What’s best for eczema (atopic dermatitis): coconut oil vs. mineral oil vs. petroleum jelly

Natural topical remedies for eczema, including licorice root gel, St. John’s wort cream, and emollients like coconut oil, mineral oil, and petroleum jelly, are put to the test.

Despite the availability of drugs with proven efficacy against eczema, such as topical steroids, many patients have search from natural alternatives. Which plant should it be then? used for which skin disease? In the case of eczema, two appeared Beat placebo. One was licorice root. As you can see at 0:24 in my video Eczema treatment with coconut oil vs. mineral oil vs. petroleum jelly, lubricate on a placebo gel didn’t seem to help much in getting rid of redness or itching after a week or two, but a 1 percent licorice gel, and a 2 percent gel in particular, seemed to help clear the symptoms in most patients. The researchers concluded that licorice extracts can be viewed as an effective means of treating eczema.

The other successful attempt was with a St. John’s wort cream, demonstrate A reduction in eczema severity is better than that of placebo, week after week, as you can see at 0:49 in mine Video. So it works better than nothing, but it works job better than drugs? Better Than Current Steroids? We do not know that. Sometimes the drugs don’t job about so-called recalcitrant atopic dermatitis, according to researchers in Japan asked Patients should drink four cups of oolong tea every day for a month. Most patients showed “marked to moderate improvement” starting after a week or two, and most remained better for five months after stopping. The problem is there was no control group, so we don’t know how many would have gotten better on their own. But since drinking tea is healthy anyway, why not give it a try.

Let’s get back to the current treatments. As you can see in mine at 1:43 am Video, a vitamin B12 cream shown Better results than the same cream without vitamin B12. Most patients and doctors rated the results of the B12 cream as “good”, which was better than the placebo cream.

Regardless of what topical agent you are using, steroid or otherwise, “primarily is It is important that the skin barrier is protected and maintained through the use of emollients. “This means using moisturizers, ideally once or twice a day, especially right after you shower, to lock in moisture. Petroleum jelly, like petroleum jelly, is highly effective, but “greasy and can be messy”. So what about something like coconut oil that is less greasy? It was found to improve skin dryness, although no better than mineral oil which is cheaper. However, is mineral oil safe?

Exposure to mineral oil was found Being linked to rheumatoid arthritis but that was occupational exposure to industrial mineral oils such as hydraulic fluid. The same group of researchers subsequently found This cosmetic grade mineral oil did not appear to pose the same risk. In general, topically applied mineral oil should not be used available any health risk, but that doesn’t mean … you can safely inject it in your penis as it “can have devastating cosmetic and sexual consequences”. However, there is obviously good use for mineral oil on the penis and that is for locking penile zippers. Skin of the penis “is prone to zipper pinching of carefree boys, especially boys who do not wear underwear. Understandably this mishap provoked Affliction of the unfortunate victim, his parents and ultimately the health care provider charged with freeing the organ. “Believe it or not, a recommended textbook approach is surgery, but if you just dose generously with some mineral oil you can just pull the zip off and” the physical and psychological trauma will be minimized for everyone involved … “

But only because mineral oil is working as well as coconut oil for dry skin, it doesn’t is working also with eczema. Head-to-head topical coconut oil works better than topical mineral oil in decreasing eczema severity, with twice as many children showing excellent responses after two months of treatment. Therefore, topical application of virgin coconut oil was superior to mineral oil in pediatric patients with mild to moderate eczema, but what about virgin olive oil? As you can see in mine at 4:19 am Video, Olive oil workedThe eczema became less severe, but coconut oil worked better.

As I discussed in my video What about coconuts, coconut milk, and coconut oil MCTs?We know coconut oil is high in saturated fat, so we don’t want to consume it, but we don’t want to consume the saturated fat absorbed into your skin unless you are a baby, when your skin is thin enough that you actually can absorb saturated coconut fat in your bloodstream. But in older children and adults, With Coconut oil on your skin or hair is considered safe.

What about treating eczema with plain petroleum jelly? People with eczema do knows It can be expensive to deal with. The average out-of-pocket cost can be $ 274 per month, which is more than a third of the disposable income of a typical family. In contrast, you can rub A head-to-toe kid on petroleum jelly for about four cents, while coconut oil or some of the fancier over-the-counter moisturizers can be many times more expensive, though not as bad as some prescription moisturizers that can costs over a hundred dollars a tube and doesn’t work any better than the over-the-counter stuff as you can see in mine at 5:50 Video. There is There is simply no evidence that “prescription moisturizers” are superior to traditional over-the-counter petroleum jelly-based products, which can be 65 times cheaper.

Does not However, coconut oil has active ingredients, whereas petroleum jelly does is just sluggish? vaseline has has been around since 1872, but it took the scientific community 144 years to put it to the test. We now knows it’s not sluggish at all, significant upregulate Genes that fight infection, induce the expression of genes that support barrier function, increase the thickness of the protective outer layer of the skin, and actively reduce inflammation. Yes but is it safe? Not … if you inject it in your penis. (What about men who inject things into their penis ?!) “In the less severe cases, the problem [this self-injection creates] could be solved through basic surgery. Otherwise it can be need major reconstruction. Obviously, “Vaseline is self-injecting the penis” done a lot of prisoners, which gives the term “Jailhouse Rock” a whole new meaning. An unbelievable six inmates in Hungary’s largest prison admitted to having “self-injected petroleum jelly”. Or how about actual stones, the surgical implantation of stones into the penis, which has also been reported? How about splash Industrial silicone? (I’ll never look at silicone sealant the same way again.) When it was men asked Why they injected cod liver oil, a fishy substance, into their penis was explained by most because they felt under-challenged, as you can see in mine at 7:40 a.m. Videobut one guy said he “just wants[ed] try. “Oh, ok. Why inject cod liver oil into the penis when you can? inject cut out the mercury directly and the middle fish?

Back to eczema! Based on 77 studies of eczema moisturizers, researchers did not Find Reliable evidence that one moisturizer is better than another, ”according to a consensus of experts completed This petroleum jelly is best suited to protect the skin barrier function.

What about coconut oil? See Coconut oil and the boost in HDL “good” cholesterol and What about coconuts, coconut milk, and coconut oil MCTs?.

What about the swallowing oil supplements? That was the subject of my video Eczema treatment with evening primrose oil vs. borage oil vs. hemp seed oil.

I have more about eczema so make sure you are drawn So you don’t miss a thing.

In health,

Michael Greger, MD

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