Introduction
Fenistil® Gel is a drug in the form of a transparent gel, which is produced by the pharmaceutical company Novartis. It is used for insect bites, minor burns or sunburn. It is not subject to prescription and can therefore be purchased without a prescription.
Fenistil® Gel contains the active ingredient dimetinden, which has an antihistaminic effect. This means that symptoms such as swelling, itching and redness of the skin are reduced. The treatment is therefore purely symptomatic, in order to alleviate the perceived discomfort.
Application of Fenistil® Gel
Fenistil® Gel is used for all kinds of skin irritations. For example, symptoms triggered by allergic reactions can be combated. Itching caused by insect bites is also treated with Fenistil® Gel.
Applying the gel also helps to reduce the swelling of the bites. Slight burns or sunburn are also suitable for treatment. The gel cools the affected skin area, reduces redness and provides pain relief. Furthermore, skin diseases such as hives, chronic eczema or neurodermatitis are treated with Fenistil® Gel. Unlike the other forms of Fenistil® (e.g. dragees, drops), Fenistil® is applied exclusively to the skin.
Application of Fenistil® Gel on the baby
The use of Fenistil® Gel in newborns or infants is in principle harmless. Since the gel is only applied locally and on the skin, there can be no systemic effect. This means that the active ingredient is not distributed throughout the body and can cause side effects there.
Systemic side effects from an overdose in small children can include symptoms such as drowsiness, reduced breathing and a dilated pupil. However, as long as care is taken not to lick and swallow the gel in large quantities, these side effects will not occur. In the case of a known allergy to Dimentinden, the active ingredient of Fenistil® gel, the baby must not be treated with the gel, otherwise an allergic reaction will occur.
In case of light burns Fenistil® Gel is a good treatment option. However, it is important that only 1st degree burns are treated with Fenistil®. For higher grade burns, the affected person should consult a physician.
A 1st degree burn does not yet have blisters. As soon as blisters are visible, the burn is called a 2nd degree burn. In the case of 1st degree burns, however, the burned skin can be treated with the gel.
The Fenistil® gel then cools and calms the burn. The pain, redness and swelling should also decrease. Fenistil® Gel is good for allergies.
Again, it is important that only the skin can be treated with the gel. Allergic reactions often lead to skin rashes and itching. This comes from the body’s immune response to harmless allergens.
In this case, defence and inflammation mediators, such as histamine, are released. Since Fenistil® Gel acts as an antihistamine, i.e. it blocks histamine, the allergic skin reaction and itching are reduced when the gel is applied to the affected area. In case of sunburn on the lips, treatment with Fenistil® Gel is also possible.
Fenistil® Gel can be applied to the entire skin, including the lips. Accordingly, there are no known side effects when applying the gel to the lips. Especially in case of sunburn on the lips, which can become very unpleasant, the cooling and moisturizing effect of the gel is of particular benefit.
In case of a wasp sting, the wasp venom is injected into the skin through the sting of the wasp. The venom is a mixture of several substances, among others the venom consists of histamine. In addition, the body releases histamine at the site of the sting as an inflammatory reaction to help combat the foreign substances that have entered the body.
Histamine causes the puncture site to turn red, swell, hurt and itch. Here the use of Fenistil® Gel is a good solution, because it blocks the effect of histamine as an antihistamine. Thus, after wasp stings, a relief of the symptoms can be achieved when the gel is applied to the sting.
Hives, also called urticaria, manifests itself in an allergic skin reaction. A reddening of the skin is observed over the entire surface, which causes severe itching.Urticaria is based on an exuberant immune response against actually harmless stimuli (also called allergens). The allergens can be insect venoms, drugs or food.
An important factor is the release of inflammatory mediators and histamine. These substances cause skin reactions and itching. With Fenistil® Gel, it is now possible to limit the effect of histamine and combat hives.
Here too, local application of the gel to the affected regions is a sensible measure. Similar to wasp bites, mosquito bites involve the injection of foreign substances into the skin. The mosquito’s saliva is responsible for ensuring that the blood does not clot and can be easily sucked out by the mosquito.
The proteins in the mosquito’s saliva are recognized by our body as foreign and therefore potentially infectious and an immune reaction is initiated. During this process histamine is released again, which can be blocked with the application of Fenistil® Gel. This also reduces itching and swelling at the bite site.
Sunburn is an acute inflammatory reaction of the skin. It is caused by high exposure to UV rays, which damage the skin. When the skin is damaged, inflammatory mediators (e.g. histamine, prostaglandins, etc.)
are released. This leads to redness and pain in the case of sunburn. If Fenistil® Gel is now applied to the affected area of skin, the effect of histamine is reduced and the inflammatory reaction decreases.
The gel also moisturizes the skin and cools the affected area. Herpes is a skin disease which in most cases occurs as Herpes labialis (labial herpes). It is a viral infection with the herpes simplex virus 1, which remains in an inactive form in the body for life after infection.
In certain situations (e.g. stress, immune deficiency) the infection reappears and manifests itself in blisters on the lip. As it is a viral disease, treatment with Fenistil® Gel is not effective, as the gel is an antihistamine and does not fight the viral infection. There is a special cream (Fenistil® Pencivir) for lip herpes, which is also produced by the pharmaceutical company Novartis. This cream inhibits the multiplication of the viruses and thus fights herpes.
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