Why is liquid paraffin bad for the skin?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Oh, and if nobody has answered, Nightshade plants are those in the same family as belladonna - tomatoes, potatoes, aubergines, etc. There's some research linking them with allergic/autoimmune responses. Mind you, there's also probably links in studies with petrol by products, milk, wheat, soya, animal, non animal, fruitarian, piscatorian and probably dancing naked in the early morning dew.

I'd start with the obvious allergen reducing strategies - making dustmites more unwelcome than an MP standing behind you at a cashpoint - before striking out into the food elimination regions.

vespasian023

First Timer; I have pitting edema which causes very dry irritable skin and the doctor gave me epaderm cream despite me telling him that I was allergic to liquid paraffin.

I solved the problem by using essential oils. Any will do, but because there was a large area to cover, I chose a cheaper oil of lemon. A 30ml bottle will provide a litre of oil when diluted with a cheap carrier oil such a sunflower. I don't mind smelling fruity and my condition is much improved.

d577ta

My boyfriend discovered his allergy after using baby oil as it is 100% mineral oil

unfortunately I have since found that mineral oil comes under many different names:

1. Adepsinae Album
2. Adepsine Oil
3. Alboline
4. Atoleine
5. Chrismaline
6. Glymol
7. Liquid Paraffin
8. liquid Vaseline
9. Medicinal paraffin
10. Mineral Oil
11. Mineral Oil jelly
12. Nujol
13. Oleum
14. Oleum Deelinae (Yellow)
15. Paraffin oil /Paraffin wax
16. Paraffinum Liquidum
17. Parfum
18. Paroleine
19. Petrochemicals
20. Petrolatum
21. Saxol
22. Vaseline Oil (Yellow)
23. Vaselinum Album

These are the names I have found so far but no doubt there are more.

I also have had eczema all my life.

What works for me is using minimal amounts of skin care products,

All prescribed creams from the doctors only worked in the short term for me.

Put bed clothes on a rinse after washing to remove detergents,

Do not be fooled by suitable for sensitive skin claims! My boyfrind and I have had trouble with non bio washing powder and found the liquid detergent better, E45 cream was a problem for both of us.

I do not wash my face with soap any more, do not use steroid creams, do not use moisturizer directly on broken skin, do not use fabric softener, use perfume very rarely and do not use conditioner and my skin is much much healthier!

This all seems strange until you look in detail at the toxic chemicals in products. Unfortunately some of us are more sensitive to others to these chemicals.

Hope this information is useful to someone Maryanne x

jenniewb

Wow- never even knew this thread existed! Thanks for the above list- I only had paraffin down by a few different variants so its good to know the rest. I have a sort of reaction to it too, it clogs my pores and I get horrible angry and painful whitehead spots- the type that are in so deep you can't even pick them if they weren't so painful!

Unfortunetly its not just paraffin oil, there are others I seem to react to aswell, even cocobutter! (body is fine, face = spots)

I used to find out the hard way and then just learnt to stick to certain products, now I have a list it may be a bit easier!

Daisygirl

I have a rather 'delicate' skin condition (I'll post the name of it if you want me to! - and also just to say that it is a totally non transferrable skin condition and I believe it is in some way connected to having an underactive thyroid, something to do with the immune system attacking itself!)

I have to use a very strong steroid ointment quite regularly, particularly when I get flare ups, and also as a preventative measure, to stop it getting any worse and things. I currently use Epaderm ointment as a barrier in the shower as even using normal shower gels/shampoos can irritate if it gets on the affected area. I use The Green People shower gels and trying to find a better regime of shampoos specifically for coloured hair!

Now reading about mineral oils, obviously I'd rather be using a more natural, if not completely natural cream or ointment as a barrier. I am using this (the Epaderm) as another sufferer recommended it. Now I see that it also contains SLS which I am supposed to be avoiding! although it does seem to be doing the job I want it to. I also use Dermol shower emollient to wash the affected area with - this was prescribed by my doctor. Was given Aqueous cream as a moisturiser/barrier but it seems to burn me , also it doesn't seem 'rich' enough, so have not been using that at all.

I was wondering if Allergenics do a heavy cream/ointment that would act as a barrier.

