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26 January 2012
Old fashioned medicines undergoing a revival
By Mary Ellen Breen
IN scenes not often seen in this day and age, a local pharmacist mixes up his own remedies, which are proving popular with his customers.
Declan Dowling, of Dowling’s Pharmacy, at Ardkeen Shopping Centre, has gathered a fan base for his own unique mixtures which include a moisture cream that is easing dry skin and eczema problems, a tonic known for it’s energising qualities and a cold sore cream that is so popular its hard to keep it in stock.
It began in 1981 when Declan gathered a number of ingredients to create what’s simply known as his “moisturiser”. The ingredients, all of which are a closely guarded secret, were whipped up together in the kitchen of his house using a blender.
“It’s my own invention. I took ingredients I knew to be good moisturisers, ones I know that work well on their own, and mixed them together and found they worked better. One is very greasy and without the other would just sit on the skin, but combined it sinks into the skin. The ingredients are top secret but they are very simple, there’s no chemicals or additives or perfumes, it can be used 20 times a day,” he said.
Another brainchild of Declans is his general tonic, which aims to boost energy levels. The recipe was handed on to Declan from a pharmacist he worked for previously as a parting gift. As well as this Declan makes up his own cough syrup, for ages two and up, a cold sore cream and a cream effective at soothing psoriasis.
“Some of the remedies are very old fashioned, they date back to the1950s and 1960s before modern medicine paved the way for new products but they are still very good,” Declan said.
Mixing up his unique products takes a lot of time and Declan mixes many in the local pharmacy while the moisture cream is no longer made in his kitchen, much to his wife’s relief, but in a facility in Dublin.
“My customers like our own mixtures and find they really help their condition. A lot of people come back and show me the improvements, of course they might not work for everyone but we get very good feed-back,” he added.
Declan set up the pharmacy with his wife Julie in 1982 and now works alongside his partner Robert Harte.
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