Chemistry in my Life
Thursday, November 23, 2006
I have a wart on my finger.
Since I downsized the quantity of necessary possesions to make my move to Norman easier, my wart remover did not make the cut. Thus, on Saturday I made a trip to Walgreens to get some wart remover.
After finding the right aisle, I start browsing brands. Of course, I want the most acidic stuff I can find so it will carve a crater in my finger and leave no trace of the wart behind. But none of the meds go above 17% salicylic acid, which is apparently the active ingredient in killing warts, so I grab the cheapest one and go.
Normally, this would not be a blogworthy event. But there is more.
Yesterday at Kroger, I bought an extra bottle of my favorite moisturizer (Clean & Clear) because it was in the original bottle with the nozzle I like (they are switching to a new nozzle that gets clogged all the time). Once I get home, I decide to check and see if Johnson & Johnson has changed the ingredients of my moisturizer along with the bottle design. I pull out my newly purchased original bottle and look at the ingredients.
"Active ingredient: 0.5% Salicylic Acid" it says. I check the other bottle and it says the same. This pricks my memory of my wart-medicine shopping from earlier this week. Is it the same ingredient? I check and sure enough it is.
I probably studied and used this molecule a lot when I studied organic chemistry. It seems interesting now, looking back. Pfft.
So now I have to decide whether the idea that I am putting low-grade wart remover on my face everyday is disgusting or not.
Since I downsized the quantity of necessary possesions to make my move to Norman easier, my wart remover did not make the cut. Thus, on Saturday I made a trip to Walgreens to get some wart remover.
After finding the right aisle, I start browsing brands. Of course, I want the most acidic stuff I can find so it will carve a crater in my finger and leave no trace of the wart behind. But none of the meds go above 17% salicylic acid, which is apparently the active ingredient in killing warts, so I grab the cheapest one and go.
Normally, this would not be a blogworthy event. But there is more.
Yesterday at Kroger, I bought an extra bottle of my favorite moisturizer (Clean & Clear) because it was in the original bottle with the nozzle I like (they are switching to a new nozzle that gets clogged all the time). Once I get home, I decide to check and see if Johnson & Johnson has changed the ingredients of my moisturizer along with the bottle design. I pull out my newly purchased original bottle and look at the ingredients.
"Active ingredient: 0.5% Salicylic Acid" it says. I check the other bottle and it says the same. This pricks my memory of my wart-medicine shopping from earlier this week. Is it the same ingredient? I check and sure enough it is.
From Wikipedia:
Salicylic acid is the chemical compound with the formula C6H4(OH)CO2H, where the OH group is adjacent to the carboxylic acid group. This colorless crystalline organic acid is widely used in organic synthesis.
Salicylic acid is the key additive in many skin-care products for the treatment of acne, psoriasis, callouses, corns, keratosis pilaris and warts. It treats acne by causing skin cells to slough off more readily, preventing pores from clogging up. This effect on skin cells also makes salicylic acid an active ingredient in several shampoos meant to treat dandruff.
Aspirin can be prepared by the esterification of the phenolic hydroxyl group of salicylic acid.
I probably studied and used this molecule a lot when I studied organic chemistry. It seems interesting now, looking back. Pfft.
So now I have to decide whether the idea that I am putting low-grade wart remover on my face everyday is disgusting or not.
posted by Brittany Smith at 12:19 PM
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