Reviews you can trust, from real people like you.
How it works
- Our highly-trained Review Moderation team evaluates all reviews before they're published to ensure they're written by people like you and not a member of a doctor's office.
- This multi-step process takes up to 24 hours from review submission to publication.
- Doctors can't pay to have reviews removed or hidden.
- Reviews are only removed at the reviewer's request or if they violate our Terms of Service.
If you have questions or believe we should re-evaluate a published review, let us know.
Sort by:
*Treatment results may vary
Neosporin Reaction and Dermatoligist Quote re: Antibiotics and Vaseline recommendations
I'm attaching a quote from Dr. Cindy N. Berthelot, M.D regarding why she does not use Polysporin/Neosporin to treat wounds.
"Many of my patients wonder why I only recommend Vaseline after surgical procedures. This is a photo of a patient I saw today, who was applying Neosporin on his wound. You can see the small blisters along his wound edge. Neomycin was the allergen of the year in 2010. With repeated usage, about 10% of people will develop an allergy to this antibiotic. In addition, studies have shown that non-infected wounds do not heal faster with Neosporin versus Vaseline. These same studies have shown that white petrolatum jelly (Vaseline) is the preferred wound care agent after skin procedures. In fact, petrolatum has been shown to increase the rate of skin growth (scientifically referred to ‘re-epithelialization’) and reduce scarring. Many patients are concerned that they may get a wound infection if just using Vaseline. Clinical studies have shown that gentle daily soap/water cleansing, and applications of Vaseline is more effective against wound infections, compared to a topical antibiotic such as Neosporin or Bacitracin. Occasionally, some wounds may be at higher risk of infection, and I may recommend a topical antibiotic know as mupirocin (bactroban).
Here is the current advice copied directly from The American Academy of Dermatology website:
1. Always keep your cut, scrape or other skin injury clean. Gently wash the area with mild soap and water to keep out germs and remove debris.
2. To help the injured skin heal, use petroleum jelly to keep the wound moist. Petroleum jelly prevents the wound from drying out and forming a scab; wounds with scabs take longer to heal. This will also help prevent a scar from getting too large, deep or itchy. As long as the wound is cleaned daily, it is not necessary to use anti-bacterial ointments.
3. After cleaning the wound and applying petroleum jelly or a similar ointment, cover the skin with an adhesive bandage. For large scrapes, sores, burns or persistent redness, it may be helpful to use hydrogel or silicone gel sheets.
4. Change your bandage daily to keep the wound clean while it heals. If you have skin that is sensitive to adhesives, try a non-adhesive gauze pad with paper tape. If using silicone gel or hydrogel sheets, follow the instructions on the package for changing the sheets.
5. If your injury requires stitches, follow your doctor’s advice on how to care for the wound and when to get the stitches removed. This may help minimize the appearance of a scar.
6. Apply sunscreen to the wound after it has healed. Sun protection may help reduce red or brown discoloration and help the scar fade faster. Always use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF or 30 or higher and reapply frequently.
Dr. Cindy N. Berthelot, M.D. is a board certified dermatologist
"Many of my patients wonder why I only recommend Vaseline after surgical procedures. This is a photo of a patient I saw today, who was applying Neosporin on his wound. You can see the small blisters along his wound edge. Neomycin was the allergen of the year in 2010. With repeated usage, about 10% of people will develop an allergy to this antibiotic. In addition, studies have shown that non-infected wounds do not heal faster with Neosporin versus Vaseline. These same studies have shown that white petrolatum jelly (Vaseline) is the preferred wound care agent after skin procedures. In fact, petrolatum has been shown to increase the rate of skin growth (scientifically referred to ‘re-epithelialization’) and reduce scarring. Many patients are concerned that they may get a wound infection if just using Vaseline. Clinical studies have shown that gentle daily soap/water cleansing, and applications of Vaseline is more effective against wound infections, compared to a topical antibiotic such as Neosporin or Bacitracin. Occasionally, some wounds may be at higher risk of infection, and I may recommend a topical antibiotic know as mupirocin (bactroban).
Here is the current advice copied directly from The American Academy of Dermatology website:
1. Always keep your cut, scrape or other skin injury clean. Gently wash the area with mild soap and water to keep out germs and remove debris.
2. To help the injured skin heal, use petroleum jelly to keep the wound moist. Petroleum jelly prevents the wound from drying out and forming a scab; wounds with scabs take longer to heal. This will also help prevent a scar from getting too large, deep or itchy. As long as the wound is cleaned daily, it is not necessary to use anti-bacterial ointments.
3. After cleaning the wound and applying petroleum jelly or a similar ointment, cover the skin with an adhesive bandage. For large scrapes, sores, burns or persistent redness, it may be helpful to use hydrogel or silicone gel sheets.
4. Change your bandage daily to keep the wound clean while it heals. If you have skin that is sensitive to adhesives, try a non-adhesive gauze pad with paper tape. If using silicone gel or hydrogel sheets, follow the instructions on the package for changing the sheets.
5. If your injury requires stitches, follow your doctor’s advice on how to care for the wound and when to get the stitches removed. This may help minimize the appearance of a scar.
6. Apply sunscreen to the wound after it has healed. Sun protection may help reduce red or brown discoloration and help the scar fade faster. Always use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF or 30 or higher and reapply frequently.
Dr. Cindy N. Berthelot, M.D. is a board certified dermatologist
Polysporin Allergy Post Surgery
The photo's attached show the reaction caused by the use of Polyporin on surgical incisions.
On Monday I had surgery, Tue my bandages were removed and the Dr applied Polysporin and re-wrapped my incisions with direction in two days to remove the bandages, apply more Polysporin and cover using a compression garment. Wednesday morning I could already see the redness, yellow clear moisture, feel itching and the skin gets hard and thick feeling and small 'pimples' or blisters form and spread easily.
This reaction needs to be addressed quickly as it responds very well to a topical treatment and will help with the itch right away. I used BETADERM because I had it in the house. I recommend going into see your Dr as soon as you notice it and even call your Pharmacist and ask for ointment recommendations for Polysporin reactions as my Dr didn't prescribe anything topical and didn't know what to prescribe when I asked him to, luckily I knew what was going on and that a dermatitis treatment would help. My Dr also PX Prednisone, but I've never had to use this before to settle down the reaction so I say only do what you need, prednisone can really throw off your sleep (wired feeling) and lower immunity.
Studies have proven that keeping a wound clean and using plain Vaseline works just as well (better if you include no reactions) then Polysporin or any antibiotic ointments at keeping a new incision moist and healing well.
After seeing my Dr (Day 4 after surgery) I went home, showered, washed my hair with baby shampoo, cleaned my incisions with Cetaphil and used Aquaphor which is another type of Vaseline on my incisions. I used BETADERM very sparingly avoiding incisions and took my Prednisone (5 day coarse with 4 days withdrawl)
My experience healing after surgery is really "Less is more". I find a lot of bandages, compression garments, antibiotics and codeine type pain medications can really make recovery unnecessarily uncomfortable and recommend reading the newest information on all these subjects. Feeling good, getting back to eating good foods, lots of nutrients, drinking water and taking some good supplements can have you back on your feet in a day or two.