Vicks Vapor Rub

Recap · March 2018

I discovered 10-15 yrs ago that this stuff will completely cure fungal toenails. I had one toenail that was in early stages yet and Vicks completely eradicated it. Every spring (sandal season) I do another treatment. I take a shower, sit on the bed and coat my toenails with Vicks, wipe off my hands, pull on clean cotton socks, and go to bed.

So last April I was out of Kleenex on my bedside table and my feet were already coated with Vicks and I didn't want to get it on the carpeting. So I swiped my left hand across my thigh, and my right hand across my breast. God's truth. Instant excruciating pain in my breast arreola area-I ran to the bathroom to wash it off.

Within the month I was having excruciating random zaps of pain in a line across my upper leg in front, and in the upper inner quadrant of my breast. I had a large welt under the skin on my upper leg-the zaps felt like chemical combustion lightening and followed a line sideways from the inner side to the outer side of my upper leg. The lightest brush of fabric could trigger another zap. I would spontaneously exclaim Ouch!

I developed masses in my breast just below that quadrant where I had never felt anything before. No corresponding masses in the opposite breast. The skin of the upper leg and breast looked completely normal-no redness no rash etc. However, the skin on the upper leg in that welt location had what felt like tiny grains of sand here and there and there was a crease in the fat. 4mos later I was still exclaiming Ouch! so I made my long past due mammogram appt, and had an xray of the leg (xray was neg. which I expected-radiologist said MRI would evaluate the concern better.)

Since then I have googled NIH +Vicks and read the very few research studies done. Disturbing. I will never use the stuff again.

I was shocked when I googled Vicks +breast, that women on lactation forums are recommending this stuff to unblock milk ducts?? Don't!

I am 100% convinced my breast lumps I still feel (that are in the trajectory of my swipe) were caused by exposure to Vicks. Vicks is over 100yrs old and widely accepted-maybe it is time for more research???

My primary worry now is whether those lumps could eventually covert to something malignant. (think about how many of the old good has become the new bad-talc and ovarian ca, asbestos and mesothelioma, tobacco and lung ca, silica and silicosis, artificial joints and metal poisoning, etc.)

mustlovepoodles · March 2018

I don't know anything about Vicks and breast lumps, but you made me remember when I was about 12 and wanted to experiment with makeup. Unfortunately, my mother did not approve, so the only "makeup" I was allowed was Vasoline. Except I couldn't find any Vasoline. So I brushed Vicks Vaporub on my eyelashes. Aaarrrggh! Worst decision EVAH. My eyes burned and watered for 2 days, until I got it all rubbed off. The worst part was, I couldn't tell anyone. My mother would have killed me for being stupid!

Recap · March 2018

One of the research studies I read involved testing ?cadaver skin/tissue? by applying Vicks, and then examined in the lab the layers of skin/tissue to see how far down Vicks would be absorbed. The conclusion of the study was that Vicks could be absorbed deep enough to enter your blood stream.

I remember having it smeared on my chest as a small child with a bad cold-just once though, it wasn't a routine practice in my family, unlike others.

Imo, they need to do animal research applying Vicks to breast tissue/areola/nipple. That lactation forum really disturbed me-the thought that nursing babies will possibly drink Vicks residue?

There were a few case studies in the literature of long-term application of Vicks to the nostrils resulting in a pulmonary/lung lesion. I work with girls who keep Vicks at their desk and apply some to their upper lip when a particularly maloderous customer visits.

Recap · March 2018

I for one love Dr Google (and Dr. Mammo) so I am still researching the heck out of Vicks Vapor Rub. I am not sure if only the petroleum jelly that carries the other ingredients is carcinogenic, or if multiple ingredients in its formula are (turpentine oil?) carcinogenic, but clearly I am finding research about it.

Something called PAH ( polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) is the chemical name of the nasty beast which can be in your food, in your air, and on your skin:

https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/isee/p3-668/

So this stuff sinks down into your skin (or get sucked in thru your milk ducts in my exposure) and it is lipophilic and stored in fat tissue, which hypothesized may result in constant low-dose exposure to these carcinogens.

