Neosporin and Asian skin?

[gonzoron]

So a friend of ours (who is Asian) has warned my wife (also Asian) and me that she shouldn’t use Neosporin on herself or our kids because it’s not good for “Asian skin” and causes scars.

Since my wife has used Neosporin all her life, we found this a bit questionable and turned to “Dr. Google” to see if it was true. Not only do I not find anything substantiating it, I don’t even see it as a known wives tale or myth. Not even a “Some people in countries X Y and Z believe that Neosporin cause scarring, despite factual evidence to the contrary”

Any truth to the myth? Is “Asian skin” any different functionally from “Caucasian skin” or “black skin” or any other race’s skin? (with respect to healing and scarring)

Any actual myth to the myth? Or is our friend the only one in the world who believes this.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

Myth. The occasional individual can be allergic to an ingredient in neosporin, and have it cause a local reaction. This is not at all uncommon.

But there’s no ‘racial’ specificity to it.

There’s not a lot of evidence that it does any good, either.

QtM, MD

[drewtwo99]

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

Myth. The occasional individual can be allergic to an ingredient in neosporin, and have it cause a local reaction. This is not at all uncommon.

But there’s no ‘racial’ specificity to it.

There’s not a lot of evidence that it does any good, either.

QtM, MD

So it’s best to just wash a scrape/cut with soap/water and bandage it and skip the neosporin?

[bizzwire]

My ex ( who is Japanese) used to taunt me over the (apparently) widely-known fact that Japanese ear wax, which is dry and flaky, proves their superiority over us western devils, whose ear-wax is soft and gooey.

True story.

[astro]

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

Myth. The occasional individual can be allergic to an ingredient in neosporin, and have it cause a local reaction. This is not at all uncommon.

But there’s no ‘racial’ specificity to it.

There’s not a lot of evidence that it does any good, either.

QtM, MD

You’re saying Neosporin is NOT an effective antibiotic for cuts?

[FuzzyOgre]

@bizzwire

My ex ( who is Japanese) used to taunt me over the (apparently) widely-known fact that Japanese ear wax, which is dry and flaky, proves their superiority over us western devils, whose ear-wax is soft and gooey.

True story.

The brutality of her argument suggests otherwise!

[Tethered_Kite]

@gonzoron

Any truth to the myth? Is “Asian skin” any different functionally from “Caucasian skin” or “black skin” or any other race’s skin? (with respect to healing and scarring)

According to Wiki and other sources I’ve read some darker pigmented persons are more susceptible to developing keloids and more extreme scarring than lighter shades of skin.

So perhaps your friend is one of those more susceptible people and thinks the cause is the Neosporin.

[SpoilerVirgin]

I’m allergic to Neosporin, but I am about as pale-skinned as it is possible to be while still having pigmentation. I stick to Bactine.

Never heard of a connection between Neosporin reactions and skin tone.

[hogarth]

@gonzoron

Any truth to the myth? Is “Asian skin” any different functionally from “Caucasian skin” or “black skin” or any other race’s skin? (with respect to healing and scarring)

Any actual myth to the myth? Or is our friend the only one in the world who believes this.

My wife has claimed that a variety of skin care products are especially good (e.g. Shiseido) or bad for Asian skin, but I always take claims like that with a big grain of salt.

[dstarfire]

@hogarth

My wife has claimed that a variety of skin care products are especially good (e.g. Shiseido) or bad for Asian skin, but I always take claims like that with a big grain of salt.

Careful, salt is also bad for Asian skin.

[Hirka_T_Bawa]

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

There’s not a lot of evidence that it does any good, either.QtM, MD

@drewtwo99

So it’s best to just wash a scrape/cut with soap/water and bandage it and skip the neosporin?

@astro

You’re saying Neosporin is NOT an effective antibiotic for cuts?

The BEST thing to treat a scrape or cut is washing it, with regular soap and water. As QtM said, there isn’t much evidence that topical antibiotics help with scaring. The only time I really recommend using neosporin, or any other topical antibiotic, is when the cut is on the hands, and you can’t wash it as often as you would like.

Astro the BEST antibiotic for cuts is soap, it kills everything on the skin. The advantage of regular antibiotics (penicillin, Zpacks. Levaquin, Cipro, Bactracin, etc), is that they are selective, and won’t kill your own cells while they kill bacteria. But, while the bacteria is outside our bodies, no reason not to use the real heavy hitters, Soap, Alcohol, Chlorine, etc…

[Seanette]

I’ve found that Neosporin or similar works nicely on acne for me (I have more trouble with that at 43 than I ever did in my teens).

[FuzzyOgre]

@Seanette

I’ve found that Neosporin or similar works nicely on acne for me (I have more trouble with that at 43 than I ever did in my teens).

I recently discovered apple cider vinegar.

[Guinastasia]

I like it because it has that numbing thing (I can’t remember the ingredient).

[Seanette]

@FuzzyOgre

I recently discovered apple cider vinegar.

I hate the smell of vinegar.

[lshaw]

I’ve had various dermatologists and plastic surgeons tell me that Asian skin is more prone to scarring (I’m Asian). Nothing about Neosporin, though.

[YWalker]

Following two surgeries (a repair of a broken wrist about 13 years ago, and removal of a basal cell carcinoma on my forehead this year) I’ve been told by my doctors to use polysporin rather than neosporin because neosporin would increase the chance of scarring. Personally, I blame their poking holes in me with a knife for the scarring.

[Irishman]

@Hirka_T_Bawa

Astro the BEST antibiotic for cuts is soap, it kills everything on the skin.

Cite that soap is an antibiotic or antiseptic.

Soap helps remove dirt and bacteria and such, but it does not kill bacteria.

Alcohol is a good antiseptic.

[anson2995]

@Irishman

Cite that soap is an antibiotic or antiseptic.

Soap helps remove dirt and bacteria and such, but it does not kill bacteria.

Alcohol is a good antiseptic.

Most (many?) commercial hand soaps are antibacterial. In most cases, it’s due to the addition of triclosan.

[Irishman]

Yes, triclosan is an antimicrobial, and triclosan is in most liquid soaps.

But soap is not an antimicrobial. If I rub a bar of Ivory on my wound, it is not killing any germs.