A triple antibiotic ointment containing neomycin, polymyxin B, and bacitracin in a petroleum jelly base, designed to help prevent infection and promote healing of minor cuts, scrapes, and wounds.

Is Neosporin worth it?

Mostly no. None of the 10 gurus who reviewed it came away sold, leaving it a Guru Score of 31%.

What is Neosporin's Guru Score?

Neosporin holds a Guru Score of 31%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 10 expert reviewers we have collected.

Neosporin: a Guru Score of 31% from 10 skincare experts

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

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Dr Dray

2.68M subs

✕Nay

"Topical antibiotic ointments that might be used around the eyes are another common culprit, particularly those you buy over the counter that contain neomycin, aka Neosporin, or bacitracin. Stay away from those in general, they are well-known causes of contact dermatitis, and they're not very good antibiotics to be putting on the skin, so stay away from them."

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"Do not use Neosporin on cuts or bites or anything of that sort. All it does is breed anti-microbial resistance and also is a very common reason for contact dermatitis. Just use its base, which is plain petroleum jelly. Neosporin is just antibiotics, neomycin and polymyxin plus petrolatum."

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"It's much better to use petroleum jelly than an antibiotic ointment like Neosporin because these antibiotic ointments, they're in a petroleum jelly base, but they have antibiotics in them that are not particularly helpful and often times end up causing more harm than good for many people and just put unnecessary antimicrobials out there in the world that can set the stage later on for potential emergence of resistant microorganisms, which we don't want. Just stick to plain petroleum jelly for cuts and scrapes."

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"Neosporin is not doing the general public any favors at all. All it's doing is increasing the risk, the rates of contact dermatitis to those antibiotics and it's putting selective pressures for the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. [...] When compared to Vaseline there's no difference in wound healing, wound infections, but there is a higher rate of contact dermatitis when using an antibiotic ointment [...] unnecessarily. Neosporin is just not a great one."

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"Neosporin is not going anywhere these are so bad. The problem is the antimicrobials are not very good. Your cuts and scrapes will heal just as well, if not better, just washing them out with a little dilute soapy water and putting plain petroleum jelly, because all this is is petroleum jelly plus these crummy antibiotics. There's a higher risk of contact dermatitis using these and they also contribute to the emergence of resistant microorganisms, which is not good."

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"Don't waste your time with Neosporin because all you're going to do with Neosporin is the way it works to heal your cuts is because of the petroleum jelly, and everything else in there is a hazard. The antibiotics in Neosporin, Bacitracin, neomycin, they're not very good. They don't improve healing above and beyond what plain petroleum jelly can do. They don't reduce the risk of infection of the cut above and beyond what plain petroleum jelly can do. Instead, what they do is they are very sensitizing, contact dermatitis to those ingredients is very common, and they increase the risk of emergence of antimicrobial resistant bugs. Don't waste your time with the antibiotic ointments. It's a problematic product all around."

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"Neosporin in theory could be great for the skin because it's a petroleum jelly ointment, but what else does Neosporin have in it? Antimicrobials. Antimicrobials for which, honestly, they're not the best antimicrobials, and in the absence of an active skin infection, breed the possibility of emergence of antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial resistant microorganisms, superbugs, which we don't want. Also, allergy and irritation to those antimicrobials is really common. If you just stuck to petroleum jelly, which I believe is responsible for a lot of the benefits that people are observing when they use Neosporin liberally, [...] you would have been better off."

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"I always point this out when I go into the drugstore with you guys, but Neosporin is actually a really common cause of allergic contact dermatitis."

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"Do not put Neosporin on hand dermatitis. It's completely useless for hand dermatitis, aside from the fact that it does have petrolatum in it, so I guess it's not completely useless, but the real issue with Neosporin is that it's a common cause of allergic contact dermatitis. So you're more at risk for developing an allergy to Neosporin when you're in the midst of a hand dermatitis, and then it's going to worsen the hand dermatitis. Initially it's soothing and feels good because it's in petrolatum, but because you've developed an allergy to the Neosporin ingredients, it makes things worse for you."

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"Other people claim to use Neosporin to treat their acne. This is not helpful at all. Neosporin has antibiotics in it that aren't particularly great, and using it on the skin unnecessarily poses a risk of bacterial resistance. It's also a product people commonly develop a reaction to, which can lead to more irritation and actually worsen your acne."

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"Neosporin is not good for cuts - it's associated with contact dermatitis. The antibiotics in it are not very good and they put people at risk for bacterial resistance. It's no better than just using plain petrolatum ointment alone."

Dr. Aleksandra Brown

142k subs

✕Nay

"Please don't buy Neosporin, you do not need that. [...] Neosporin has neomycin, and the risk of allergic contact dermatitis has been on the rise, probably because we're overusing it, and studies show you don't need an antibiotic for minor cuts."

