We first met Carter and his parents a year ago. Baby Carter suffers from Lamellar Ichthyosis, a rare skin disorder with no care that causes dark scales because of dead skin cells that don’t flake off. Despite corrective surgery, Carter’s skin is so tight that he can’t shut his eyes and spends most of his time indoors. His parents used to apply oatmeal baths and coconut oil several times a day just to provide a little bit of relief for their son. But now they’re hopeful that a cream made from cannabis oil will continue to show amazing improvements to his skin.
The results of medical marijuana are still up for debate by some, but for Carter’s parents Zach and Shai, there are no questions about it. “It’s a miracle plant, that’s what it is,” Zach told us. “It showed us from the first time that we used it, that it was worth continuing to use,” Shai added.
Carter’s mom Shai still gets emotional talking about when she first realized the cannabis cream was working. “I cried a lot. A lot. I still cry. I'll be in the bathtub just scrubbing his back and the scales just fall right off in the bathtub. And I'll just cry.” Her tears of relief have replaced tears of heartache and worry.
Most people think of comfort food when they think of their grandmother’s kitchen. But Carter’s grandma cooks up something to comfort her grandson’s skin. She makes the cream in her kitchen using cannabis oil and other essential oils, giving him a gift no doctor has been able to provide yet. The before and after pictures show dramatic results.
So how does the cream work? Dr. Scott Jacobson says cannabis taps into the nature of our own bodies. “The endocannabinoid system is found throughout the body--in the brain, in the immune system, the nervous system as well as in the skin. Actually, skin cells have endocannabinoid receptors in them. And so putting them on topically you're going to get that action directly where it's needed.”
Dr. Jacobson says cannabis is also known to reduce inflammation. For Carter and his family, it’s a big step forward.