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About Solarc Systems: "My Spotted Past"
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Like most ideas, there was a need...
In the 1960's,
what can an eight year old boy do if he has 20% involved full body psoriasis and lives in Northern Ontario Canada ? (47° north latitude)
Like many people; the family physician was about the only option.
Topical steroids took away some of the itch, but,
cosmetically, there were still those coin-size red spots everywhere.
My mother even bought me a couple different artificial light sources for me to try,
one was UVA but woefully underpowered,
and one was infared and useless for psoriasis.
Nobody knew anything about UVB, including my doctor.
My nickname was "Spot" for a while. Well, I guess it builds character...
Aside: Our family has a history of psoriasis,
most notably my uncle and coincidentially(?) also my namesake.
His psoriasis was triggered by his tour of duty as a RCAF Lancaster Bombardier in WWII.
Most of us know that stress plays a major role in this disease.
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The only thing that seemed to have any real therapeutic value was natural sunlight.
I remember the first days in the spring when it was warm enough to sunbathe outside.
I would climb onto the roof of our house to get the first weak sun rays of the season.
This picture shows me and my future wife on the roof, early in the spring,
with no leaves yet on the trees, sometime around 1981.
God bless all our partners for silently seeing past the surface.
And it worked! Summers were pretty good for my skin, but with the return of winter,
my psoriasis also returned. Well, I guess it builds character...
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When I went to the University of Waterloo to study engineering in the early 80’s,
they actually had a UVB light machine that the doctor said could clear my psoriasis.
Considering my experience with natural sunlight,
it was not difficult to convince me to give it a try.
And it worked! Wow… I could get relief all year round!
This was great, and for several years I took 2 to 3 trips to the clinic per week.
The routine was to apply a mixture of warm water and tar at home in the morning,
attend classes (no doubt stinking like a gas station) and go for the light treatment in the afternoon.
It took years to get my skin under control, no doubt worsened by the stress of academic demands.
After graduating from university,
I took a job in a community that did not have a phototherapy clinic.
So I built my own home unit. (This engineering degree has to be good for some things!)
And it worked! Now, not only did I have my psoriasis under control,
I saved time by not having to trek to the clinic all the time.
I could take my treatments right at home and on my schedule.
This was fantastic !!!
It was not long before I met someone with equally severe psoriasis and was commissioned to build a unit for him.
With that was borne the idea to manufacture medical UVB home phototherapy equipment in Canada.
Our first product was the
Solarc/SolRx 1000 Series full body panel
.
It was designed in 1992 based on the experience gained with the early prototypes.
We now have a very highly developed product that we can offer to psoriasis (and vitiligo) sufferers everywhere,
so they can experience the freedom that these devices can provide.
A particular source of pride through all this is our SolRx Users Manuals.
They have been relentlessly developed since the days of the first devices,
using information gathered from many sources, dermatologist and clinic review,
and my own personal experience.
We feel that our Users Manuals have been absolutely critical to
SolRx Home UVB phototherapy patient success.
We are grateful for the validation of our efforts,
recently documented in a new medical study of 25 of our home UVB Narrowband devices in the Ottawa area, entitled:
Are Narrow-band Ultraviolet B Home Units a Viable Option for Continuous or Maintenance Therapy of Photoresponsive Skin Diseases?
published in the Journal of Cutaneous Medicine & Surgery, Volume 10, Issue 5;
an official publication of the Canadian Dermatology Association.
Solarc Systems was incorporated in 1992 and to date,
we have supplied thousands of devices, mostly in Canada & the USA,
but also in increasing numbers all over the world.
In 2003, we introduced the versatile
500 Series "Hand/Foot & Spot" models
and in 2006, the
100 Series Hand-held unit
.
Our philosophy is to build devices to the highest quality standards so that they will provide many years of trouble free service.
The last thing we want is a product issue at a remote location,
and, because skin diseases are hereditary,
we feel that it is entirely possible that these devices could survive to help future generations.
As a designer, I have an adversion to plastic parts that age and break,
(especially when subject to the effects of UVB ultraviolet light)
and proprietary parts that force customers to be captive.
I like steel and electrical parts that have wide availablility.
I like quality and I like durability.
Solarc also supplies replacement UVB-Narrowband,
UVB-Broadband and UVA ultraviolet bulbs to most of the phototherapy clinics in Canada,
and many in the USA and abroad.
These are of course the same bulbs that are used in our home phototherapy devices.
We are an authorized distributor for
Philips medical ultraviolet bulbs
,
including the new "Narrowband UVB" types such as the TL100W/01.
In 2002, we were the first North American phototherapy manufacturer to become
ISO-13485 certified
.
In 2005, after years of effort,
we got prescribed UV home phototherapy devices added to the list of allowable
Medical Expense Tax Credits in the Canadian federal budget.
So if you would like to explore the benefits of home UVB phototherapy further,
please surf our website, or give us a call or email.
Most dermatologists are familiar with our products.
We have an excellent
"Standard Information Package"
that you can download or request hardcopy.
And, if you were wondering, I still use my old trusty Solarc 1760UVB-NB for full body phototherapy,
using doses much lower than the dose required to burn my Type II skin.
My skin condition is easily controlled using this maintenance strategy.
In the winter, I take up to about one (1) minute per side,
3 to 5 times per week maximum, and often less.
In the summer, I can sometimes go months without a treatment.
If my skin flares, I simply take a few conservative treatments to knock it back down.
I also use a 530UVB-NB under my desk to treat psoriasis on the tops and sides of my feet;
a condition worsened by the wearing of cycling shoes and plastic ski boots (Scarpa T1).
I get regular skin checks and I never get even close to sunburn.
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Here's a picture of me many years ago,
with a particularly nasty flare-up due to a developed allergic reaction to topical tar… and now.
I have experienced many skin related problems including psoriasis, scalp psoriasis, pityriasis rosea
(now that was awful) and even poison ivy (also very nasty).
UVB home phototherapy has been personally indispensable to me for over 20 years.
Now if I am asked if I have any health problems, I honestly don't even think about my psoriasis.
Sincerely,
Bruce Elliott, BaSc Mechanical Engineering, P.Eng
President, Founder, and Lifelong Psoriasis Sufferer
Solarc Systems Inc., Canada
Disclaimer: Solarc Systems Inc. makes no medical claims, implied or otherwise stated, for the use of this phototherapy device other other than the fact that it will emit the specified levels of ultraviolet radiation.
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Physician approval / prescription is required for all ultraviolet home phototherapy device and UV bulb orders.
Solarc Systems Inc., 12 Parker Court, Barrie, ON, Canada L4N 2A6
Toll Free: 1.866.813.3357 Tel: 705.739.8279 Fax 705.739.9684
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