Episode 8 HOCL and Dermatology 

 

CLAY

For centuries, we've kind of had this grim, I guess, almost punishing acceptance when it comes to skin injuries.

 

GENEVA

Oh, definitely.

 

CLAY

Like, you get a cut or a deep scrape or, I don't know, maybe you're recovering from a surgical wound.

 

GENEVA

Yeah.

 

CLAY

And what is literally the first thing we do- Like, pour something terrible on it. Right, exactly. We pour harsh burning chemicals right on top of open tissue, I mean, alcohol, iodine, hydrogen peroxide.

 

GENEVA

Yeah, the bubbling.

 

CLAY

Ugh, the bubbling, right? You watch the skin bubble up and you wince in pain, and we accept that stinging sensation as the inevitable price of healing.

 

GENEVA

It's conditioning.

 

CLAY

Yeah, it's totally psychological conditioning. We actually believe that if a treatment doesn't hurt, it must not be working.

 

GENEVA

And that mindset is deeply ingrained in modern medicine. We associate that sharp, localized pain with cleanliness and safety. We assume the burning means the germs are dying.

 

CLAY

Which they are right.

 

GENEVA

They are, yeah. But biologically speaking, that stinging is also the sound of immense collateral damage.

 

CLAY

Oh, wow.

 

GENEVA

I mean, we are essentially torching our own healthy cells just to take out the invaders.

 

CLAY

Which feels incredibly primitive when you stop and think about it.

 

GENEVA

Very.

 

CLAY

Especially considering the perfect, entirely pain-free antiseptic was literally inside us the whole time. Exactly. So today for this deep dive, we are looking at chapter eight from our source material, which focuses on a molecule called hypochlorous acid, or HOCL.

 

GENEVA

Yeah, HOCL.

 

CLAY

And we're going to explore how this super simple molecule is completely revolutionizing dermatology, severe wound care, and even just daily skin care.

 

GENEVA

It's a huge paradigm shift.

 

CLAY

So if you were listening to this and you're dealing with a stubborn acne breakout, or managing chronic eczema, or just, I don't know, wondering how our bodies actually manage to heal a scraped knee without relying on a tube of antibiotic ointment, this deep dive is for you.

 

GENEVA

Absolutely.

 

CLAY

We are going to figure out how a chemical that is naturally made by our own white blood cells acts as basically the ultimate biological shortcut for healing.

 

GENEVA

It really is a profound shift in how we understand the immune system. Because we're talking about a molecule that evolved over millions of years to annihilate pathogens without damaging the delicate, vulnerable tissues it was designed to protect. It's this brilliant piece of evolutionary engineering that we are honestly only now figuring out how to bottle and use on demand.

 

CLAY

I am always so fascinated by the skin because it's our largest organ. It's this massive, dynamic front line of defense against the outside world. And the central mystery here, the thing we really want to dig into, is how a chemical that sounds exactly like industrial bleach is actually our skin's best friend.

 

GENEVA

Yeah, it sounds counterintuitive.

 

CLAY

Very. So to really grasp this, I think we have to imagine the exact moment that that skin barrier fails. Like you get a paper cut.

 

Ouch. Right, the physical wall is breached and bacteria instantly start pouring in.

 

GENEVA

So when that happens, the body immediately sounds a chemical alarm. Tissues at the actual site of the injury, they release specific proteins that create a sort of chemical gradient. And circulating in your bloodstream right then are these specialized white blood cells called neutrophils.

 

CLAY

Neutrophils, right.

 

GENEVA

Yeah, they act as the first responders. They detect that chemical gradient and they follow it moving straight toward the highest concentration of those distress signals until they finally arrive at the microscopic breach.

 

CLAY

I've always pictured neutrophils like tiny Pac-Men.

 

GENEVA

That's a great way to look at it, actually.

 

CLAY

Because their primary job is to find those invading bacteria, right, and engulf them and just trap them inside a little sealed compartment within the cell.

