The juice of this medicinal botanical soothes cutaneous wounds, burns, and dermatitis due to its mucilages consisting of mucopolysaccharides, sucrose, lignans, and fruit acids. It also is an antiviral against herpes simplex and HIV. This herb is administered as a powder or galenic for a variety of topical formulations. Prickly pear has no reported health hazards (22).
Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo)
The German Commission E approved this herb for prostate therapy. Folk medicine uses pumpkin for helminthic infections. Pumpkin seeds comprise fatty oils (about 50% of total weight) including linoleic acid (55% of fatty oils) and oleic acid (25%). This extract is also rich in gamma-tocopherol, carotenoids including lutein, sterols, and the amino acid curcurbitin which is antihelminthic active (22). Pumpkin seed is antiphlogistic, antioxidant, and antihelminthic. This herb has no reliable published studies for any topical preparations or dermatologic disease (3,22).
There are no photoaging studies despite its use in cosmeceutical chemical peels and other products for nearly a decade.
The reported adverse reactions include gastrointestinal distress.