How Wintergreen oil works: not just skin deep

How Wintergreen oil works: not just skin deep

Your skin is a wonderful organ, and it’s built to keep the world at bay.  Most things you put on your skin will stay on the outside of your body, and won’t go any further. 


So how is it then that Wintergreen oil can penetrate all the way to your sore muscles? 


Wintergreen works because it contains a natural substance called methyl salicylate which your body turns into salicylic acid. This affects the COX enzyme in your body and reduces the amount of prostaglandins that the enzyme creates. Prostoglandins promote pain, inflammation and fever, which is why Wintergreen oil may help relieve these symptoms. 


When you put Wintergreen oil on your skin, the methyl salicylate penetrates right through to the tissues below.  It affects the skin where you applied it, and the muscles and other tissues below that skin, and a little of it even makes its way into your blood and spreads the effect throughout your body.  That’s why it can provide relief not just from local pain and inflammation, but also from systemic symptoms like fever. 


A study published a while ago in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology measured how much methyl salicylate makes it through the skin and into the rest of your body. 


If you’re interested in the study, see: “Sheree E. Cross, Chris Anderson & Michael S. Roberts, Topical penetration of commercial salicylate esters and salts using human isolated skin and clinical microdialysis studies, Br J Clin Pharmacol 1998; 46: 29–35.” https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1046/j.1365-2125.1998.00045.x