 

GENEVA

Right, the phagosome.

 

CLAY

The phagosome, exactly.

 

GENEVA

Yeah.

 

CLAY

And once the bacteria is locked inside that cellular stomach, I guess the neutrophil essentially turns into a chemical weapons factory.

 

GENEVA

It does. That process is called the respiratory burst. The neutrophil suddenly consumes oxygen at just a furious rate and it utilizes an enzyme called myeloperoxidase.

 

CLAY

Myeloperoxidase, got it.

 

GENEVA

Yeah, and this enzyme takes chloride ions, which are totally abundant in the fluid of our bodies, just from the ordinary salt we consume.

 

CLAY

Oh, just from salt.

 

GENEVA

Just from regular salt. Yeah. And it combines them with the oxygen and hydrogen peroxide.

 

And the end result of that rapid chemical synthesis is pure hypochlorous acid, HOCL.

 

CLAY

Wow.

 

GENEVA

Yeah, the neutrophil floods that sealed compartment with it, just unleashing the molecule directly onto the trapped microbe.

 

CLAY

Okay, let's unpack this because this is the exact part of the chemistry that always trips people up.

 

GENEVA

Sure.

 

CLAY

The neutrophil is manufacturing a chemical out of hydrogen, oxygen, and chlorine.

 

GENEVA

Correct.

 

CLAY

If I look under my kitchen sink, that is literally the recipe for bleach.

 

GENEVA

It is, yeah.

 

CLAY

So if my white blood cells are manufacturing a chlorine compound inside my own tissue, I don't understand why it doesn't burn a hole right through my skin the way household bleach would.

 

GENEVA

Right, and that's the big question. The distinction here comes down to the physics of pH and electrical charge. So household bleach is sodium hypochlorite.

 

It is highly alkaline, sitting way up on the pH scale, usually around, I don't know, 12 or 13.

 

CLAY

Oh, wow, that's high.

 

GENEVA

It's very high. And because of that specific alkaline environment, the bleach molecule carries a negative electrical charge.

 

CLAY

Okay, and the outer cell walls of most bacteria and viruses also carry a negative electrical charge, right? Because of the phospholipid bilayer they're made of. So you have a negative chemical approaching a negative bacteria.

 

They repel each other.

 

GENEVA

Yes.

 

CLAY

Like two wrong ends of a magnet.

 

GENEVA

That magnetic repulsion is exactly why industrial bleach has to be so incredibly concentrated and caustic.

 

CLAY

Oh, it has to fight the repulsion.

 

GENEVA

Exactly. It has to rely on brute force. It essentially batters down the door, destroying everything in its path to overcome that natural repulsion, and that is why it violently burns human tissue in the process.

 

CLAY

But HOCL plays by completely different physics.

 

GENEVA

It does.

 

CLAY

When it's manufactured natively by our white blood cells, or even when it's engineered in a lab at a mildly acidic pH, specifically like between 3.8 and 5.5. Which matches the natural pH of human skin. Right. So when it matches that, it is entirely neutral in its electrical charge.

 

GENEVA

Yes, perfectly neutral.

 

CLAY

There is no magnetic repulsion. It literally just drifts up to the negatively charged cell wall of a bacteria and slips right through.

 

GENEVA

Like a Trojan horse.

 

CLAY

Exactly. Entirely undetected until it's already inside.

 

GENEVA

And what's fascinating here is that HOCL is a multi-target attacker. Once it breaches the cell wall and gets inside the pathogen, it doesn't just disrupt one specific pathway. It reacts in microseconds across the entire cellular structure.

 

CLAY

Wow. Microseconds.

 

GENEVA

Yeah. It unfolds the proteins the bacteria needs to function, it oxizes the lipids in the membrane, and it physically breaks apart the strands of bacterial DNA so it can't replicate. Oh man.

 

It is a coordinated, catastrophic dismantling of the microbe from the inside out.