[Hydrophilic (water loving) substances clear out of the system fast so that if that substance has effects, the body reacts against those effects like a pendulum swinging the opposite way, and that is called withdrawal. But, if a substance is lipophilic (fat loving), or part of a lipophilic compound, that substance will linger in the system for a very long time.]

My conclusion so far is don't put anything on your breasts-no perfume, no steroid creams, no scented oils, no suntan lotions, and for heavens sake, no Vicks Vapor Rub.

Egads007 · March 2018

Good Gawd........if you so much as sneezed growing up my mother would RUN for the Vick’s and slaver your chest an inch deep in the stuff.

Interesting info...I know that menthol is a skin cell killer, and why ‘cool feel’ facial products should never be used...that is unless you like wrinkles.

Thanks for posting...always good to keep up on all things health

sbelizabeth · March 2018

OK, reality check. If even a small percentage of kids who had Vick's rubbed on their chest grew up and got breast cancer as a result, the disease would be even more widespread than it is now. Association is not causation.

I like the smell of Vicks. It reminds me of staying home from school with a cold, drinking hot tea, and watching it snow. During cadaver labs when others dabbed Vicks under their nose to cover the aroma, I abstained. Don't want to associate the cozy smell of Vicks with cadaver cologne.

Recap · March 2018

I did find it interesting that most of the PAH studies focused on inhaling or ingesting by smokers or factory workers or polluted-city dwellers, and not on products absorbed thru skin. I understand precaution vs caution about association versus causation. Vicks needs to be researched more because it's use seems to be increasing specifically on human breast tissue. Type Vicks into the search box on this website and read posts about applying this stuff to breasts. Who knows, maybe my unclear genetic variant which possibly inhibits DNA repair will be the tipping factor on whether my Vicks exposure and subsequent lumps become something more over time. I am wildly imagining studies about the levels of PAH in our sweat for example, and the levels of PAH in breast milk, and what substances would be attracted to PAH and encase it for good. Lord knows, I had no idea Vick's would be bad for me.

Recap · March 2018

I reported Vicks/PAH as a public health concern on the CDC website.

(Surprised they still offer this access for the general public.)

I know it won't result in any change, but it is like planting seeds.

Plus, with the right Google search words, the random public sees these postings of ours here.

CDC-INFO is a service of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR):

Thank you for your submission to CDC-INFO regarding Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH).

Your comments have been forwarded to the appropriate CDC program for their information.

[Your Question: No question, just reporting a public health concern. Last April I inadvertently swiped Vick's Vapor Rub petroleum jelly (contains turpentine?!) across my right breast and front of upper left leg. (Kleenex box was empty.) Immediate excruciating pain in breast. A month later I was experiencing random electrical zaps of combustion-type pain both locations, and could feel a very large welt under the front thigh skin and observed a crease in the fat-area felt bruised. This worsened thru the summer and lessened with cooler temps. Eventually I had what felt like a scattering of tiny grains of sand on my front thigh skin. No rash or discoloration. The breast pain is upper inner quadrant. It seemed to me like I was feeling enlarged lymph nodes in the breast swipe trajectory area and nipple was flattened but not inverted. I scheduled my long-over-due basic mammogram in Sept. which turned into digital mammo and ultrasound--clustered microcalcifications--which turned into mammo-sterotactic core biopsy of the long skinny mass shown by ultrasound to be located in the trajectory of my swipe of Vicks. Results were benign (microcysts, stromal fibrosis, microcalcifications in milk ducts(benign). I am mostly worried about the long-term effects of residual PAH in my breast tissue-I only seem to be able to google studies about inhaling/ingesting PAH not topically applying it. Who knew Vick's could be hazardous (and expensive) to my health? To my surprise, when I began googling, I found via public forums that women across this country are using Vick's for everything from blocked milk ducts (breast-feeding lactation forums) to easing pain from breast cancer treatment, and thanks to CSI shows, silly people (including two coworkers) are using it on their upper lips to block unpleasant scents. Not to mention the century-long traditional use of it for childrens colds. I personally was using it on my toenails-I do a treatment once a year when sandal season begins. So that is my story. Thanks.]

Vicks Vapor Rub

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