Thanks everyone, this is a great thread :j:D

smuraldo

Contact Melaleuca they have a very good dry skin teripy range called renew which has no harmful chemicals in it everyone i know recomends it they also do a range of toxic free house hold cleaning produces as toxics in the home could also be the course of skin irritation as well as a number of other things including asthma. so do have a look at them www. melaleuca. com

Loopified

Hi there. I have to make my own lotion. I have played with the recipe over and over and come up with this:

2 tbsp grated beeswax
3/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

Heat the beeswax on the stove in a double boiler just until melted, add the coconut oil.

Put this in a blender, or you can keep it in that same bowl and use a hand mixer or stick blender. Blend for 20 seconds on low. Be careful not to splash...it's very hot!

1/4 cup distilled water

Heat the water in a microwave safe bowl for one minute. Slowly pour the hot water into the bowl while the mixer is still on. Blend for one minute on low.

Add 1/2 cup of room temp aloe vera gel. If your mixture is in the blender, you will literally have instant lotion. BUT keep blending it on high this time for two minutes. It takes a a minute to thicken if its in the bowl with your mixer, but keep blending on high for two minutes.

At this point, I like to add either lemon or lavender or even orange essential oil. After adding the oil, mix thoroughly for one more minute on low.

I've found that this lotion is spectacular! I have not had any sensitive skin issues at all. I use it in the morning and at night. I especially have a problem with dry feet and this stuff just completely takes it away!

Note* Be careful in measuring your beeswax. Make sure that when you grate it and measure out the two tablespoons that you don't compact it down into the spoon. tap it gently but don't force it. You don't want to use too much beeswax because it can clog your pores. If you don't have coconut oil on hand, you can substitute grapeseed oil or olive oil. These two oils will have a bit of a nutty smell though.

Loopified

I also make my own deodorant. Any that has a problem with body odor should definitely try this!

1 tbsp cocoa butter
1 tbsp shea butter
1 tbsp coconut oil

Heat these three ingredients for 30 seconds in your microwave in a bowl. Mix it with a spoon.

Add 1 tbsp corn starch
1 TEASPOON baking soda
10 drops of tea tree oil

mix well and put into a VERY CLEAN container. You can just rub a bit in between your fingers and rub into your armpits. Make sure not to use too much baking soda or it can be irritating. This deodorant is AWESOME! And cheap to make if you have the products on hand! This batch of deodorant lasts me quite a while.

njtp

"a common irritant"

It actually has to be made clear here that lanolin in cosmetics and particularly in treatments for eczema is NOT a common irritant, that notion came from:

"Some years ago, lanolin attracted a great deal of attention owing to a misunderstanding concerning its sensitising potential.[8] A study carried out at New York University Hospital in the early 1950s had shown about 1% of patients with dermatological disorders were allergic to the lanolin being used at that time. However, this figure was misinterpreted and taken out of context and became quoted as 1% of the general healthy (American) population. By one estimate, this simple misunderstanding of failing to differentiate between the general healthy population and patients with dermatological disorders exaggerates the sensitising potential of lanolin by 5,000–6,000 times.[8][9]"

That isn't to say that it isn't an irritant, it just isn't a common one by any sense of the word

Read up on exactly where lanolin comes from and the different grades of lanolin, don't just take my word, or anyone's word for it, you'd be surprised how wrong people can be, particularly where medical issues are concerned given the general mistrust of science based medicine these days, which isn't entirely unfounded but is mostly blown many light years our of proportion.

For more information on pharmaceutical companies corrupting the science part of medicine have a look at Ben Goldacre's TED talk on it. It's healthy to doubt and question, but remember that alternative medicine folks have even more reason to lie and scare you away from conventional medicine - they want you to buy their products!

njtp

I mainly mentioned alternative medicine not because it doesn't work, there's a lot of it that does work, usually it's not as strong as prescription medications and sometimes that's a good thing - no need to knock a nail in with a sledge hammer lol, but there are a lot of people with a blind spot for it.

We also have to be cognoscente of the placebo and nocebo effects as well as the fact that when told that something is bad for us regardless of how unsubstantiated the claim or who made it, we're liable to attribute our ills to it, particularly if it's in food; it's just one of the pitfalls of human intuitive cognition.

With all that said, it's important to get proper nutrition so keep a food diary, this will also help identify any potential allergies when you match up your itching diary with it - don't just note down what you eat when you get itchy, you might have eaten it plenty of times when you weren't itchy and you are in danger of making a correlation vs causation error. Itching without an obvious cause is one of the most difficult things to diagnose, and it is a diagnosis of exclusion so keeping a complete diary of all the food you eat and all the times you itch, for how long and how intensely is a good idea.