Bio Oil- good or bad?

[anonacfr]

I've been recommended Bio oil for stretchmarks and moisturising in general.
I found that last pregancies I didn't get any at all until the very few days (when I was actually late ) and then I got some (not too bad) on my stomach.
Someone I know uses it all over her body and face and swears by it.

I just noticed they were selling it in Boots, I'd never heard of it. It's also really cheap on Amazon.

Is it good or full of chemicals? I like oils so would be tempted to try but wanted feedback first.

Brilliant for scars, my Mum used it on her knee after having it replaced and it's made such a difference to the scar.

I'd give it a bash for stretch marks after seeing the effect it had on my Mums knee

I used it in my first pregnancy and had no stretchmarks. Have heard there are some nasties in it but I don't know much about it something to do with mineral oil.

Sounds great but what does it do?
Surely it can't shrink stretch marks or get rid of them?!
Would love something that did though!

Gorgeous stuff!!

I've been using olive oil out of the shower which apparently does the same thing. Time will tell I suppose. Bio oil can work out quite pricey for the size of the pot and the amount you use I think. Olive oil is no good for the bath though I think I'm going to buy a pot for that.

Ooh RottenRow you're getting me worried now. What type of nasties?

I've bought some but have had to stop using it as it's brought up my eczema all over my belly and boobs! I'm using Weleda massage oil. Lovely, more gentle and smells much nicer.

I noticed the other day that asda do their own version called something like 'mummy to be stretch mark massage oil' or something like that. Only £1.38 for a bottle the same size has a v delicate smell and feels nice on the skin. It's part of a range of a few maternity lotions and potions and I found them next to the baby toiletries, maybe worth a try??

I am a massive fan of bio oil generally. It's fantastic for scars and sore skin and works well in the bath to coat your skin. However, I have not found it that effective for general pregnancy dryness and have found a mix of almond oil, nivea and aloe vera gel work better. Bio oil would probably work well for scars and stretch marks though so you should have some to hand at all times. It is also expensive so worth saving for the bits of you that really need it, rather than for your whole body all the time.

I used bio oil when pg and have no stretch marks - smells nice too.

I bought two bottles because it was on offer in Boots but I couldn't stand the smell of it when I was pregnant.

I didn't get stretch marks in the end anyway, isn't it often down to the type of skin you have?

My midwife told me that no amount of moisuriser would stop you getting stretch marks, if you're going to get them, you'll get them.

Not sure I believe her as it makes sense that if your skin is moisturised then it'll stretch better but 'what do I know' :)

I was the same, couldn't stand the smell. A friend bought me some Mama Mio stuff which is supposed to be good but again, I couldn't bear the smell.

I used the Clarins Stretch Mark cream which smelled lovely and left my skin really soft and supple but I did get some stretch marks in the 3rd trimester. I think it helped reduce their appearance afterwards but like others have said I think you are possibly going to get them or not, whatever you do!

Flower- much as I love midwives, they are a bit "well, suck it up" on too many things I think. Mine told me there was nothing I could do about the back pain. But guess what - here I am at 33 weeks backpain free (almost).

having said that, I do think you can't really prevent stretch marks - like you can't prevent scars from surgery. But you can manage them to make them as minor as possible and that's where good healing creams and lotions can help. They should also be used long term - like with scars, they will be worse in the beginning but can be reduced.

Varicose veins now... [sigh]

Also, one other thing bio oil is BRILLIANT for - if you hvae a bad cold and are blowing your nose the whole itme and gets all sore and scratchy and raw underneath? If you can cope with the smell, slather the bit between your lip and bio oil before bed. You will be amazed how much it helps.

I already had a pot for a scar on my forehead (it made no difference so I gave up using it). I am now using it on my stomach for stretch marks but also because I have a scar there now from where my navel was pierced, but again it's making no difference yet.

Anyone know how long it takes to reduce the appearance of scars? I am using it twice a day.

Katie - honestly? It can take weeks to have any kind of impact. For hardcore scars, you might find a tube of pure vitamin E oil better and just apply constantly.

It's also true that some people do just scar worse than others. I am lucky in that I don't scar too badly so bio oil/vit E tend to have a fairly quick response. But my gallbladder scars took about 6 months to stop being red and angry.

