Moderate evidence

Petrolatum for Rosacea

The gold-standard occlusive moisturiser. Locks water into damaged or compromised skin better than anything else, accelerates barrier repair, and (in newer research) actively boosts your skin's own antimicrobial defences. Cheap, non-allergenic, widely recommended by dermatologists for very dry, compromised, or post-procedure skin and for slugging.

Why it works for Rosacea

Seals moisture into your skin, cutting water loss by about 99 percent, and helps your skin build up its own barrier proteins. A useful top layer in the gentle rosacea routine the guidelines recommend. It is tolerated in rosacea because it does not clog pores or irritate.

How Petrolatum works

Semi-solid hydrocarbon mixture that penetrates the intercellular spaces of the stratum corneum (not just the surface), reducing transepidermal water loss by ~99% while permitting normal barrier recovery. Also upregulates antimicrobial peptide and barrier-protein gene expression in keratinocytes.

Evidence

4 citations from our ingredient database. Full citation list on the Petrolatum ingredient page.

systematic review2017

van Zuuren EJ, Fedorowicz Z, Christensen R, Lavrijsen APM, Arents BWM. Emollients and moisturisers for eczema. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;2:CD012119. — Cochrane review of 77 studies (n=6,603) found most moisturisers prolonged time to flare, reduced flares, and reduced topical corticosteroid use; moisturisers combined with active treatment outperformed active treatment alone.

journal2016

Czarnowicki T, Malajian D, Khattri S, et al. Petrolatum: Barrier repair and antimicrobial responses underlying this 'inert' moisturizer. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2016;137(4):1091-1102.e7.

journal2014

Genuino GAS, Baluyut-Angeles KV, Espiritu APT, Lapitan MCM, Buckley BS. Topical petrolatum gel alone versus topical silver sulfadiazine with standard gauze dressings for the treatment of superficial partial thickness burns in adults: a randomized controlled trial. Burns. 2014;40(7):1267-1273. — RCT: petrolatum gel at least as effective as silver sulfadiazine for re-epithelialization (mean 6.2 vs 7.8 days) with similar infection/allergy rates.

journal2012

Pinnix C, Perkins GH, Strom EA, et al. Topical hyaluronic acid vs. standard of care for the prevention of radiation dermatitis after adjuvant radiotherapy for breast cancer: single-blind randomized phase III clinical trial. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2012;83(4):1089-1094. — randomized phase III: petrolatum gel (control) yielded significantly less >=Grade 2 dermatitis than hyaluronic acid (47.7% vs 61.5%, p=0.027).

Products with Petrolatum in our catalog

These are the catalog products that list Petrolatum as a tracked ingredient.

Aquaphor

Healing Ointment

$12.19 · Treatment

Eucerin

Original Healing Cream

$15 · Moisturizer

Vanicream

Moisturizing Skin Cream

$13.56 · Moisturizer

EltaMD

UV Lip Balm Sunscreen SPF 30+

$21 · Treatment

Vaseline

Petroleum Jelly Original

$5.48 · Moisturizer

CeraVe

Moisturizing Cream Body and Face Moisturizer with Hyaluronic Acid and Ceramides (19 oz)

$18.96 · Moisturizer

Full Petrolatum guide →Rosacea overview →