Q. You recently had an article about treating diaper rash. My granddaughter had a very bad one, and I used an over-the-counter cream called Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. It is not expensive and it works really well.
A. Boudreaux’s Butt Paste contains zinc oxide cream, an established treatment for diaper rash. It provides a barrier to protect the skin from moisture.
The product you used also contains inactive ingredients (castor oil, citric acid, mineral oil, paraffin, Peruvian balsam and petrolatum). Peruvian balsam has antibacterial and antifungal activity, but it can also cause contact dermatitis. Parents should be alert to that possibility if the rash starts to get worse despite using the Butt Paste.
Another reader responded to the idea of using Maalox on diaper rash:
“When I was a nurse on a surgical unit, one of our surgeons used this for his patients, especially ostomy patients with angry reddened skin. You boil down the Maalox to form a paste, stirring constantly until it thickens. We applied it with a tongue depressor and put a light dressing over it.”
