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Topical pine tar: History, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions

Pine tar is the end product of pine wood carbonisation following distillation using extreme heat. An extensive literature search was conducted back to the 1950s for this review. Pine tar has been used in medicine for more than 2000 years to treat a range of skin conditions because of its soothing an...

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Autores principales: Barnes, Tanya M, Greive, Kerryn A
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5434829/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26790564
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajd.12427
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author Barnes, Tanya M
Greive, Kerryn A
author_facet Barnes, Tanya M
Greive, Kerryn A
author_sort Barnes, Tanya M
collection PubMed
description Pine tar is the end product of pine wood carbonisation following distillation using extreme heat. An extensive literature search was conducted back to the 1950s for this review. Pine tar has been used in medicine for more than 2000 years to treat a range of skin conditions because of its soothing and antiseptic properties. Pine tar should not be confused with coal tar, which has been produced from coal for approximately a hundred years. Pine tar is thought to exert its effect by reducing DNA synthesis and mitotic activity, which promotes a return to normal keratinisation. In addition, pine tar has been shown to be antipruritic, anti‐inflammatory, antibacterial and antifungal. These properties make pine tar suitable for the topical treatment of eczema, psoriasis, seborrhoeic dermatitis and other dry, itchy, flaky or inflamed skin conditions. Topical products available over‐the‐counter in Australia today contain up to 2.3% pine tar, and come in several different formulations that can be used on the entire body, including the face. Modern day pine tar is manufactured with increased purity to eliminate toxic phenol and carcinogenic components, which have been of concern in the past. Primary irritation is uncommon. In conclusion, the long experience with topical pine tar therapy and its worldwide usage, together with the evidence presented in this review, suggests that pine tar is an effective treatment with minimal safety risk.
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spelling pubmed-54348292017-06-01 Topical pine tar: History, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions Barnes, Tanya M Greive, Kerryn A Australas J Dermatol Review Articles Pine tar is the end product of pine wood carbonisation following distillation using extreme heat. An extensive literature search was conducted back to the 1950s for this review. Pine tar has been used in medicine for more than 2000 years to treat a range of skin conditions because of its soothing and antiseptic properties. Pine tar should not be confused with coal tar, which has been produced from coal for approximately a hundred years. Pine tar is thought to exert its effect by reducing DNA synthesis and mitotic activity, which promotes a return to normal keratinisation. In addition, pine tar has been shown to be antipruritic, anti‐inflammatory, antibacterial and antifungal. These properties make pine tar suitable for the topical treatment of eczema, psoriasis, seborrhoeic dermatitis and other dry, itchy, flaky or inflamed skin conditions. Topical products available over‐the‐counter in Australia today contain up to 2.3% pine tar, and come in several different formulations that can be used on the entire body, including the face. Modern day pine tar is manufactured with increased purity to eliminate toxic phenol and carcinogenic components, which have been of concern in the past. Primary irritation is uncommon. In conclusion, the long experience with topical pine tar therapy and its worldwide usage, together with the evidence presented in this review, suggests that pine tar is an effective treatment with minimal safety risk. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016-01-20 2017-05 /pmc/articles/PMC5434829/ /pubmed/26790564 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajd.12427 Text en © 2016 The Authors. Australasian Journal of Dermatology © 2016 The Australasian College of Dermatologists. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
spellingShingle Review Articles
Barnes, Tanya M
Greive, Kerryn A
Topical pine tar: History, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions
title Topical pine tar: History, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions
title_full Topical pine tar: History, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions
title_fullStr Topical pine tar: History, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions
title_full_unstemmed Topical pine tar: History, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions
title_short Topical pine tar: History, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions
title_sort topical pine tar: history, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions
topic Review Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5434829/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26790564
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajd.12427
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