Liquid Paraffin

TE Number: 19

Liquid paraffin is primarily used as a pediatric laxative in medicine and is a popular treatment for constipation and encopresis. Because of its ease of titration, the drug is convenient to synthesize. It acts primarily as a stool lubricant, and is thus not associated with abdominal cramps, diarrhea, flatulence, disturbances in electrolytes, or tolerance over long periods of usage, side effects that osmotic and stimulant laxatives often engender. The drug acts by softening the feces and coats the intestine with an oily film. Hence, reduces the pain caused by certain conditions such as piles (haemorrhoids). These traits make the drug ideal for chronic childhood constipation and encopresis, when large doses or long-term usage is necessary