An over-the-counter antibiotic ointment containing neomycin, polymyxin B, and bacitracin in a petroleum jelly base, designed to help prevent infection in 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

2.69M 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."

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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."

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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."

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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."

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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

151k 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

282k subs

✕Nay

"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."

Dr. Daniel Sugai

722k 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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"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 that I'm going to suspect was an outside job"

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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."

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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."

Dr. Sam Ellis

898k 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."

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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."

The Budget Dermatologist

724k 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."

208SkinDoc

2.10M 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."

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."

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

3.59M subs

✕Nay

"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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