This widely used herb is popular due to its sedative, anxiolytic, and antidepressant action. St. John’s Wort is approved for wound healing, burns, and cutaneous inflammation. Asian medicine employs it for dermatitis topical therapy. This herb has antistaphylococcal, anti-inflammatory, antineoplastic, antioxidant activity yet stimulates wound healing and T lymphocytes. The active compounds include flavonoids such as quercetin, catechins, oligomeric procyanidines, xanthones, anthracenes including hypericin, and caffeic acids such as chlorogenic acid. This herb is administered by powders, liquid, tincture, and tea (3). St. John’s Wort induces multiple health hazards including dangerous ones such as mutagenicity to oocytes. It interacts with many major systemic drugs including beta-blockers, anticoagulants, calcium channel blockers,
immunosuppressives, anti-hypertensives, antibiotics, contraceptives, statins, SSRI, analgesics, and photosensitizers (13,22).
Human clinical trials from Russia support its wound healing effectiveness (2). In a 21-patient, blinded, clinical trial of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis the improvement of the intensity of the eczematous lesions by 1.5% hypericum-cream was significantly superior to the vehicle at all clinical visits (p <0.05) (53).