Sandalwood oil

In a single-centre open-label trial of 25 children with mild to severe eczema, a regimen of three East Indian sandalwood oil products (bubble bath, cream and cleanser, with 0.1% colloidal oatmeal) was used for 8 weeks. The authors report that 75% of children had more than a 50% fall in their EASI score, with no adverse events.

There was no placebo group, the trial is reported by authors linked to the company developing the oil, and the paper gives 25, 22 and 32 participants in different places, so the numbers should be read cautiously.²

In an interim report of an open-label trial, 12 adults with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis applied a 10% East Indian sandalwood oil serum twice a day for up to 28 days. Seven of 11 (64%) had an investigator-rated improvement of at least one point by the end, and one skin reaction at the site cleared when treatment stopped. There was no control group. The authors said placebo-controlled trials were planned; we did not find their results.¹

In an open-label study of 47 people, 89% were rated improved after 8 weeks of a regimen of salicylic acid products with purified sandalwood oil from Australia. That is not East Indian sandalwood oil, the salicylic acid alone may account for the result, and there was no control group, so it does not show that sandalwood oil treats acne.⁴

A pilot trial in 34 palliative-care patients compared massage with 1% sandalwood oil, massage with carrier oil, and the oil on an aroma stone; the author says the data were too few and inconsistent to draw conclusions, with 25% dropping out.

In healthy volunteers who absorbed the oil through the skin without smelling it, alpha-santalol produced changes read as relaxing, but the whole oil produced lower physiological arousal with more alertness, not a calming effect.^5,6