Carl Thornfeldt, M.D., has sought to help improve the lives of others his entire life. Whether it is his family, his community, his patients, his country or those suffering from skin health problems around the world, Dr. Thornfeldt has dedicated time to making a difference in their lives. Growing up on a rural sheep and Christmas tree farm outside Portland, Oregon, he watched his father, a prominent pediatrician, care for his patients using a holistic approach to improving their health and quality of life. His father’s example and the positive impact he had on their community would go on to inspire his passion for helping people and his later approach to skin health and taking care of the skin barrier, as well as his love for rural America and small-town communities.
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Carl Thornfeldt, M.D., has sought to help improve the lives of others his entire life. Whether it is his family, his community, his patients, his country or those suffering from skin health problems around the world, Dr. Thornfeldt has dedicated time to making a difference in their lives. Growing up on a rural sheep and Christmas tree farm outside Portland, Oregon, he watched his father, a prominent pediatrician, care for his patients using a holistic approach to improving their health and quality of life. His father’s example and the positive impact he had on their community would go on to inspire his passion for helping people and his later approach to skin health and taking care of the skin barrier, as well as his love for rural America and small-town communities.
“My father was a pediatrician and the Chief of Pediatrics at the Medical School in Portland, as well as a pioneer in neonatal medicine. He invented the first bassinets for oxygen for the neonates, and in fact, the medication and treatment that he invented in the sixties are still being used as a treatment today. He was truly an inspiration to me.”
Transforming Childhood Struggles Into a Lifelong Mission
Dr. Thornfeldt’s negative childhood experiences suffering from severe eczema and the toll the extensive topical medications took on his quality of life, along with the example his father set as a pediatrician, left him certain he wanted to be a doctor from a young age. “I knew I wanted to be a physician when I was in fifth grade. I suffered with some significant skin problems and knew I wanted to specialize in dermatology because with that specialty I could take care of people of all ages and a variety of diseases. I knew how much I suffered and I wanted to help prevent other people from suffering as I did," says Dr. Thornfeldt.
After earning his undergraduate degree, Dr. Thornfeldt attended Oregon Health and Science University for medical school, during which he had the opportunity to prepare and run numerous clinical trials and discovered his love of the research side of medicine. Rather than take the easy route, Dr. Thornfeldt decided to enlist in the U.S. Navy his second year of medical school. After graduating, he then spent his residency in general medicine serving as the general practice physician at the U.S. Naval base in Holy Loch, Scotland.
He recalls, “I practiced family medicine while in the Navy, and one of the things I observed there was a lot of the foundational nutrition and health issues people weren’t complying with, and that had a big impact on how they would heal and how successful the treatments were going to be. Patient compliance can be a big preventer of success.”
Dr. Thornfeldt completed his dermatology specialty training at University Hospital at University of California, San Diego in 1983, and immediately set about starting his practice. He chose to move to Ontario, Oregon to set up his dermatology practice, with the desire to provide care to the small-town communities along the southern border of Oregon and Idaho where dermatologists were in short supply.
“I wanted to practice in an area that really needed a specialist and started my practice in Ontario, Oregon about 1 hour west of Boise, Idaho on the Oregon/Idaho border in 1983. My parents had moved to Ontario, and my dad had a pediatrics clinic so I joined him by adding dermatology to the practice. My mom was his head nurse. I chose this area because there were 10 counties that had no dermatologist in Eastern Oregon and Southwest Idaho. I was the first dermatologist there, and for 32 years I was the only dermatologist in the Southeastern third of Oregon and all of southwest Idaho,” Dr. Thornfeldt explains.
Searching for a Better Solution
After watching his patients go through the same struggles seeking relief from chronic skin conditions only to have the treatments hinder their quality of life in another way, Dr. Thornfeldt was set on finding a solution by the time 1989 rolled around. He states, “When I came to the realization that the number one purpose of the skin is protection, and yet every treatment (hydroxy acids, the retinoids, the steroids) would contribute to destroying the barrier - the skin’s protection. I also came to the realization that if it was broken, it can also be repaired. I started doing some research into the epidermis and stratum corneum, which is the outermost layer. I was surprised to learn that very little research had been done on the stratum and epidermis, as opposed to the dermis.”
It was at this point that he decided to coordinate a team of researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area to perform an intensive study of skin function and botanical activity in the skin. This effort became the original bench research that led to his later use of botanicals in his line of Epionce skin care products.
“I reasoned that lipids, fats and oils had to be the critical function of the most important structure, so In 1989 I put together a team with Dr. Peter Elias, one of the top lipid researchers in the country, to really understand all the science behind the skin barrier function. Nobody had done that. We were the first ones to actually look at the skin barrier specifically, and not only what it did, but also how it repaired itself from injury. That’s one of the critical factors and nobody had done any work on that, so we pioneered that,” says Dr. Thornfeldt.
This first step was the beginning of Dr. Thornfeldt’s journey to becoming the literal father of skin barrier repair. By 1997, before anyone was even considering or aware of the importance of the skin barrier to overall skin health, Dr. Thornfeldt was granted the very first patent on barrier repair. His initial research into botanicals and their effect on skin health and barrier function led him to pioneer their use in clinical-grade topical skin care.
He relates, “Our research team grew and we were very successful in understanding that the major driver
for skin diseases and skin conditions, including skin aging, was the damaged skin barrier and the uncontrolled inflammation. Hundreds of studies were published and we received several international awards on this research.”