There is no difference between bio-oil and just using a moisturiser or other body oil. There is nothing special in it, I had to have plastic surgery recently on a horrid scar after skin cancer. Ask the plastic surgeon about it and he said it was just a gimic and moisturising/oiling skin to keep it supple will always help with scars and stretch marks etc.

I disagree with that H007. Any oil that contains vitamin E has been proven to be particularly good for scar tissue etc. Bio Oil may not necessarily be better than similar vitamin E oils, but I would disagree that it is less good for scars than say a straight cocoa butter from Boots.

I personally don't think it's worth the money.

My twin sister and I were pregnant at the same time last year (due a week apart). We have the same body shape etc. We both got stretch marks when we went through puberty in the same places. Those stretch marks have faded loads despite no bio oil or moisturiser really.

My sister religiously applied the bio oil day and night from about 3 months. She got her first stretch marks at about 26 weeks and ended up covered in them. We're talking boobs, belly, outer thighs, inner thighs, calves, bum, everywhere!

I never bothered because I'm too lazy and got one tiny stretch mark on my bum. I have no idea when it appeared because I only found it when DD was 2 weeks old.

I suspect there is a bit of placebo to it...stretch marks form very deep in the skin and moisturisers work on the surface. My Mum did not get stretch marks either, so its more likely to have been beneficial genes for me.

I bought a big bottle of bio oil (cheap at the car boot sale!) and find that it takes ages to soak in, so dont like using it. I have instead been using up my supply of body lotions (from birthdays & christmas' past - I dont usually use bother) as they absorb really quickly. now i am confused - should i not bother as the lotion probably doesn't have vit E in? i am 15 weeks, and got a number of stretchmarks during puberty so imagine i will get a fair few

I wouldn't bother with it. It is expensive and I used it all the way through my first pregnancy and ended up covered in stretch marks from my pubic bone all the way up to where my bra sits. Some were that deep they bled. It has taken three years for them to fade to white. Now I'm pregnant again and all the old ones are shining up pretty strongly already at 15 weeks. Not going to bother with any creams or oils. Bit late for me!

I think if you are going to get them you will and no amount of creams will change that.

I use it on old acne scars and it really is great at reducing the severity of them

WRT stretchmarks I don't think anything will prevent them, if you're going to get them you're going to get them - but IMO using bio-oil afterwards will help speed up stretchmark fading

Sorry BlingLoving thats all anecdotal with regard to Vitamin E one of those 75% of 11 people think that.....

Here is an abstract from an interesting article regarding the use of vitamin E and cosmetic scaring..

Background Vitamin E is a generic term for a group of tocol and tocotrienol derivatives. Since the discovery that vitamin E is the major lipid soluble antioxidant in skin, this substance has been tried for the treatment of almost every type of skin lesion imaginable. Anecdotal reports claim that vitamin E speeds wound healing and improves the cosmetic outcome of burns and other wounds. Many lay people use vitamin E on a regular basis to improve the outcome of scars and several physicians recommend topical vitamin E after skin surgery or resurfacing.

Objective We attempted to determine whether topically applied vitamin E has any effect on the cosmetic appearance of scars as suggested by multiple anectodal reports.

Methods Fifteen patients who had undergone skin cancer removal surgery were enrolled in the study. All wounds were primarily closed in 2 layers. After the surgery, the patients were given two ointments each labeled A or B. A was Aquaphor, a regular emollient, and the B was Aquaphor mixed with vitamin E. The scars were randomly divided into parts A and B. Patients were asked to put the A ointment on part A and the B ointment on part B twice daily for 4 weeks. The study was double blinded. The physicians and the patients independently evaluated the scars for cosmetic appearance on Weeks 1, 4, and 12. The criteria was simply to recognize which side of the scar looked better if there was any difference. The patients? and the physicians? opinions were recorded. A third blinded investigator was shown photographs of the outcomes and their opinion was also noted.

Results The results of this study show that topically applied vitamin E does not help in improving the cosmetic appearance of scars and leads to a high incidence of contact dermatitis.

Conclusions This study shows that there is no benefit to the cosmetic outcome of scars by applying vitamin E after skin surgery and that the application of topical vitamin E may actually be detrimental to the cosmetic appearance of a scar. In 90% of the cases in this study, topical vitamin E either had no effect on, or actually worsened, the cosmetic appearance of scars. Of the patients studied, 33% developed a contact dermatitis to the vitamin E. Therefore we conclude that use of topical vitamin E on surgical wounds should be discouraged.