What a scam! re. Aquaphor!

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Forum -> Children's Health

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Mimisinger

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 8:56 am

So my ds has mild eczema and the ped told me to go buy aquaphor which of course I did, even though it was almost $10 for a tiny tube. Well, went back to the pharmacy because I'm going to need another one and looked on the back. The "active ingredient" meaning the important one that does all the work is petrolatum! 41% petrolatum!!! AKA vaseline! I could've bought a huge tube of vaseline for $3 instead. How rude!

Obviously not a big deal, but I thought everyone should know.

cassandra

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 9:07 am

41% petroleum means 59% other ingredients. If there is something in there which is powerful it would not make up the bulk of the compound. My husband gets very dry hands in the winter and he has tried almost everything and Aquaphor is the only thing that works. (He buys store brands.) My baby also needs it now for mild eczema, and it works very well.

gryp

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 9:15 am

Aquaphor didn't do a thing over Yom Tov when it was the only Pesachdik cream I had on hand and my 17 month old would be up every night from the itching. It just got worse and worse until Yom Tov was over and I was able to buy something real that helped.

Mimisinger

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 9:26 am

No, when it says that the "active ingredient" is 41% that's all that's doing something. Active ingredient means it's the one that works to help you. The rest of the stuff is to make it smell good or feel good or look good, not to heal.

So, you could have the same protective things if you just use vaseline on your hands. Though it might not smell as good.

cassandra

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 10:13 am

According to my jar of (generic) aquaphor it contains not only petroleum and mineral oil but also ceresin and lanolin, two waxy substances which can heal dry skin. According to some drug sites that I looked at it is the combination of the petroleum and ceresin and lanolin that creates the healing properties. I use lanolin for sore nipples when I'm breast feeding, not to keep my nipples smelling good. And it works.

Mine also contains panthenol which when I looked it up is also said to have a mild healing effect on skin. Glycerin is also on the list, and it has a moisturizing effect. The last ingredient listed is bisabolol which is also believed to have skin healing properties.

I don't know which ingredient is there for the pretty smell, but I can tell you that mine doesn't really smell like anything, so I find it hard to believe that 59% of the ingredients are there for the smell.

Furthermore, there are many legal reasons why you would have to list a certain ingredient as the "active ingredient" even if there are others that are active too.

Clarissa

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 10:19 am

I've had good results with Aquaphor. I'm a big fan of Vasoline, but it's not for everything. I use Aquaphor on my kid's dry patches, along with Eucerin.

I thought it was unscented.

BeershevaBubby

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 10:22 am

What about the Aveeno Baby line of products?

Mimisinger

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 10:23 am

Well, about the scent I was just using that as an example. Hm.. maybe I dost profess too much.

Clarissa

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 10:25 am

YESHASettler wrote:

What about the Aveeno Baby line of products?

I use Aveeno moisture bar for him for soap sometimes, and their baby shampoo/soap as well.

BeershevaBubby

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 10:26 am

I'm going to have to keep an eye out for their stuff here in Israel. If not, I may need a care package from the US LOL

cassandra

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 10:30 am

Does the Aveeno work well? I use Cetaphil on my baby in the bath per my doctor's suggestion but I don't like the way it feels.

Clarissa

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 10:43 am

Which one? The soap, the lotion or the bath shampoo-soap thing? I use all three.

cassandra

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 10:48 am

soap or shampoo soap

Clarissa

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 11:01 am

Every other bath, I use Aveeno Baby Wash & Shampoo. Works well and smells nice. In between, I use the Moisturizing Bar, which is a very gentle facial soap. Doesn't foam up much but I don't care about that, as I think people erroneously think foam/bubbles = effectiveness. I use various moisturizers, like Aveeno, Eucerin, Cetaphil.

As far as how they work, I don't know how to answer. He's clean enough and smells nice, but of course I'm biased. He still has some dry patches but they're not as bad as they used to be, which may have nothing to do with the products I use.

By the way, I stumbled on the Aveeno Baby Wash stuff when my mother bought it at Costco. I'm not really brand-loyal in these matters.

louche

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 11:05 am

The price of aquaphor is outrageous, as it costs the firm pennies to make. You could make something similar by melting together vaseline, beeswax or paraffin wax, mineral oil or olive oil, and lanolin, all of which are available in pharmacies. However, by the time you finish buying all that, mixing it, messing with proportions to get the desired consistency, pouring into a container, and cleaning up the mess, you may have wished you'd just gone ahead and bought the original.

Or not.

Clarissa

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 11:08 am

If you've ever read that book Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, or whatever it's called, you find out that every cream out there is the same cheap junk, put in pretty jars and fancy packaging. I'd almost rather not know. I like to think that, when I do overpay, it's for precious sheep placenta, nuns' urine, magic chemicals it took years for the Swedish chemists to create, and exotic flowers found only on a remote island in the South Pacific. Not a bunch of petroleum jelly, lanolin and mineral oil.

cassandra

Tue, Apr 29 2008, 11:09 am

That's why I buy the generic Aquaphor. It is significantly cheaper than the brand.

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