What is black salve? All about the potentially lethal treatment depicted in Netflix's Apple Cider Vinegar 

Netflix's new series Apple Cider Vinegar delves into the dangers of black salve, throwing light on how misinformation about alternative treatments leads to devastating consequences. The series was released on Netflix on February 6, 2025.

Black salve is a dangerous alternative remedy frequently marketed as a natural cure for skin cancer, as per the US Food & Drug Administration. According to the federal agency, it's an extremely thick, dark paste, supposed to "draw out" cancer cells. It burns its way through the skin, causing open sores and scarring that cannot be reversed.

Despite all medical cautions, people are still using this because many consider it a safer way of treatment rather than surgery or chemotherapy.

Apple Cider Vinegar revolves around a real-life wellness influencer, Belle Gibson, who falsely announced that she had cured her terminal brain cancer with natural remedies. The character Milla got caught up using black salve, which accounts for many real-world cases of people being permanently harmed by the ointment.

Even though this salve is banned in many countries, it's still available online, often through unregulated sellers. Real-life cases, like that of Australian nurse Helen Lawson—who died after using this salve to treat ovarian cancer—prove just how deadly this so-called "cure" can be.

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What exactly is Black Salve?

According to Healthline, Black salve is a topical paste that contains bloodroot, which is a member of the poppy family of plants, mixed with zinc chloride, a corrosive chemical compound. It dates back to the 1800s when American surgeon Jesse Weldon Fell began touting its ability to treat skin cancer.

Since then, various companies and proponents of alternative medicine have been marketing it as a natural form of cancer treatment despite having no scientific basis for its supposed effectiveness, as per an article by Dexerto dated February 6, 2025. For instance, the US Food and Drug Administration has completely outlawed this salve because of its dangerous effect.

In the 1950s, it was discovered that instead of being selective in its destruction of cancerous cells, the salve destroys all the tissue it encounters. This, therefore, means that even healthy skin burns away with whatever else is on its way and leaves deep wounds, infections, and, in the worst cases, life-threatening complications.

Still, it is available for purchase on various online marketplaces and alternative medicine circles. Because of this availability, people suffer serious injuries or even death after using it in place of actual medical treatments.

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The real-life tragedies of this salve

While Apple Cider Vinegar is a dramatized fiction, the horror of black salve is very real. For instance, Helen Lawson, an Australian emergency nurse, died in 2018 after using black salve to treat her ovarian cancer, as per a report by The Age dated May 21, 2018.

Initially, Helen was diagnosed with a growth in her ovary. She considered other alternatives instead of opting for the conventional approach. She met a man called Dennis Wayne Jensen, who was a self-proclaimed healer to her, and he assured her that black salve could pull the cancer out of her body.

The truth was devastating. Once the ointment had been placed on her tummy, Helen started developing agonizing, deep sores. Her partner, Belinda Davies, described that it looked like third-degree burns, as per the same outlet. Her skin was being devoured from beneath her, and she persisted in applying the salve because it felt like it had drawn out the cancer.

In conclusion, she remained sick, her condition deteriorated, and she eventually died from those complications.

There are other instances similar to Helen's. A man in Brisbane applied black salve to the head for four months and was left with a gaping hole in his temple, as per Dexerto.

The President of Cosmetic Physicians College of Australasia, Dr. Douglas Grose, told The Age:

"Things like black salve just kill everything, normal skin cells, abnormal skin cells, it doesn't matter. You can't control it. All you're doing is killing the full thickness of the skin and allowing it to scar up."

Despite these horrifying outcomes, some people still believe this remedy works, largely due to misinformation spread online and within alternative health communities.

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Apple Cider Vinegar is streaming on Netflix.