![]() Some go as far as saying that it should never be used with children due to this risk. Lipoid pneumonia due to mineral oil aspiration is thus a recognized severe complication of this medication, and there is a need for a heightened awareness among caregivers about the potential dangers of inappropriate mineral oil use. The drug is suggested to never be used in cases in which the patient is neurologically impaired or has a potential swallowing dysfunction due to potential respiration complications. The drug is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the North American Society for Gastroenterology and Nutrition, with the latter organization outlining it as a first choice for the management of pediatric constipation. While the drug is widely accepted for the management of childhood constipation in North America and Australia, the drug is used much less in the United Kingdom. ![]() Ĭonsensus has not been entirely reached on the safety of the drug for children. These traits make the drug ideal for chronic childhood constipation and encopresis, when large doses or long-term usage is necessary. Because of this it reduces the pain caused by certain conditions such as piles (haemorrhoids). The drug acts by softening the feces and coats the intestine with an oily film. It acts primarily as a stool lubricant, and is thus not associated with abdominal cramps, diarrhea, flatulence, disturbances in electrolytes, or tolerance over long periods of usage, side effects that osmotic and stimulant laxatives often engender (however, some literature suggests that these may still occur). Because of its ease of titration, the drug is convenient to synthesize. Liquid paraffin is primarily used as a pediatric laxative in medicine and is a popular treatment for constipation and encopresis. Arbuthnot Lane, who was then Chief Surgeon of Guy's Hospital, recommended it as a treatment for intestinal stasis and chronic constipation in 1913, liquid paraffin gained more popularity. Chesebrough, who patented it in 1872 for the manufacture of a "new and useful product from petroleum." After Sir W. Its first use internally is attributed to Robert A. It was used extensively by early Arabians and was important in early Indian medicine. Petroleum is said to have been used as a medicine since 400 BC, and has been mentioned in the texts of classical writers Herodotus, Plutarch, Dioscorides, Pliny, and others. The term paraffinum perliquidum is sometimes used to denote light liquid paraffin, while the term paraffinum subliquidum is sometimes used to denote a thicker mineral oil. It is a transparent, colorless, nearly odorless, and oily liquid that is composed of saturated hydrocarbons derived from petroleum. The generic sense of paraffin meaning alkane led to regional differences for the meanings of both paraffin and paraffin oil. Cosmetic or medicinal liquid paraffin should not be confused with the paraffin (i.e. Liquid paraffin, also known as paraffinum liquidum, paraffin oil, liquid paraffin oil or Russian mineral oil, is a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and medicine.
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