Product Review

This cream-gel has medicinal leech extract as main active ingredient. Leech therapy has a long history. Records indicate that Egyptians used leech therapy 3,500 years ago. Medicinal leeches have been found to secrete saliva containing about 60 different proteins. Several of these secreted proteins serve as anticoagulants such as hirudin. Hirudin is the most potent natural inhibitor of thrombin. Hirudin prevents or dissolves the formation of clots and has therapeutic value in blood coagulation disorders, in the treatment of skin hematomas and of superficial varicose veins. This gel also contains horse chestnut improves vein tone by helping to increase the contraction of elastin fibers in the vein walls. This activity, called a venotonic effect, counteracts a relaxation of vein tissue that can lead to varicose veins. It also contains the horse chestnut extract, tree native to Asia and northern Greece. Traditionally, many of the aerial parts of the horse chestnut tree, including the seeds, leaves, and bark, were used in medicinal preparations. Modern extracts of horse chestnut are usually made from the seeds, which are high in the active constituent aescin (also known as escin). Topical products containing aescin act by diminishing the number or diameter of tiny openings in capillary walls, helping to "seal" the outflow of fluid surrounding tissue, hence thwarting swelling and bruising. Horse chestnut extract improves vein tone by helping to increase the contraction of elastin fibers in the vein walls. This activity, called a venotonic effect, counteracts a relaxation of vein tissue that can lead to varicose veins. It also contains menthol and camphor oil that provide cooling effect.*