Water - types, temperature, and additives

It all depends on the water!

For tap water iontophoresis, as the name suggests, tap water is normally the go-to. This is sufficient for the beginning.

However, if you don't reach the desired success with iontophoresis, we recommend taking a closer look at the water in order to adjust it if necessary.

If the problem is your tap water, so far almost all users have reacted very well to a treatment with Volvic, San Pellegrino, and Vittel. Further below, you will find background information and alternatives.

Simply try these brands of water to see if your success improves or if you can save time.

In the long run, of course, bottled water is a bit more expensive than usual tap water for iontophoresis. But once you are sure that the problem is the treatment water, you can look for alternatives.

Some users have had very positive experiences with rainwater or spring water, as well as mixtures thereof.

When travelling, some users will report a lack of success. The reason for this is usually - what? Exactly. The water!

TAP WATER IONTOPHORESIS - is there a need to not use water from the tap?

More information on water additives

When should you use additives? Sometimes, you may achieve a better iontophoresis success by using additives for the treatment water. Often, operating instructions will recommend the addition of salt. Following this instruction, however, is not always the best idea.

A relevant study on the topic has shown that water additives can prevent a potential success instead of enabling it. Table salt has been proven to be insufficient.

What happens when you use additives, and what is their intended effect?

The intended effect is to influence the conductivity of the water and thus the resistance, to make sure that the current finds its way through the skin more easily.

It is therefore possible that an increased success is based only on the fact that higher currents can be achieved due to a lower resistance in the overall iontophoresis system (water, body, pathways and electrodes).

Some weaker iontophoresis devices on the market may need these tricks to counteract a lack of current, due to poorly conducting water, and some may simply use unchecked tips from online forums.

With professional, practical iontophoresis units, water additives should rarely be necessary to increase the conductivity.

It would certainly make more sense to lower the body resistance instead of meddling with the water.

TIP: If you want or need to kick things up a notch, you can use baking soda

Water quality influences iontophoresis

Not every water is suitable for iontophoresis

First of all, we have to mention that we don't know of a single tap water type in the world that is unsuitable for iontophoresis due to its conductivity or water hardness, unless the water comes from a tap with reverse osmosis or an extreme filter.

In our experience, success does not depend on the hardness or the PH value of the water. If a water type is unsuitable for iontophoresis, we suspect that the composition and the balance of the minerals contained therein are at fault.

Many clients have reported that a mixture of spring water, rain water and even water from puddles made their success possible or more intense.

We are initially sceptical about such experiments, since they cannot be reproduced in a controlled environment and cannot be applied equally to all users.

However, we don't want to leave this experience unmentioned, so why not give it a try?

Our own approach is to suggest a controlled water, preferably one that is available worldwide. We immediately ruled out tap water, since it is usually produced locally and then labelled as such.

After a little research, we found what we were looking for.

Selection criteria for tap water substitutes

Alternatives to tap water for iontophoresis

We were looking for a known spring water (from a natural spring). For these purposed, Volvic water has proven to be ideal. The vast majority of users struggling with their water found this tip helpful so far.

When travelling, it is possible to lose success. Professional musicians and athletes are often on the road for longer stretches of time. They usually like to take their own trusted local water with them, or they rely on mineral water that works well for them. It does not necessarily have to be Volvic, but Volvic is a good first step to try when you don't know whether the problem lies in your water.

San Pellegrino and Vittel don't have the same success rate, but they are still very trustworthy.

LATEST TIP - not checked by us: one user has reported a very good success with magnesium chloride after he moved houses and lost the iontophoresis effect. We ask for (positive) feedback via email. For any experiences, please begin with only little (half a teaspoon)

Further feedback: Magnesium citrate is also said to be excellent - at around EUR 30 per kilo it costs considerably more than the chloride - but you can also use it as a dietary supplement,

A newspaper below the treatment tubs keeps the iontophoresis water warm

Iontophoresis treatment water: Warm or cold?

We must note that for most people, warm water (especially in winter) is much more pleasant. However, the difficulty is that the water cools down very quickly, especially when you treat on a stone floor instead of a wooden one. A low water level is ideal for many users, but hands and feet grow cold much more quickly than most people would like. How can this be avoided? We recommend treatment tubs made of thick, weighty material, which can be tempered before the treatment. This will keep you warm for a long time. Alternatively: You can place some newspaper under the treatment tubs, this stops cooling out the water so quickly. Thus, the iontophoresis session can be completed much more comfortably and without the need to refill hot water and inadvertently change the water level.

Performing comfortable treatments

Regarding sensible and nonsense water additives for iontophoresis

In principle, tap water iontophoresis works with tap water, as the name suggests.

Therefore, we recommend the following procedure:

First, leave out everything you want to add to the water, e.g. vinegar, salt, vitamins, sodium bicarbonate, medicines, mineral water, distilled water and most importantly aluminum chloride.

It seems that all of these factors can interfere with the therapy. To recap:

If you are 100% successful with iontophoresis, best not to change anything!
Only consider additives if you are not successful with your normal tap water!
If you are successful, you can of course experiment with the water for fun, just to see if different water types will have a strengthening effect
In cases of medication, please consult your doctor. We recommend avoiding aluminum chloride in combination with iontophoresis!
Should the iontophoresis device not reach its maximum power (mA or volt value does not go all the way up to the selected setting), we advise using sodium bicarbonate (natron) as an additive.

An interesting note on water and iontophoresis: How much water should you use - water level in the iontophoresis tubs