 

CLAY

Which fundamentally solves basically the biggest problem we have in modern medicine right now, which is antibiotic resistance.

 

GENEVA

Yes. Absolutely.

 

CLAY

Because a synthetic antibiotic usually targets just one specific enzyme, or like one step in the bacteria's life cycle. It's a sniper shot.

 

GENEVA

Right.

 

CLAY

If the bacteria survives, it mutates, it changes that one enzyme, and suddenly the antibiotic is useless.

 

GENEVA

Right. We see it all the time.

 

CLAY

But because HOCL drops a bomb on the proteins, the lipids, and the DNA all at once, the bacteria simply cannot adapt.

 

GENEVA

It can't. Pathogens have faced HOCL for millions of years of mammalian evolution, and they still haven't developed a resistance to it.

 

CLAY

That is wild.

 

GENEVA

It is just too fast and structurally too destructive for any evolutionary mutation to outpace.

 

CLAY

Right.

 

GENEVA

But destroying the bacteria is actually only the first phase of what HOCL accomplishes.

 

CLAY

Really?

 

GENEVA

Yeah. I mean, if it merely killed germs, it would just be a highly effective non-toxic antiseptic. But the true medical breakthrough of HOCL on the skin is what happens directly after the pathogens are dead.

 

CLAY

So it manages the inflammation.

 

GENEVA

Yes.

 

CLAY

We always think of inflammation as a bad thing, but it's really just like the fire of healing.

 

GENEVA

That's a great way to phrase it.

 

CLAY

It's totally necessary.

 

GENEVA

Yeah.

 

CLAY

But if it burns too hot or for too long, the wound can't close. So once HOCL annihilates the invaders, the byproducts of those chemical reactions actually act as messengers to the rest of the body to calm that fire down.

 

GENEVA

Exactly. So the raw hypochlorous acid is explosively reactive, which is perfect for dealing with an immediate bacterial threat, but it has a very short half-life. Almost immediately, it interacts with an amino acid called taurine, which floats freely in our body tissues.

 

CLAY

Your brain, yeah.

 

GENEVA

When HOCL binds to taurine, it transforms into a secondary molecule called N-chlorotaurine or NCT.

 

CLAY

And NCT acts as like the ultimate mediator.

 

GENEVA

It really does.

 

CLAY

It signals the immune system to just stop sending the alarm. It specifically modifies cytokines.

 

GENEVA

Yes. The cytokines.

 

CLAY

Which are the proteins responsible for causing severe swelling, redness, pain, all that stuff. It dials down those pro-inflammatory cytokines, essentially telling the body, hey, the threat is neutralized. Shift from attack mode to repair mode.

 

GENEVA

Yes. It actively transitions the wound bed from the inflammatory phase into the proliferative phase. It is telling the local cells to start rebuilding.

 

CLAY

I kind of think of it like a demolition crew. The raw HOCL is the dynamite. It completely levels a condemned, unsafe building, but instead of just, I don't know, leaving a crater and walking away, that exact same crew immediately puts on hard hats, grabs a set of blueprints, and starts laying down the bricks and the plumbing for a brand new structure.

 

GENEVA

That is exactly what happens. And following that blueprint requires two very distinct biological mechanisms, both of which are accelerated by HOCL.

 

CLAY

Okay, what are they?

 

GENEVA

Angiogenesis and fibroblast migration.

 

CLAY

Right.

 

GENEVA

So angiogenesis is your plumbing. It is the formation of new, tiny blood vessels, these capillaries, that branch out into the damaged tissue.

 

CLAY

Because you have to have blood flow.

 

GENEVA

Right. You have to restore blood supply because blood carries the oxygen and nutrients required for cellular growth.

 

CLAY

And then you have the brick layers.

 

GENEVA

Yes.

 

CLAY

Fibroblast migration is the recruitment of those specialized cells whose sole job is to spin and deposit collagen fibers. They literally build the structural scaffolding that physically pulls the edges of the wound together.

