How Swan Lake Pharmacy is transforming pain care through compounding medicine
—by Toni-Marie Ippolito
“We’re trying to get people off of pain pill medication,” is not a statement you would normally associate with a pharmacy. Most pharmacies are in the business of distributing pills and the medications you need to help with whatever ails you. But in the case of Swan Lake Pharmacy, located in Markham, Ont., this statement is their mission.
Established in 2017, Swan Lake Pharmacy was started by Lina Youssef, manager and owner, who was inspired to take her knowledge of pharmaceuticals one step further by focusing on the business of custom, compounding medicine.
A graduate of Ain Shams University in her home country of Cairo, Youssef moved to Canada in 2010 and got her pharmaceutical license in 2012. After working mostly in the retail area of the pharma industry, her interest in compounding medicine took hold after working for an organization that licensed pharmacists to practice in this area.
Her business, Swan Lake Pharmacy, which has been awarded one of “The Top 3 pharmacies” in the area (according to ThreeBestRated.ca) would be built on this type of treatment.
What is compounding medicine?
In a world where bespoke and customization is becoming a big trend in all areas including cosmetics, fashion, and skin care, medical prescriptions are following suit. According to the PCCA (Professional Compounding Centers of America) compounding medication “is the art and science of preparing customized medications for patients.”
This is something that Swan Lake Pharmacy is spearheading in the form of topical compounding medicinal creams to manage pain. Not only is it customized, but it can also target a specific area of pain directly where sometimes a pill cannot.
“People have been very responsive to compound medicine,” Youssef says. “But this is not a new concept. These compounds have been around for years. It’s actually huge in the US, but in Canada dealing with pain treatment alternatives have been slower in terms of getting the word out. It’s just not something that is advertised or known to people.”
From Pills to Creams
When it comes to pain management, Youssef is always learning when it comes to advancements in patient care. Which is why her pharmacy is focusing on moving patients away from addictive pain pills that often come with dangerous side effects and even overdose. “With pain pills, especially with nerve pain, it’s hard to target so it’s an ongoing issue. So, anyone using pain pills like opioids or narcotics, studies say that if you use it over a period of three months then technically you’re on it for good. You start to get a tolerance and it becomes very hard to get off of it. That’s why it’s become such an epidemic. There are huge amounts of overdosing. And we’re focusing more on that,” she says. “Also, seniors are more at risk and have more tendencies to develop side effects such as ulcers and kidney malfunction with certain medications.”
Swan Lake pharmacy is hoping to change all that with compounding topical medicine to better target and manage their pain. “We’re focusing on cream medication to get patients off of pills. With compound cream, you’re getting all the medicinal ingredients you’d get in a pill but in cream form.”
Patients, according to Youssef, love the idea of treating their pain topically. She says although they began mainly treating senior citizens with compounding medicine, as they got more involved she found out that pretty much nobody wants to take pills. “People are heading towards not using pills if possible,” she reveals. “For example, a patient claiming, “my ankle hurts,” from injury, would rather have a cream than a pill to treat and directly target that area.”
Health Care First
When a patient visits Swan Lake Pharmacy, they do a quick assessment and, depending on a patient’s need, a compounded topical cream is formulated. “The ingredients in the cream depends on what the patient needs it for. We can put up to five or six ingredients in it, but it’s all custom,” Youssef explains. “The more topical the better. If topical works first, that’s the way to go. All doctors are on board with this, and we work closely with the patient’s family physician to approve what we’re recommending and they can approve or adjust levels of ingredients in the compound cream. Once the formula is created, and it is doctor approved, that’s when the patients can get off their medication.”
More than a Pharmacy
This type of targeted care is what’s making Swan Lake Pharmacy a leader in this field. But Youssef humbly attributes her success to her patients. “The patients here are very supportive. We just opened a year and a half ago and we have to thank our patients for being active and putting reviews online and coming back and giving us thanks.”
When it comes to setting her business apart from others, for Youssef it’s simple. “We don’t just look at prescriptions as counting pills. When a patient comes in with a full profile from their doctor we’ll actually recommend if they need to stop other medications that may interfere with their prescription. Then, they’ll go back to their physician and end up stopping another medication because it was affecting the quality of their life. For us, it’s about looking at the full picture for patients not just the pills their taking but how their lifestyle is going.”
Looking Ahead
Swan Lake Pharmacy hopes to expand in the near future to include more in-house products that you can currently buy through their e-commerce store swanlakepharmacy.com (where you can buy health and wellness products from vitamins to personal care items to over-the-counter medication) and by adding a dietician for therapeutic nutrition.
All around, she says that her mindset as a pharmacist is to also help change people’s lifestyle. “I just think people appreciate that we go that step further and consult with them instead of just going to any pharmacy and simply picking up their pills and getting some information about those pills and that’s it. Taking that one extra step for a patient will give you that patient’s loyalty for life.”
Youssef hopes to continue to lead the way in the compounding medicine industry and continue to research to help people not only manage pain but to also focus on preventative treatments and therapy.