Launching a Botanical Barrier Repair Revolution
Well before the medical community was ready to accept the promising potential of using botanicals in clinical products, Dr. Thornfeldt became an impassioned pioneer of botanical-based topical solutions created to improve his patients’ lives. He found that incorporating botanicals into topical skin care formulations helped drive the active ingredients aimed at treating his patients’ chronic skin conditions into the skin while eliminating the irritation of the skin barrier caused by other topical treatments.
“We were looking for ways to repair the skin barrier. We found that the pathways were complex in repair, and I realized that plants have these active pathways and that was my inspiration for Epionce. I decided to develop products that we can use to prevent side effects of prescription medications, make prescription medications work better and make sure that when we get patients clear, they would stay clear for a much longer time. I shifted my focus on botanical research and products based on botanicals, the basis of Epionce,” he explains.
Dr. Thornfeldt’s passionate pursuit to provide better solutions for his patients came to fruition in 2002 when he founded Episciences, Inc. He began manufacturing Epionce products while still working full time at his practice, initially distributing them solely to his own patients. This development allowed him to finally create a line of topical skin care products utilizing botanicals to provide his patients the kind of skin care options he wished would have been available during his own childhood struggles with chronic skin conditions.
Dr. Thornfeldt says, “My main driver for developing Episciences was to help me be a better doctor, to provide products that will work for my patients, change their lives and that would help me also be accountable to my patients. My inspiration is always to get patients cured. I myself didn’t like putting on a lot of the medicines for my skin disease, and the big problem in medicine, still today, is getting people to use the medicine properly and make sure that they use a regimen. If you don’t like using it, you’ll use it a little bit and get some benefit, but I never really saw people’s skin get clear. This is why I was so adamant that Epionce products needed to be formulations people would like using and want to use.”
Changing Patient Lives
Since creating his first Epionce skin care product and launching the now well known and loved business behind the skin care line, Dr. Thornfeldt has seen his products change many patients’ lives over the years, helping them to not only treat their skin conditions but keep them under control and in remission for far longer than previous treatment options. The patients and families he’s been able to help have been the true reward for his incredible work.
“I used Epionce in conjunction with prescription therapies, but Epionce helped mitigate negative side effects of those prescriptions and keep diseases in remission for longer periods of time. Epionce helped change lives for many of my patients, not only from an anti-aging perspective but from a quality of life perspective for those with skin diseases. I had a mom crying with relief in my office because her child’s eczema was so much better that they could all finally sleep through the night. I had patients finally have confidence because their skin was clear without the redness caused by harsh acne treatments. I saw the melasma of patients who had failed hydroquinone and laser treatments go away,” states Dr. Thornfeldt.
Just as he did from the start, Dr. Thornfeldt heavily emphasizes clinical research and quantifiable data ensuring formulations for new products provide proven safe and effective results in his continued work to develop topical skin care to further enhance skin barrier health. His dedication to intensive research and clinical studies prompted the building of the company’s 18,000-square-foot laboratory and manufacturing facility in Boise, Idaho where his skin barrier research continues to be at the literal “heart” of Epionce products.
He relates, “Beyond the verbal testimonials, I also felt it was critically important to do controlled clinical trials on our final, market ready formulations. We have over 15 clinical studies on those products. For example, the combination of Epionce Renewal Facial Cream and Lytic Tx, were twice as effective in rejuvenating the dermis than the retinoid/hydroxy acid combination, and without any irritation or other side effects. 40% of the retinoid participants had irritation. We’re able to prove that our products not only work better, they’re safer than anything else on the market.” A Rewarding Journey & Endless Quest
Dr. Thornfeldt reflects on his journey to provide patients dealing with skin problems, particularly those with severe chronic skin conditions, the kind of effective relief and treatments to repair their skin health without hindering their quality of life in the process.
As his lifelong mission to bring these treatment options that were unavailable during his childhood struggle to patients going through the same ordeal comes full circle, he shares, “It is incredibly gratifying to have been on this journey. I became a dermatologist to help my people get well, and I developed Epionce to help me be a better doctor. I never had a patient ask to only get 50% clear - they want to get completely clear and have quality of life. That has been my mission from day 1 - to help my patients reach that goal. I also love the research and development process. It is challenging and rewarding. There have been many rewarding moments professionally over the years - from patents and publications to awards - but ultimately seeing people live free from their disease has been the most important thing to me.”
However, despite the success of his work over the past decades, Dr. Thornfeldt knows his quest is truly endless, with still many exciting advances in our understanding and ability to better repair and support the health of the skin barrier on the horizon. He explains, “When I first started Epionce, my theory on the importance of the skin barrier was not widely accepted. I have fought an uphill battle for the last 20 years writing and speaking on the topic. Now that there is a wider acceptance and understanding of the importance of the skin barrier, I believe more research will be focused on it. There is still much to learn about the largest organ of the body, generally speaking. I am continuing to do my own work on new ways to improve the health of the skin.”
He leaves us with a final determined look toward future progress, “We will continue to research and innovate. We will continue to take the narrow, difficult path because we want to continue the process of developing products that are proven to be effective, modulate underlying abnormalities and yet, also have proven safety with it. That strategy will not change. We will continue to follow the science and see how science advances.”