 

GENEVA

Right. And this dual action, the instantaneous destruction of pathogens, followed by the immediate stimulation of capillaries and collagen, it makes HOCL a uniquely powerful intervention for one of the most frustrating challenges a doctor can face.

 

CLAY

Which is chronic wounds.

 

GENEVA

Chronic wounds, yes. We are talking about severe diabetic foot ulcers, deep venous leg ulcers, pressure sores.

 

CLAY

Wounds that just linger open for months or honestly sometimes years because they get trapped in this perpetual state of chronic inflammation.

 

GENEVA

Right.

 

CLAY

The immune system is just spinning its wheels. And the main structural villain preventing those wounds from closing is the biofilm.

 

GENEVA

The biofilm, yes.

 

CLAY

Which is crazy to me because I always assumed a chronic wound just meant the patient's immune system was weak. But it's actually a physical barricade. The bacteria literally build a bunker.

 

GENEVA

They absolutely do. When bacteria colonize a chronic wound, they don't remain in a free-floating state. They attach to the tissue and begin secreting this thick, slimy matrix composed of complex sugars, proteins, and something called extracellular DNA.

 

CLAY

Extracellular DNA.

 

GENEVA

Yeah. The bacteria basically release their own DNA to act like the steel rebar in poured concrete.

 

CLAY

Oh, wow.

 

GENEVA

It's wild. This matrix hardens into a biofilm, creating a physical microscopic shield over the entire wound bed.

 

CLAY

Which renders traditional treatments almost entirely useless.

 

GENEVA

Mostly. Yeah.

 

CLAY

Because bacteria living securely inside a biofilm can be up to like a thousand times more resistant to antibiotics than normal bacteria.

 

GENEVA

Exactly.

 

CLAY

You can prescribe heavy oral antibiotics or smear antibiotic ointments all over the wound bed. And those drug molecules are either too large to penetrate the slime, or they just get chemically neutralized right on the surface. They never reach the bacteria hiding in the bunker underneath.

 

GENEVA

Never. And this is a scenario doctors see every single day.

 

CLAY

Yeah. Our source material talks about a patient Maria Wright.

 

GENEVA

Right. Maria. A 62-year-old with diabetes who developed a chronic ulcer on her foot.

 

Patients in her situation go through multiple rounds of really powerful systemic antibiotics.

 

CLAY

Which wreaks havoc on your gut.

 

GENEVA

It does. And they try different advanced ointments. But because the biofilm is physically impenetrable, the wound remains open, deeply inflamed, and steadily worsening.

 

For someone like Maria, a stalled wound like that carries a very real looming threat of amputation.

 

CLAY

Which is terrifying. Oh no. But HOCL doesn't behave like a traditional antibiotic.

 

GENEVA

No, it doesn't.

 

CLAY

Because it is such a powerful oxidizer. It doesn't just attack the bacteria. It chemically attacks the fortress itself.

 

GENEVA

Right.

 

CLAY

It oxidizes those structural proteins and shreds the extracellular DNA, the rebar holding the slime together. Yeah. It literally dissolves the biofilm matrix, collapsing the bunker, exposing the bacteria underneath and then instantly neutralizing them.

 

GENEVA

Yes. And when a wound care clinic shifts a patient like Maria to a protocol of just daily HOCL irrigation and HOCL soaked dressings, the results are often totally dramatic. I bet.

 

By chemically dismantling that biofilm barrier, the topical HOCL clears the infection site entirely. Within weeks, the chronic inflammation subsides, the pain drops, those fibroblasts finally start laying down new collagen, and the foot is saved.

 

CLAY

That is incredible. Just from changing the local environment.

 

GENEVA

Exactly. And if we connect this to the bigger picture stories, like Maria's are profound examples of antibiotic stewardship.

 

CLAY

Right. Cause of superbugs.

