Drawing Salve- Acne/Cystic
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free skin care · Mon May 15, 2006 8:56 am

I recently posted about Prid's drawing salve and discovered it was hardly mentioned on these boards. The stuff is fantastic! It's an old fashioned homeopathic remedy for splinters, blisters, boils, etc... I've mainly used it for a bad body zit. You put some drawing salve on it, cover it with a bandaid and its gone the next day!
Here's a quote from MarMur1 in another thread where it was briefly mentioned:
The Yonka site spells it "Ichtiol" and there are a few sites that seem to sell ointment by that name, and are listed (as Eve mentioned) as an anti-inflammatory agent, with local anesthetic and antiseptic properties. A few sites note that Ichtiol is a sulfur derivative, which makes sense, because a lot of drying potions and acne treatments seem to contain sulfur.

One of the foreign sites listed it like this: "(Ichtiol - Ichtammol)," so after doing a search on Ichtammol, I found a site which mentioned that "Ichthammol is a mixture of sulfone acid ammonium salt, it contains water and ammonium sulfate, and 11,5% of organically combined Sulphur."

...and yet another site spelled it differently, as Ichthammol, which yielded the following, which I personally think is the most helpful: "Ichthammol (or Ichthyol) is a black viscous liquid, which is a distillation product of bituminous schist or shale. It is commonly used in an ointment in 10% or 20% concentrate as a "drawing salve", also called "black ointment", and it seems to work by softening skin cells."

You can purchase this stuff made by a lot of different brands but my favorite is the Prids. I actually found it at a local pharmacy, but they also sell it at drugstore.com (its a steal at under $4)
http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=13293&catid=82242&trx=PLST-0-SEARCH&trxp1=82242&trxp2=13293&trxp3=1&trxp4=0&btrx=BUY-PLST-0-SEARCH
Prid's description:
"PRID has been a standby to farmers, parents and doctors for years! Along with its old recipe drawing agents Phenol and Ichthammol (Acidum Carbolicum) it has the support of Arnica for bruising, Calendula for healing, Echinacea for its antiseptic qualities, and homeopathic drawing agents Silica, Sulphur and Hepar Sulph. Thus PRID is still a favorite for relieving all kinds of pain and irritation from boils and minor skin eruptions to splinters and bruises."

The only other mention I found of this stuff on this board is by TinaMarie8, describing how to use it (I use it the exact same way):
"At night, if I have one of those huge, painful, under-the-skin buggers, I put drawing salve on a bandaid and then put it over the blemish. It helps to bring them to the surface more quickly. A bandaid is necessary, because the salve is black, greasy, and very stinky"

I know how well Ichthammol works on the occasional pimple so this mask looks very promising for those with Cystic acne
http://www.darcyskincare.com/cgi-bin/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DOS&Product_Code=DIM2J&Category_Code=
I have not tried this mask, but it looks great! Anyone tried it or anyone have good experience with one particular brand of drawing salve over another?

free skin care · Mon May 15, 2006 4:14 pm

This stuff sounds great! Does it work on the face? I am going through a cycle of cystic acne Sad

I am about to splurge on the Lumniport Dermastyle Acne Pen. I hope it works. Maybe I'll try this in the mean time...

free skin care · Mon May 15, 2006 4:45 pm

Its not a miracle but a couple months ago I had a zit that felt like a pea under my skin. You couldn't even see it other than a little redness but it hurt and I knew it was there! It was the kind of zit that would take forever to erupt... that you'd want to try to pop along the way but it'd never be ready to, THAT kind of zit. I put this stuff on it immediatly and after 2 nights the zit just vanished. I've had them vanish on my body with this stuff overnight. I don't get many zits these days especially those kinds so I haven't had very much experimentation with it on my face. I do think it works ALOT better than zit creams though because when I was younger I had bad skin and zits like that and they'd take forever to go away. I wish I would have known about this stuff when I was alot younger. I think its just good stuff to have though cuz its better than neosporin! You can put it on cuts, scrapes, splinters, etc etc. Its hard to find in Walgreens or stores like that. I got lucky with finding it at an old fashioned pharmacy kind of place. You should try the Prid and if you've got some extra money to spend that D'arcy face mask looks awesome. But I don't see any reviews on the D'arcy so it's a hit or miss.

free skin care · Mon May 15, 2006 4:49 pm

This sounds very interesting.

When I was a teenager, my Great Aunt made a concoction she called "Sulphur and Treacle". I was to take a tablespoon a day. It tasted awful, so I didn't keep up with it, but I do remember it helped with my pimples. Wish I knew the recipe, it might come in handy when my kids are older.

Kylie

Tue May 16, 2006 2:37 am

These types of ointments are fab! Every time I go back to Poland I get this one ointment that my mum has always had in the house for as long as I remember. Looking at the name of it it's also based on Ichtiol. It's also a black gooey ointment. Not particularly pleasant but it draws out any deep pimples super fast! It's also very good at softening up millia so that they just pop out easily.

free skin care · Tue May 16, 2006 4:56 am

FYI - Ichtiol is a primary ingredient in Yonka's Juvenil. I've been trying for nearly a year to get my hands on 100% pure Ichtiol (w/o added ingredients) so I could perfect my DIY recipe for homemade Juvenil but haven't had any luck. I've only found the drawing salves that you guys have mentioned, but not the ingredient by itself... Sad

free skin care · Tue May 16, 2006 5:25 am

Waaah!! It sounds great, but my skin doesn't tolerate sulfur!! Sad

free skin care · Tue May 16, 2006 6:06 am

This stuff sounds great!!
What exactly is millia? I think this may be what I have on my temple & chin area.
Thanks

Tue May 16, 2006 6:20 am

laine wrote:

What exactly is millia? I think this may be what I have on my temple & chin area.
Thanks

Hard lumps that tend to come up around the eye area (and other areas as well). Generally they are blocked pores but are really hard to get out.

free skin care · Tue May 16, 2006 6:22 am

laine wrote:

This stuff sounds great!!
What exactly is millia? I think this may be what I have on my temple & chin area.
Thanks

Whiteheads. They usually have an extremely tough skin over them and a hard little 'seed' (unlike the stuff that comes out of a blackhead which is firm but can still be squished) inside. They are very difficult to get rid of due to the tough skin covering them and many times I actually have to pierce my milia with a super-fine gauge hypodermic needle (I get em from my mom who is diabetic) before I'm able to extract the seed. Thankfully, though, once you've removed the milia seed, they usually don't come back and reform, unlike blackheads which will return right away unless you keep your pores super clean.

free skin care · Tue May 16, 2006 8:34 am

Wow! I never realized this stuff was good for millia! I haven't had one of those in awhile but I'm definitely prone to them and man are they annoying! Next time I get one, I'll try this stuff on it!

free skin care · Tue May 16, 2006 8:41 am

carekate wrote:

FYI - Ichtiol is a primary ingredient in Yonka's Juvenil. I've been trying for nearly a year to get my hands on 100% pure Ichtiol (w/o added ingredients) so I could perfect my DIY recipe for homemade Juvenil but haven't had any luck. I've only found the drawing salves that you guys have mentioned, but not the ingredient by itself... Sad

Carekate I found pure Ichthammol (Ammonium Ichthosulfonate) .... I will pm you with the details, I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for but isn't Ichthammol and Ichtiol the same thing? Isn't Ichtiol the foreign version of Ichthammol? Hmmm.. I'm not sure, but hopefully I'm right!

free skin care · Tue May 16, 2006 10:23 am

Yep, my mom used to use Ickthamol on my dad's face. It worked really well to get rid of these big lumps he used to get. But what a mess! It's black and tar-like, sticky stuff.

free skin care · Tue May 16, 2006 11:54 am

If I am to go into a pharmacy what is the generic name for this? I live in MOscow where hardly any of the pharmicists speak ENglish. But I have found if I have a generic name they can usually find what I need.

free skin care · Tue May 16, 2006 12:31 pm

canadagal wrote:

If I am to go into a pharmacy what is the generic name for this? I live in MOscow where hardly any of the pharmicists speak ENglish. But I have found if I have a generic name they can usually find what I need.

Hmmm.. I'm pretty sure that drawing salve's generic name would be any sort of "Ichthammol ointment". Like others have said, its a dark tarry sort of consistancy.

free skin care · Wed May 17, 2006 8:30 am

wah, i never knew this product existed. Have only tried normal creams, which don't work too well on my skin. This will definitely add to my arsenal against zits, pimples, what have you Wink

free skin care · Sat May 20, 2006 12:20 pm

Hi,

I used generic drawing salve on a cyst and it is smaller. But has anyone noticed that it 1) stains the skin and 2) changes the texture of the skin?

There's actually a dark spot where I put the salve, which won't come off. I imagine it'll wear off after a while.

And the skin around the cyst is also wrinkly in an odd way. It may be due to a drying effect, in which case it'll flake off soon enough.

Anyone else had this?

T

free skin care · Sat May 20, 2006 1:34 pm

Hmmm.. I never had that problem, what brand did you use? I've only tried Prid's which I've heard isn't as strong as some of the other brands. It IS a very dark color so I imagine it could stain the skin, I've just never had that problem. I really think it may have to do with the percentage of the Ichthammol.

free skin care · Sat May 20, 2006 2:53 pm

Too Involved, there's a possibility you might be allergic to sulfur--- do you use any other sulfur products? When I was younger I could use sulfur with impunity (and did I ever!), but 4 or 5 years ago I started noticing that my skin did weird stuff when I used sulfur--- everything from weird bumps and rashes to becoming very dry and wrinkly. So, there is a slight possibility that you have developed a sensitivity too...

free skin care · Sun May 21, 2006 11:45 am

Hi!

Yeah, the wrinkly skin is what happened to me. So maybe you're right, I could have an allergy to sulfur, although I have used sulfur in the past with no ill effects that I can recall. This was a generic drug store brand.

My husband said it looks like cellophane, sort of shiny. To me it looked like someone wiped a spot of clear nail polish on my face. I put some retin A on it last night and the spot is lighter. Then I used a homemade DHCC as a scrub. Now the spot is not only wrinkly but it's also cracking and not as shiny anymore. In sum, it looks lika rhino's behind.

But on the bright side, the cyst is flatter now.

TI

Tue Jul 04, 2006 5:53 pm

ichtiol?was it?someone said they found the pure form?could someone tell me where to get it?
thanks,angie

Wed Jul 07, 2010 9:46 am

Walgreens carries Prid, but you have to ask for it at the pharmacy at my local walgreens. It is over the counter, but for whatever weird reason of their own, they hide it. Great, great, great stuff.

free skin care · Thu Jul 08, 2010 8:07 am

Yon-ka's Juvenil contains ichtiol, among other things, although it's very expensive.

free skin care · Thu Jul 08, 2010 8:46 am

Holmes wrote:

Yon-ka's Juvenil contains ichtiol, among other things, although it's very expensive.

I never used it for acne, but Prids is relatively inexpensive and works like a charm. Smile

free skin care · Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:16 am

I like the idea of curing cystic acne almost over night!!!

I went around pharmacies and Vitamin Food stores looking for PRID's and found none existing here in Ottawa, so again here goes my usual question

Can anyone tell me if PRID's can be found in CANADA or ordered from the web without killing shipping charges?

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