Disclaimer: This page contains an affiliate link to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through this link.
Topics
What is Aquaphor?
Aquaphor is a combination of Petrolatum (41%), mineral oil, ceresin, lanolin alcohol, panthenol, glycerin, and bisabolol.
Petrolatum serves as an important emollient and protectant of the skin. The addition of the other ingredients serves to support the emollient and skin protectant effect while also allowing the product to apply easily and adhere to the skin more effectively.
What does Aquaphor do for the skin?
The benefits of Aquaphor include
Helps heal acne wounds
Dry skin
Rashes
After laser treatment
Baby skin
Appearance of wrinkles
Glowing skin
Chapped lips
Heal tattoos
Improve the appearance of under eyes
Highlight eyelashes or eyebrows
Makeup remover
Prevents scars
Aquaphor is beneficial to promote healing, protect the skin, and hydrate effectively.
For acne, using Aquaphor on recent scabs can help accelerate healing by avoiding repetitive scab formation.
For dry skin, it is an effective emollient to hydrate and protects the skin.
After laser or radiation treatment, it soothes the skin and provides a barrier to protect the skin as it heals.
For babies, diaper areas can be well protected to reduce the chances of irritation and diaper rash.
I love Aquaphor for around the eyes at night to hydrate the skin and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
For my patients on Accutane, I encourage them to consider Aquaphor at night to reduce dryness and provide a dewy glow and lessen discomfort from excess dryness.
Aquaphor can both help heal chapped lips and prevent them if worn at night before bedtime, especially for mouth breathers. Post tattoo, Aquaphor can prevent excess scabbing or crusting to accelerate healing. To remove makeup I recommend my patients use Aquaphor on a cotton round as it can dissolve oil-based makeup and leave behind hydration.
What is the difference between Vaseline and Aquaphor?
Vaseline is 100% pure white petrolatum.
Aquaphor is 41% petrolatum with the additional ingredients listed above. These added ingredients allow Aquaphor to adhere to the skin and further contribute to its hydrating properties.
How long does it take Aquaphor to heal skin?
It truly depends on the nature of the wound but for minor cuts or abrasions, a few days is common to see.
Are there any side effects associated with using Aquaphor?
Given the lanolin alcohol (wool alcohol) there is a chance of allergic contact dermatitis from Aquaphor. There was a study on surgical wounds that compared Aquaphor with white petrolatum jelly and showed that 52% of those with Aquaphor had redness compared to only 12% with white petrolatum jelly. __________________________________________ Aquaphor is good for so many things- chapped lips, dry cracked skin, irritated eyelid skin, dry skin on elbows and knees- love it!
I know this sounds crazy given how pricey and elaborate most eye creams can be. However, I tend to have dry skin around my eyes that only serves to accentuate fine lines and wrinkles as well as make my eyes seem puffier and dark circles darker.
I realized years ago that what works best is hydration: I massage Aquaphor around my eyelids in a circular fashion before bedtime to hydrate the skin and massage out excess puffiness.
Comments