 

GENEVA

We are currently facing a terrifying global crisis of antibiotic resistance driven heavily by the overprescription of systemic drugs. Yeah. So by utilizing a topical, naturally derived biological molecule to completely resolve a severe localized infection, we drastically reduce our reliance on whole body antibiotics.

 

CLAY

Which is infinitely safer for the individual patient. And it's basically a critical strategy for protecting global public health.

 

GENEVA

Absolutely.

 

CLAY

But here's where it gets really interesting though.

 

GENEVA

Okay.

 

CLAY

If HOCL is aggressive enough to dissolve a thousand times resistant biofilm and literally save a diabetic limb from amputation, how does it behave on the most fragile, traumatized, and exquisitely painful tissue imaginable? I am talking about severe third degree burns.

 

GENEVA

Burn units. Burn units represent arguably the most complex and delicate environment in all of medicine.

 

CLAY

Yeah. I can't even imagine.

 

GENEVA

The traditional standard of care for severe burns has historically been deeply traumatic for the patients. To keep massive exposed areas of tissue from succumbing to deadly infections, practitioners have had to rely on aggressive chemical washes like povidone iodine or chlorhexidine.

 

CLAY

Chemicals that, as we discussed earlier, are fundamentally cytotoxic. Right.

 

GENEVA

They kill cells.

 

CLAY

They kill the bacteria.

 

GENEVA

Yeah.

 

CLAY

But they also destroy the keratinocytes. Yeah. You know, the delicate, newly forming outer skin cells.

 

And the fibroblasts that the body is desperately trying to mobilize to close the burn.

 

GENEVA

Yes.

 

CLAY

You are literally bathing a traumatized area in a chemical that slows down the actual skin repair and causes, I mean, excruciating white knuckle pain for the patient during every single dressing change.

 

GENEVA

It's awful. But HOCL completely flips that paradigm.

 

CLAY

Which doesn't hurt, right?

 

GENEVA

When regional burn units transition to using HOCL solutions for wound irrigation and dressing soaks, the very first observation from patients is always the exact same. It is virtually painless.

 

CLAY

Wow.

 

GENEVA

It feels completely indistinguishable from water. There's no sting, no chemical burn, no noxious fumes.

 

CLAY

Because it is fundamentally an endogenous molecule.

 

GENEVA

Exactly.

 

CLAY

It is the exact same chemical the patient's own neutrophils are producing.

 

GENEVA

Yeah.

 

CLAY

The osmolarity, you know, the concentration of the fluid, it perfectly matches human tissue.

 

GENEVA

Right.

 

CLAY

So the local pain receptors don't even register a chemical attack because the body recognizes the HOCL as its own.

 

GENEVA

Yes. And one of the burn unit nurses managing this transition in the source text, she noted a massive shift in the ward's environment.

 

CLAY

What'd she say?

 

GENEVA

The pain scores during dressing changes just plummeted. Wow. The infection rates dropped significantly.

 

And because the chemical wasn't killing the new keratinocytes, the skin grafts integrated and healed far more smoothly.

 

CLAY

That makes total sense.

 

GENEVA

Her observation was really striking. She noted that for the first time in her career, the required daily disinfectant felt like an active healing agent rather than just an added trauma inflicted on the patient.

 

CLAY

And that reduction in like psychological and physical trauma, it cannot be overstated.

 

GENEVA

No.

 

CLAY

A pain-free antiseptic isn't merely a luxury, right? It is a vital clinical metric for recovery. When wound care doesn't involve anticipating excruciating pain, patient compliance skyrockets.

 

They tolerate the deep cleanings, they leave their dressings intact, their stress hormones drop and the tissue actually gets the chance to heal.

 

GENEVA

It entirely redefines the psychology of recovery for severe trauma.

 

CLAY

Yeah.

 

GENEVA

But, you know, the mechanics of tissue repair remain consistent whether you are treating a third degree burn or a compromised skin barrier on a teenager's face.

