Authors’ conclusions
Implications for practice
Oral borage oil and evening primrose oil lack effect on eczema; improvement was similar to respective placebos used in trials. Oral BO
and EPO are not effective treatments for eczema.
In these studies, along with the placebos, EPO and BO have the same, fairly common, mild, transient adverse effects, which are mainly
gastrointestinal.
The short-term studies included here do not examine possible adverse effects of long-term use of EPO or BO. A case report warned
that if EPO is taken for a prolonged period of time (more than one year), there is a potential risk of inflammation, thrombosis, and
immunosuppression; another study found that EPO may increase bleeding for people on Coumadin® (warfarin) medication.
Implications for research
Noting that the confidence intervals between active and placebo treatment are narrow, to exclude the possibility of any clinically useful
difference, we concluded that further studies on EPO or BO for eczema would be hard to justify.
This review does not provide information about long-term use of these products.