Dr. Mamina

281k subs

✕Nay

"Neosporin is a triple antibiotic ointment. It contains neomycin, polymyxin B, and bacitracin. Neomycin is one of the most common contact allergens in all of dermatology. We see Neosporin contact dermatitis regularly in our practice. Someone applies it to a small wound and within days they have a full allergic reaction spreading beyond the wound site and it freaks people out because it almost looks like a really bad infection. The skin is red, swollen, but a telltale sign is that it's very itchy too. And in most cases it looks way worse than the original wound. Interestingly, one of the other antibiotic ingredients, bacitracin, does have a meaningful allergy track record as well. The frustrating part is that plain petroleum jelly like Vaseline does the same job just as effectively. Moist wound healing is what promotes healing and minimizes scarring and infections and plain petrolatum delivers that without any allergy risk."

Dr. Daniel Sugai

720k subs

✕Nay

"We recommend Vaseline or Aquaphor instead of Neosporin. Hate Neosporin. I just saw a Neosporin allergy the other day post-surgically on someone that was putting it on their knee surgery scar and got a big nasty rash from the Neosporin. So, use Vaseline instead."

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"Neosporin has neomycin, which is a very common allergen. I see it all the time. Whenever I see a geometric rash that looks like something from the outside gone in contact with your skin that's irritating it, leaving it with a blistered red rash, I'm going to ask first thing, are you applying Neosporin? And usually the patients will say yes. [...] So do not use that. I would never pay money for that. [...] Dermatologists do not like Neosporin. Just apply Vaseline, Aquaphor, Cetaphil healing ointment, some kind of petroleum ointment over your wound or burn, a small burn that's not infected. If it's infected, definitely go see your dermatologist or your doctor to get antibiotics, whether it's a topical antibiotic or oral antibiotic."

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"Do not use Neosporin, guys. Also, avoid basitracin, triple antibiotic, polysporin. All of those have to be removed from the shelf. [...] If I were to ask me what's the worst ingredient in these, it would have to be neomycin over bacitracin. But if I were to rank the worst, neomycin is the worst, most allergenic over bacitracin. But I do see a lot of bacitracin allergies. And these contact dermatitis rashes can be quite serious and very blistering."

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"Neosporin is probably the biggest villain in the dermatology world because if someone comes in with a geometric rectangular rash or a circular rash, I'm going to suspect [...] something got on your skin to make that rash. It's too well made, too well formed, so I'm going to ask did you apply Neosporin, and a lot of times people will say yes I've been using Neosporin. Neosporin has neomycin in it, and a few years ago it's been named as the allergen of the year. You can't get over the counter in other countries like the UK, you can't go into a grocery store and pick up Neosporin. It's prescription for their topical antibiotics, and my UK colleagues say they don't even use Neosporin anyway, so they don't see that as an allergen or an issue in their countries, but in the U.S., we're spending so much money, so much time diagnosing allergic contact dermatitis from [...] things like Neosporin. Neosporin is probably a more common culprit for causing contact dermatitis. [...] When you have that rash, people get misdiagnosed with an infection because it presents as red, hot, swollen, itchy, and sometimes can be painful if it starts making blisters because the reaction can get really bad where it blisters the skin."

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"I'd rather have you apply that than Neosporin Bacitracin triple antibiotic which causes a lot of irritant or allergic contact dermatitis. It can mimic an infection. It can get blistered in the area. So big thing is avoid Neosporin and those topical antibiotic ointments that are over the counter."

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"Don't ever use Neosporin over your cuts, burns, wounds. Neosporin has neomycin which is a common allergen. When you put this on, it mimics a skin infection or cellulitis. And many times people go on antibiotics unnecessarily. So instead, use Aquaphor or Vaseline over your scrapes."

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"If you have a cut or scrape, I don't care for Neosporin. I like petrolatum whether it's [Aquaphor] or Vaseline or the Cerave healing ointment. For wound care, use petrolatum for a non-infected wound to help protect it and then cover it with a Band-Aid."

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"Using antibiotic ointment that's over the counter, Vasitracin, Neosporin, Neosporin has neomycin and bacitracin and both of those are common allergens that have commonly caused contact dermatitis in my patients, allergic contact dermatitis specifically. When I have a patient coming in with a rash that looks like an outside job, meaning looks like something got on their skin causing a geometric rash or a linear rash like poison ivy, I'm going to ask them certain things like have you been using Neosporin or bacitracin? Triple antibiotic a lot of times patients will say yes. [...] In Europe they don't have over-the-counter antibiotic ointments. In the US we do and we overuse it. Not only are we getting resistance with our antifungal creams, [...] we're seeing more fungi getting resistance to those over-the-counter treatments because we're overusing them, but we're also getting allergic rashes to these antibiotic ointments. I've seen patients come in with really bad severe redness, blistering, and it actually can turn from itchy to painful where it mimics a skin infection."

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"There's still a good amount of people coming out with rashes from Neosporin. Over time the neo in Neosporin is a common allergen that can cause a blistering reaction, a bad skin reaction that mimics a bacterial infection. I even saw a patient who was on long-term antibiotics and had a PICC line inserted into her arm just to get IV antibiotics long term for her leg cellulitis. They thought it was a bacterial infection that wouldn't go away so they kept adding on more and more IV antibiotics that she'd have to get infused at home, but really it was just them putting Neosporin on the cellulitis on the leg over and over and it just kept festering and worsening rash. Once we stopped the Neosporin, I put some topical steroids on that I prescribed the leg, and just cleared up very well and we were able to remove the PICC line. [...] I saw the Neosporin for kids at Target. They're really trying to target the young kids by adding a little promoxine in it to help with pain relief as well. I don't like any of that stuff."

