Pix

A variable mixture of various substances, especially aromatic hydrocarbons, obtained by dry distillation of wood, coal or oil shale; pix (pitch) is also used to describe the residue of tar and petroleum distillation.

A distinction is made between:

• Wood tars:
  • Pix betulina (birch wood tar)
  • Pix fagi (beechwood tar)
  • Pix juniperi (juniper tar)
  • Pix pinaceae (conifer tar)
• Coal tar (pitch): Pix lithanthracis, Liquor carbonis detergens.

Medicine: Psoriasis vulgaris, eczema. Remember! The patient must be informed before use, especially about phototoxicity!

Naturopathy: Indications see below Plant tars.

Cosmetics: For cosmetic preparations, wood tars (birch, beech and juniper tar) and oil shale distillates are used in addition to the INCI designation "Pix".

The therapeutic significance of tar products in dermatology is increasingly disappearing due to their toxicological components. The large-scale applications of tar products for inflammatory skin diseases (e.g. atopic eczema), which were common in earlier decades, are obsolete. Oil shale products obtained from natural sources continue to play an important role (e.g. in seborrhoeic eczema).