 

CLAY

Right.

 

GENEVA

The application of HCL is rapidly migrating from critical care wards straight into everyday dermatology and consumer cosmetics.

 

CLAY

Which brings us to common everyday skin struggles. Like take a 16-year-old named Jamal dealing with severe painful cystic acne.

 

GENEVA

Oh yeah. Acne.

 

CLAY

The standard dermatological route is to blast the face with high concentration benzoyl peroxide and topical antibiotics.

 

GENEVA

Which is so harsh.

 

CLAY

Exactly. And what happens, benzoyl peroxide is a very harsh indiscriminate oxidizer. It triggers lipid peroxidation in the skin barrier itself.

 

GENEVA

Right. It breaks down the oils.

 

CLAY

Yeah. It causes massive transepidermal water loss. Jamal's skin gets dried out, it aggressively peels and it gets red and irritated.

 

You are basically treating a bacterial infection for a severely compromised damaged skin barrier.

 

GENEVA

You are artificially aging and weathering the skin just to kill the surface bacteria.

 

CLAY

Yeah.

 

GENEVA

But when a patient like Jamal shifts to a daily low concentration HOCL spray, the dynamic changes entirely.

 

CLAY

Because it's so gentle.

 

GENEVA

Right. The HOCL specifically targets and destroys cuta bacterium acnes, the bacteria driving the infection while simultaneously down regulating the redness and inflammation without causing any of the harsh dry peeling associated with benzoyl peroxide.

 

CLAY

Which naturally brings up a massive question.

 

GENEVA

Okay.

 

CLAY

If HOCL is this incredibly fast broad spectrum killer that shreds proteins and DNA, why doesn't it wipe out all the good healthy bacteria on his face? That's a great question. Like, we need our microbiome.

 

Why doesn't a daily HOCL spray leave the skin completely sterile and vulnerable?

 

GENEVA

It is a vital distinction and it really comes down to structural biology and the context of the application. HOCL is highly reactive, but it is particularly drawn to sulfur containing amino acids, primarily cysteine and methionine.

 

CLAY

Wait, what makes a sulfur based amino acid so uniquely vulnerable to this specific acid?

 

GENEVA

Sulfur atoms are highly susceptible to oxidation.

 

CLAY

Okay.

 

GENEVA

They very easily give up their electrons when they encounter an oxidizer like HOCL.

 

CLAY

Oh, I see.

 

GENEVA

And pathogens like the bacteria causing acne or active infection tend to have these sulfur rich proteins heavily exposed on their outer surfaces.

 

CLAY

So they're sitting out there.

 

GENEVA

Right. They are structurally vulnerable. Beneficial commensal bacteria, the good guys like Staphylococcus epidermidis, they have evolved alongside us for millennia.

 

They have adapted to survive our immune system's native defenses.

 

CLAY

So they basically wear heavier armor?

 

GENEVA

Precisely. They have thicker peptidoglycan layers in their cell walls.

 

CLAY

Oh, wow.

 

GENEVA

They produce their own natural antioxidant defenses that literally neutralize small amounts of HOCL.

 

CLAY

That's amazing.

 

GENEVA

Furthermore, the beneficial microbiome largely resides deeper within the protected niches of the skin down inside the hair follicles and glands.

 

CLAY

So they're physically hiding.

 

GENEVA

Yes. So when you missed a low concentration HOCL spray over the skin, it acts as a rapid flash reaction. It instantly targets and oxidizes the highly vulnerable exposed pathogens on the surface, and the molecule actually neutralizes itself into harmless saltwater before it can penetrate deep enough or hit hard enough to damage the entrenched good flora or the human skin cells.

 

CLAY

That is deeply, deeply elegant.

 

GENEVA

It really is.

 

CLAY

It works with the evolutionary biology of the skin instead of against it.

 

GENEVA

Exactly.

 

CLAY

It's not a scorched-earth policy like wiping your face with rubbing alcohol.