Dr. Sam Ellis

882k subs

✕Nay

"Neosporin contains an antibiotic called neomycin and over 10% of the population is or will become allergic to that antibiotic in their lifetime. We see this all the time in dermatology where someone has been using Neosporin their whole life and then suddenly they're treating a cut or a scrape or some stitches after plastic surgery and now they're getting a red, irritated, blistering reaction. They have developed allergic contact dermatitis and it was totally avoidable. [...] You don't actually need Neosporin to heal wounds. Plain Vaseline, Aquaphor will work the exact same way when it comes to efficacy, and you're not subjecting yourself to any risk."

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"If you have Neosporin in your medicine cabinet or in your first aid kit, just throw it away and replace it with plain old petrolatum. About 10% of people have a neomycin allergy, and that's an antibiotic used in Neosporin. If you use Neosporin on a cut or scrape and you happen to have an allergy to it, or later on in life you develop an allergy to it, which can also happen, it's going to prevent your cut from healing and it can also make that area look so much worse. When you compare using an antibiotic ointment post-procedurally versus using a petrolatum-based ointment like Aquaphor, there's no increased risk of infection when you're using something like Aquaphor, and more importantly there's this big potential downside of using the antibiotic ointment which is having an allergic reaction or an irritant reaction. So stick with the petrolatum."

The Budget Dermatologist

723k subs

✕Nay

"Neosporin, or triple antibiotic ointment, is a product that I do not recommend and I'm constantly deinfluencing people from. The three main ingredients are Polymixin B, Neomycin, and Bacitracin. While people use it on minor wounds, scrapes, cuts, or procedures to prevent infection, there are several very common problems with this product. First of all, it is very highly likely to cause an allergic reaction on your skin called contact dermatitis. This is going to be very uncomfortable, it looks red, inflamed, itchy, burning, and can cause a new problem on top of the problem you are already initially trying to treat. The neomycin and other ingredients in it are common culprits of contact dermatitis that we see in our clinics. The other issue with triple antibiotic ointment is it can lead to antibiotic resistance."

208SkinDoc

2.09M subs

✕Nay

"Dermatologists hate Neosporin. It wasn't developed or recommended by dermatology. Neomycin, one of its main ingredients, was named the contact allergen of the year, so a certain percentage of people who use it become allergic to it. I've seen this so many times in the clinic where somebody just had surgery, put Neosporin on against our advice, and became allergic to it. The wound gets more red and irritated and starts weeping, they think they're infected, so they put more Neosporin on and it gets worse. Those kinds of ointments can be used when there's a verified infection, but generally they're not needed in a preventative role."

Cassandra Bankson

2.46M subs

✕Nay

"Neosporin is actually not great for wounds. Number one, it slows down wound healing, and number two, it can actually cause bacterial resistance, which makes treating wounds harder overall. Doctors and derms that I've worked with literally say do not use Neosporin on open wounds. There are other antibacterial cleansers that are way better, and wound dressings or even just plain Vaseline or a silicone-based gel and a patch that are much better for scar revision and scar healing for wounds. [...] It can be absorbed into the bloodstream."

Doctor Youn

5.57M subs

✕Nay

"Not a good idea at all, horrible idea. Neosporin is an antibacterial, not only can it cause skin irritation, but you're also disrupting the microbiome on your skin, the microbiome, that are the trillions of bacteria that live on the surface of your skin. And if you use Neosporin, you're killing that bacteria, that bacteria is super important for your skin health. You do not want to do that."

Doctorly

3.58M subs

✕Nay

"Neosporin is a triple antibiotic made up of neomycin, bacitracin, and polymyxin B. While it was created to treat infected wounds, over 10 percent of the population is allergic to this medication, which means if you're applying it to areas like the lips or an infected area, those wounds are actually going to get worse, take longer to heal, and you're going to have a worse outcome. Additionally, neomycin causes co-sensitization where it helps your body develop an allergy to bacitracin too, even though these compounds are completely unrelated. For wound care, the data shows that Vaseline or pure petrolatum outperforms Neosporin across the board during the first two weeks of healing, so you're applying this antibiotic and it's not having any additional benefit than just pure regular Vaseline, but it has increased risk with it now. For using it on the lips for perlèche or angular cheilitis, the antibiotic would do nothing for the yeast component, and it's just assuming the ointment is a good barrier comparable to something like Vaseline or zinc oxide, which would both probably be better options. Overall, I don't agree with using Neosporin for these hacks at all. It's not a good role for this. The bottom line is do not use neomycin on the lips because there's a high risk of allergy with very little limited benefit."

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"You don't want to use any of that stuff. Not only are they super high risk for contact allergy, but they're not really going to benefit the wound healing process in any capacity."

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