Environmental Factor, March 2021). National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 

15 Litvak, Y., Byndloss, M. X. and Bäumler, A. J. (2018) Colonocyte metabolism shapes the gut microbiota. Science 362 

16 The use of ozonated water and rectal insufflation in patients with intestinal dysbiosis https://www.pagepressjournals.org/ozone/article/view/7304/7100#content/figure_reference_1 

17 Oliveira Modena, D. A., de Castro Ferreira, R., Froes, P. M. and Rocha, K. C. (2022) Ozone therapy for dermatological conditions: A systematic review. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol 15, 65–73

18 Illek, Ya. Yu., Suetina, I. G. and Khlebnikova, N. V (2021) Clinical, immunomodulating and anti-recidive effects of ozone therapy in persistent allergic rhinitis in children. Association of Children's Allergists and Immunologists of Russia 4, 29-38

19 Illek, Y., Suetina, I. G., Khlebnikova, N. V., Suslova, E. and Galanina, A. (2022) Effectiveness of complex treatment associated with ozone therapy on clinical indicators and immunity status in children with atopic dermatitis and concomitant allergic rhinitis. Perm Medical Journal, Perm Medical Journal 

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21 Zeng, J., Dou, J., Gao, L., Xiang, Y., Huang, J., Ding, S., et al. (2020) Topical ozone therapy restores microbiome diversity in atopic dermatitis. Int Immunopharmacol 80, 106191