 

GENEVA

No. Not at all.

 

CLAY

And it's not just acne either. People are using HOCL for severe eczema and atopic dermatitis. It immediately neutralizes the intense itching sensation and fights off the secondary staph infections you get from scratching, which offers this really powerful alternative to just slathering on topical steroid creams day after day.

 

GENEVA

Right. And steroid creams are undeniably effective for suppressing acute inflammation, but long-term use actively thins the skin and disrupts the local immune barrier.

 

CLAY

Yeah. It's bad long-term.

 

GENEVA

HOCL provides that necessary anti-inflammatory calming effect by naturally modulating the cytokines, completely bypassing the negative side effects of chronic steroid use.

 

CLAY

It's moving into high-end cosmetic dermatology too.

 

GENEVA

Oh yeah. Everywhere.

 

CLAY

Clinics use it as an immediate aftercare spray for microneedling and laser resurfacing where the skin is deliberately injured to stimulate collagen and it needs to heal rapidly without risking infection. Right. People use it as a completely natural deodorant because sweat itself doesn't actually smell.

 

It's the bacteria feeding on the sweat that produces the odor.

 

GENEVA

So true.

 

CLAY

So HOCL neutralizes the bacteria without blocking your sweat glands with aluminum. It is even being widely adopted in pediatric care for severe diaper rash and incredibly sensitive infant skin.

 

GENEVA

It really has so many uses.

 

CLAY

So what does this all mean? To me, it means HOCL is this incredibly rare, almost paradoxical equalizer in medicine. Well, it is a medical-grade intervention, aggressive enough to collapse a thousand times resistant biofilm and save a diabetic foot from amputation, but gentle enough to sanitize an open third degree burn without causing a flinch of pain and entirely safe to spray on a teenager's acne or a newborn baby's rash.

 

GENEVA

It is a testament to nature's perfect design.

 

CLAY

Yeah.

 

GENEVA

When we step back and synthesize the clinical applications of this molecule, we see a treatment that breaks almost all the traditional rules of modern pharmacology. It dismantles impenetrable biofilms. It actively accelerates collagen deposition and the growth of new capillary networks.

 

It manages severe burns without causing a fraction of an ounce of pain. And it resolves everyday conditions like eczema and acne by surgically targeting the pathogens while respecting the structural armor of our native microbiome.

 

CLAY

That is believable.

 

GENEVA

This raises an important question about the overarching philosophy of future medical treatments, I think. For decades, we equated chemical toxicity with clinical efficacy.

 

CLAY

Yeah. If it burns, it works.

 

GENEVA

Exactly. But are we going to continue trying to invent new, increasingly harsh synthetic chemicals to overpower and dominate the human body? Or are we finally going to learn how to mimic and collaborate with the systems it already has in place?

 

CLAY

Man, it makes you reconsider everything in your medicine cabinet.

 

GENEVA

Definitely.

 

CLAY

For over a century, modern medicine has relied on pouring harsh stinging industrial chemicals onto our open wounds. We manufactured synthetic antibiotics and toxic disinfectants, kind of operating under the arrogant assumption that humanity's laboratory creations were vastly superior to anything found in nature.

 

GENEVA

But then we look at HOCL.

 

CLAY

Right. Now we look closely at HOCL and we see that our own immune system has been manufacturing this perfectly balanced, zero-waste, hyper-effective molecule for millions of years.

 

GENEVA

Right.

 

CLAY

It doesn't cause superbugs. It doesn't leave behind toxic residue. And it inherently signals the body's machinery to start repairing itself.

 

GENEVA

It's beautiful, really.

 

CLAY

Which leaves me with one final thought to mull over for everyone listening. If we spent a hundred years aggressively pouring stinging chemicals on our cuts, completely ignoring this perfect biological tool that was literally right inside us the whole time, what other incredible built-in biological technologies are we currently overlooking simply because we haven't figured out how to put a patent on them?