"The medical uses for tea tree oil are vast.  This utility can best be comprehended by comparing it with other antiseptics.

Iodine, merthiolate and hydrogen peroxide are common antiseptics found in every pharmacy and in any medicine cabinets.  Currently, their usage is limited to topical applications, primarily for wounds.  Earlier in this century doctors used iodine to paint the throat and the vaginal tract in order to treat localized infections of these regions.  Hydrogen peroxide sees limited use as an antiseptic.  It is contraindicated for deep wounds, as it is caustic to the tissues.  Merthiolate, which contains mercury, is also contraindicated for deep wounds.  In summary, these antiseptics are prescribed almost exclusively for use on minor cuts or wounds.  The same is true of Bactine and similar over-the-counter antiseptics.

Antibiotics also have limited applications for topical usage.  Currently, they are prescribed for a variety of illnesses of the skin and mucous membranes in attempt to cure or prevent localized infections.  The problem is that these antibiotics kill only certain types of microorganisms.  Thus, to utilize them optimally it would be necessary to know precisely which organism(s) is/are sensitive to a given drug.  It is virtually impossible to routinely perform culture and sensitivity before treating localized infections of the skin and/or mucous membranes.  Additionally, in many skin conditions, the causative organism cannot be readily determined through standard laboratory cultures.  Plus, there are often numerous causative organisms. 

Often, it is impossible to determine even which category of organisms is primarily responsible:  viruses, bacteria, yeasts, fungi or parasites.  For example, acne is believed to be caused by certain bacteria, which invade the pores, ducts and follicles of the skin.  Topical antibacterial agents, such as erythromycins, have been used successfully for acne.  However, they fail to cure this distressing disorder.  Often, antibiotics must be taken daily for many months or years in order to keep the acne at bay, a circumstance which inevitably results in toxicity.  Vaginitis is caused by a variety of microbes.  Thus, most antibiotics are an inappropriate treatment for this condition.  Antifungal creams, such as Lotrimin and Mycolog, are useful in the treatment of vaginitis caused by Candida albicans.  However, they are useless for the treatment of bacterial, viral or parasitic vaginitis.  Topical antibiotics might be an acceptable treatment for uncomplicated or minor wound infections.  However, they are inadequate for the treatment of would infections caused by antibiotic-resistant microbes, as would be seen in hospitalized patients.

This only further emphasizes how incredibly useful tea tree oil is for the treatment of infectious diseases.  In contrast to drugs, tea tree oil can be used as the primary treatment for each of the mentioned conditions.  In many instances it proves more effective than the medical treatment(s) of choice.  This emphasizes an important point:  tea tree oil cannot be thought of as a drug which as action against specific microbes only.  Rather, it must be looked upon as a universal antiseptic, one capable of curing virtually all types of infections, even those caused by the most stubborn, drug-resistant microbes known.  It is only through this bend of mind that the full potential of tea tree oil in the treatment of human disease can be realized.  There is nothing incredible about these statements.  These are simply the plain facts about this incredibly useful and amazingly effective oil from the swamps of Australia.

Medical professionals will be skeptical about these claims.  Many will outright refuse to investigate tee tree oil and/or recommend its use.  Yet, only a fool would fail to try it, to experiment with it, to test it; in short, to see first hand if it really works.  Doctors are in the perfect position to do so.  They have the patients; all they need to do is order a sample of the oil and evaluate precisely what it is capable of doing.  This experimentation is the sientific method that medical professionals have been applying for centuries.  Pharmacists can also experiment with it.  They may order a sample of the oil and use it to treat family members or themselves for some stubborn condition which has failed to respond to their remedies.  That is the best way to evaluate tree oil."

Reference: Cass Igram, D.O., "Killed on Contact, The Tea Tree Oil Story:  Nature's Finest Antiseptic", Cedar Graphics, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1992, pp. 19-21.