Advice from a Naples Dermatologist: Avoid Neosporin for Wound Care (2024)

FAQs

Advice from a Naples Dermatologist: Avoid Neosporin for Wound Care? ›

So why do we dermatologists in Naples, FL—and around the country—despise this product? It's the neomycin! Neomycin frequently causes allergic reactions of the skin called contact dermatitis. It can cause the skin to become red, scaly, and itchy.

First, using it on noninfected skin will kill off the healthy bacteria you want on your skin and will let resistant stronger bad bacteria thrive. Also, neosporin is more commonly becoming a potent allergen. So much so it has been named allergen of the year in the past.

While Neosporin is meant to stop infections, studies show it may actually make it take longer for certain wounds to heal, especially minor cuts and scrapes. Another potential problem is a skin rash or irritation that can happen from leaving Neosporin on the skin for too long.

When the skin is open, it is more prone to becoming sensitized to an allergen, so even if the patient wasn't allergic to neomycin previously, an allergy can develop late in life after prolonged exposure to Neosporin. For this reason, we often recommend Polysporin.

Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects. Rarely, use of this medication may result in other types of skin infections (such as fungal or other bacterial infections). Contact your doctor if you notice any unusual skin symptoms or if your condition does not improve.

An antibiotic cream, like Neosporin, may be used for extra antibacterial action, but Vaseline or another petroleum jelly-based product will also help protect the site. Bandage the wound to keep germs out, either with an adhesive bandage or a dressing and tape.

NEOSPORIN^® is most commonly a triple antibiotic that contains three antibiotic ingredients, including Bacitracin for 24-hour protection against infections. Bacitracin, meanwhile, is a single antibiotic ointment. If you have any allergies to neomycin or polymyxin B, Bacitracin could be used as an alternative.

Iodine. For more than a century, iodine has been regarded as one of the most efficacious antiseptic to reduce infectious complications and topical iodine forms have been used for wound treatment.

Wounds heal faster if they are kept warm. Try to be quick when changing dressings. Exposing a wound to the open air can drop its temperature and may slow healing for a few hours. Don't use antiseptic creams, washes or sprays on a chronic wound.

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.

Is there a holistic alternative to Neosporin? ›

Honey. Honey is one of the most widely studied natural remedies by clinical researchers, according to a 2012 research review . It may help heal minor wounds to prevent infections, and is sometimes applied as an alternative to bandages and other skin dressings.

Another study reported that Neosporin was less effective in healing wounds than petroleum jelly (the inactive base ingredient of Neosporin).

Neomycin frequently causes allergic reactions of the skin called contact dermatitis. It can cause the skin to become red, scaly, and itchy. The more Neosporin you use, the worse the skin reaction gets. Neomycin is such a common allergen that it was named Allergen of the Year in 2010.

Answer: Contact dermatitis to Neosporin is quite common and typically due to Neomycin which a very common cause of contact allergy. There should be no reason to "test" for sulfa allergy in this patient. I hope this is helpful.

There's no evidence that antibacterial ointments help minor wounds heal faster. If you're generally healthy and your wound is minor, it will probably heal just as well without Neosporin. Unless instructed by your healthcare provider, you should never use Neosporin or other antibacterial ointments on: A surgical wound.