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I have two diaper rash creams: Desitin and Palmer's Coconut Butter Formula. The active ingredient in the latter is petrolatum (30%) and 1% dimethicone. The Desitine is zinc oxide and the INACTIVE ingredient is petrolatum. The Desitin works for me, the other doesn't. How can an ingredient be active in one cream and inactive in the other?

The issue may be one of intended function rather than chemical activity. Zinc Oxide has antibacterial properties but, in rash creams, primarily is used as a barrier. In Desitin, the zinc oxide is the primary barrier ingredient. In Palmers's the Petrolatum is the primary barrier ingredient.

--John