Dr. Sheffield's Triple Antibiotic Ointment

Short Description: First Aid Antibiotic Ointment for minor cuts, scrapes, and burns.
Price: $1 + Tax
Store: Dollar Tree

Amount: .33 oz (9g)

Active ingredients: Bacitracin (400 units), Neomycin (3.5 mg), Polymyxin B (5000 units)
Inactive ingredient: Pertrolatum

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This ointment produced by Sheffield Pharmaceuticals is designed to be a cheaper alternative to the most popular Triple Antibiotic Ointment, (Original) Neosporin. If you compare ingredients (note the active ones)...
Neosporin
Active Ingredients: Bacitracin (400 Units), Neomycin (3.5 Mg), Polymyxin B (5,000 Units)
Inactive Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, Cottonseed Oil, Olive Oil, Sodium Pyruvate, Vitamin E, and White Petrolatum
...these products are practically identical.

So far, it seems just as good in practice too. I applied it to a small scrape and bandaged it. No infection yet! *crosses fingers*

Here is some general information about Triple Antibiotic Ointments:

• A sizable number of people are allergic to Neomycin, and can get dermatitis (rash) from using these ointments.
• The strategy is to attack the unknown bacteria by throwing three antibiotics that are good at fighting different many different kinds of bacteria... over the long term (and on a big scale) this can lead to resistant strains.

Back to the specific product, the tube doesn't contain a lot of ointment. They probably use the same tubing to hold bigger products, because this thing is less than half full. Though the amount is listed on the outside, it was kind of disappointing to pull a mostly empty tube out of the box. One tube might not last you a very long time.

Compared to other Triple Antibiotic Ointments (which often come in 1 oz. tubes) though, I think this one still comes out on top. At approximately $3 an ounce it offers a very competitive price. If you don't mind buying a bunch, you could end up with a pretty good value.

That being said, I wonder if there aren't even more cost effective alternatives. In my research online, it was often suggested that a Bacitracin ointment alone is satisfactory for most cases (and conveniently devoid of the allergy problem). Crystal Violet is also something I've used in the past. Seems to work well, but it also has a chance of tattooing wounds and may be carcinogenic. Look forward to an update down the road.

Until then, however, I will call this item WORTH IT.

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Pros:

• Relatively cheap (compared to similar products)
• Has all the active ingredients

Cons:

• Might cause allergic reactions
• Small quantity per tube/box

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neosporin

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/04/neosporin-otc-drugs-avoid.html