Olive oil is for eating, NOT FOR SKIN

I was replying to a Reddit thread in r/Eczema and someone asked me to justify my constant harping on olive oil as a food-only natural. So here’s the deets, exact quote.

Your dermatologist is probably very good at medicine, but us applied science schlubs in the trenches of applied research are pretty good at specific topics. Don't let me do patient diagnosis, but do let me drop some science, after repeating myself:

DO NOT PUT OLIVE OIL ON YOUR SKIN! Thank you.

A study right on the point of that: Effect of olive and sunflower seed oil on the adult skin barrier: implications for neonatal skin care, Simon G Danby 1 , Tareq AlEnezi, Amani Sultan, Tina Lavender, John Chittock, Kirsty Brown, Michael J Cork. Pediatr Dermatol, 2013 Jan-Feb;30(1):42-50

"Topical application of olive oil for 4 weeks caused a significant reduction in stratum corneum integrity and induced mild erythema in volunteers with and without a history of atopic dermatitis. Sunflower seed oil preserved stratum corneum integrity, did not cause erythema, and improved hydration in the same volunteers. In contrast to sunflower seed oil, topical treatment with olive oil significantly damages the skin barrier, and therefore has the potential to promote the development of, and exacerbate existing, atopic dermatitis."

The below is from my life in drug delivery tech... show how using olive oil's oleic acids (other plant oils also) opens skin barrier to allow drug penetration.

Jiang S.J., Zhou X.J. Examination of the mechanism of oleic acid-induced percutaneous penetration enhancement: An ultrastructural study. Biol. Pharm. Bull. 2003;26:66–68.

Viljoen J.M., Cowley A., du Preez J., Gerber M., du Plessis J. Penetration enhancing effects of selected natural oils utilized in topical dosage forms. Drug Dev. Ind. Pharm. 2015;41:2045–2054.