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Sometimes a chance remark can lead to a solution to a problem. And in the case of one local doctor, the solution is literal.
Dr. Scott Cordray took a grain of information and converted it into what he says is an improved treatment for his patients and others like them.
Cordray, an ear, nose and throat specialist, often traveled to Russia to treat patients as part of medical missions. During one of those missions, a local physician asked why American doctors use regular saline as the base for a long-used allergy treatment. Russian physicians prefer Dead Sea salt.
Physicians often suggest that allergy sufferers irrigate their nasal passages with saline solution, an approach that has been popularized recently with the neti pot. Warm saline helps clear the nose of allergy-causing agents and provides relief.
Cordray began investigating and found that Dead Sea salt has healing properties. Studies have shown that the salt could be part of effective hydrotherapy treatments for diseases such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.
“One thing led to another,” Cordray says, and he began to wonder, “If it works on the outside, why would it not work on the inside?”
After all, he knew a treatment would be great news for his patients who suffer during Tulsa’s infamous allergy season.
So Cordray set out to develop a product that would prevent and reduce their symptoms.
The process began in 1998, and by 2006, Cordray began marketing two products: Oasis Nasal Spray and Nasal Wash made from Dead Sea salt. Although the products provide benefits similar to traditional saline solutions, Cordray says his treatments are superior.
“Regular saline solution operates primarily by washing allergies and molds from the nose,” he says. “Oasis will do the same thing.”
The difference, he says, is that “Dead Sea salt has an anti-inflammatory effect. Salt is delivered into the nose and continues to work with anti-inflammatory properties. It works like a steroid but with none of the side effects.”
Cordray’s studies have shown that using Dead Sea salt causes fewer side effects than over-the-counter decongestants, which can lead to high blood pressure, nervousness and swelling of the prostate in older men.
To date, Cordray’s products have found markets in New York, California, Texas and, of course, Oklahoma, not only because it is the products’ home base but also because of the large number of allergy sufferers in the area.
Allergies in Tulsa
Tulsa’s location — almost in the middle of the United States — does seem to make it Allergy Central.
It’s hard to say how many Tulsans suffer from allergies, but one local physician, Dr. Stephen L. Sutton, estimates that 85 percent of the population experiences allergies at some point. These could include year-round allergies, such as dust, mold and pollen; seasonal allergies associated with plants and trees; or contact allergies to allergens such as poison ivy or poison oak.
Last fall, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranked Tulsa as the 12th-most-difficult place to live with allergies in the United States.
Sutton, a physician with the OMNI Medical Group, says Tulsa’s climate is ideal for allergen-producing plants to grow and thrive, wreaking havoc on those with seasonal allergies. Green Country’s weather also can affect allergies.
“Being in the Central Plains, we get both high-pressure and low-air-pressure systems (that) push or pull air masses over us, and then oftentimes these air masses stall above us, and the allergens that they have carried with them are brought to us and affect us even from distant locations,” Sutton says, adding that problems with standing drainage water increase mold.
Dr. Christopher Gifford, an allergy and immunology specialist at Warren Clinic, says allergic rhinitis is the most common form of allergy problem. This refers to the common runny nose and scratchy eyes with which many are familiar. This can also cause an itchy throat and even itchy inner ears. Allergic rhinitis is caused by allergens such as pollen, mold and dust.
The source of allergies
Allergies are typically developed over time, says Dr. Dwight Hardy, a primary care physician with SouthCrest Medical Group. He shares a classic example of someone who could roll around in poison ivy as a child without any adverse reactions. But for whatever reason, the person becomes sensitized to it and develops an allergy to the poison ivy later in life.
For those who want to be tested for allergies, Hardy says there are two options: the skin-scratch test, in which different antigens — dog dander or mold spores, for example — are placed under the skin to check for a reaction, and the serum test, which uses a blood sample to determine sensitivities.
Most people suffering from allergies can feel relief with simple over-the-counter antihistamines, Sutton says. For persistent and severe cases, the doctor recommends making an appointment with a family practitioner, who may prescribe steroid nasal sprays and steroids, allergy testing and desensitization treatments. An allergist also may get involved for extreme cases.
“Most allergies can be competently handled by the primary care doctor,” says Dr. Tom Mihelich, an internal medicine physician with Utica Park Clinic. “The specialist is mainly for difficult cases and particularly if allergy injections are needed to desensitize the patient.”
Locally, many physicians specializing in allergies are certified by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. The website of the American Academy for Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, www.aaaai.org, lists specialists in the Tulsa area.
