A review on efficacy and tolerability of tea tree oil for acne
Open accessAbstract
Acne is common problem acquired generally after puberty. It ranges from mild to moderate: papules, pustules, nodules to severe cyst. Various natural therapy can be employed for treatment of acne including Tea tree oil (TTO). Tea tree oil has wide spectrum anti-microbial agent showing in treatment of acne. Usually it is utilized in various topical preparations. It contains more than 80-90% monoterpenes namely terpinen-4-ol, -cymene, α-terpinene, limonene 1,8-cineol, α-terpineol, terpinolene, 1,8-cineol, sabinene and α-pinene, The European cosmetic Association recommended not more than 1% use of tea tree oil in cosmetic preparations. In this review, we listed various efficacy and tolerability studies along with challenges in application of tea tree oil in cosmetics and dermatological preparations. TTO is a moderate sensitizer and upon oxidation it increases in its allergenic potency. This is a comprehensive review of using Tea tree oil against various microbial species. Various studies revealed the use of TTO as anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti- oxidant agent. TTO is effective treatment option that can further be utilized in preparation of novel formulations like liposomes, ethosomes along with combination with other anti-microbial and anti-oxidant agents. Keywords: Acne, Tea-tree oil, Application, Antioxidant, Nano particles.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The text we found for this paper looks like another document, so the self-check wasn’t run.
Cites
Melaleuca alternifolia (Tea Tree) Oil: a Review of Antimicrobial and Other Medicinal Properties
Carson, C. F., Hammer, K. A., & Riley, T. V. (2006) · Clinical Microbiology Reviews · doi:10.1128/cmr.19.1.50-62.2006 · Cited by 1,429 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Additionally, terpinen-4-ol, modulates vasodilation and plasma extravasation (Carson et al., 2006).”
BackgroundCox, S. D., Mann, C. M., Markham, J. L., Bell, H. C., Gustafson, J. E., Warmington, J. R., & Wyllie, S. G. (2001) · Journal of Applied Microbiology · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2672.2000.00943.x · Cited by 1,117 · see citing works
Acne scarring: a classification system and review of treatment options.
Jacob, C. I., Dover, J., & Kaminer, M. (2001) · Journal of American Academy of Dermatology · doi:10.1067/mjd.2001.113451 · Cited by 741
New developments in our understanding of acne pathogenesis and treatment
Kurokawa, I., Danby, F. W., Ju, Q., Wang, X., Xiang, L. F., Xia, L., Chen, W., Nagy, I., Picardo, M., Suh, D. H., et al. (2009) · Experimental Dermatology · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0625.2009.00890.x · Cited by 584 · see citing works
Hart, P. H., Brand, C., Carson, C. F., Riley, T. V., Prager, R. H., & Finlay‐Jones, J. J. (2000) · Inflammation Research · doi:10.1007/s000110050639 · Cited by 455 · see citing works
Essential Oils and Their Single Compounds in Cosmetics—A Critical Review
Sarkic, A., & Stappen, I. (2018) · Cosmetics · doi:10.3390/cosmetics5010011 · Cited by 340 · cited 1× · see citing works
“European Cosmetics Association allowed any only 1% use of TTO and should be packed to provide minimal light exposure (Sarkic and Stappen, 2018).”
BackgroundA comparative study of tea‐tree oil versus benzoylperoxide in the treatment of acne
Bassett, I. B., Barnetson, R. S. C., & Pannowitz, D. L. (1990) · Medical Journal of Australia · doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1990.tb126150.x · Cited by 286 · see citing works
Hammer, K., Carson, C., & Riley, T. (1998) · Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy · doi:10.1093/jac/42.5.591 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Kim, H., Chen, F., Wu, C., Wang, X., Chung, H. Y., & Jin, Z. (2004) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry · doi:10.1021/jf035377d · Cited by 206 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Their antioxidant action follows the order: a-terpinene > a-terpinolene > c-terpinene (Kim et al., 2004).”
BackgroundJooya, A., Siadat, A., Iraji, F., & Enshaieh, S. (2007) · Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology · doi:10.4103/0378-6323.30646 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Hammer, K. A. (2014) · International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents · doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2014.10.011 · Cited by 132 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Many OTC topical combination products are available containing TTO with another acne treatment agents like salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, azelaic acid and glycolic acid are available ( Hammer, 2015).”
BackgroundThe effects of a tea tree oil-containing gel on plaque and chronic gingivitis.
Soukoulis, S., & Hirsch, R. S. (2004) · Australian dental journal · doi:10.1111/j.1834-7819.2004.tb00054.x · Cited by 120 · cited 1× · see citing works
“As per American European combination of 0.5% TTO along with 5% solubilizer having 0.3% preservative found to have enhanced stability of soft body balm (Soukoulis et al., 2004).”
MethodInfluentialRamage, G., Milligan, S. G., Lappin, D. F., Sherry, L., Sweeney, P. M., Williams, C., Bagg, J., & Culshaw, S. (2012) · Frontiers in Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fmicb.2012.00220 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Disorders of the Sebaceous Glands
Layton, A. (2010) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781444317633.ch42 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
THE SEARCH FOR OPTIMALLY BIOACTIVE AUSTRALIAN TEA TREE OIL
Southwell, I., Hayes, A., Markham, J., et al. (1993) · Acta Horticulturae · doi:10.17660/actahortic.1993.344.30 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Satchell, A. C., Saurajen, A., Bell, C., & Barnetson, R. S. (2002) · Australasian Journal of Dermatology · doi:10.1046/j.1440-0960.2002.00590.x · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Tea tree : the genus melaleuca
Southwell, I., & Lowe, R. (1999) · doi:10.1201/9780203303603 · Cited by 67
Low, W. L., Martin, C., Hill, D. J., & Kenward, M. A. (2013) · Letters in Applied Microbiology · doi:10.1111/lam.12082 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Mazzarello, V., Donadu, M., Ferrari, M., et al. (2018) · Clinical Pharmacology : Advances and Applications · doi:10.2147/cpaa.s180474 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Toholka, R., Wang, Y.-S., Tate, B., et al. (2015) · Australasian Journal of Dermatology · doi:10.1111/ajd.12186 · Cited by 63
Tea tree oil gel for mild to moderate acne; a 12 week uncontrolled, open‐label phase II pilot study
Malhi, H. K., Tu, J., Riley, T. V., Kumarasinghe, S. P., & Hammer, K. A. (2016) · Australasian Journal of Dermatology · doi:10.1111/ajd.12465 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Topical therapy of acne vulgaris using 2% tea lotion in comparison with 5% zinc sulphate solution.
Sharquie, K., Noaimi, A. A., & Al-Salih, M. M. (2008) · Saudi Medical Journal · doi:10.15537/1658-3175.4568 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Kwon, H. H., Yoon, J. Y., Park, S. Y., Min, S., & Suh, D. H. (2014) · Dermatology · doi:10.1159/000362491 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
The Acne Quality of Life Index (Acne-QOLI)
Rapp, S. R., Feldman, S. R., Graham, G. F., Fleischer, A. B., Brenes, G. A., & Dailey, M. (2006) · American Journal of Clinical Dermatology · doi:10.2165/00128071-200607030-00005 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF TEA TREE OIL
Markham, J. (1999) · doi:10.1201/9780203303603-19 · Cited by 37
Tea Tree Oil: A Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Trials
Ernst, E., & Huntley, A. (2000) · Complementary Medicine Research · doi:10.1159/000057164 · Cited by 34 · cited 1× · see citing works
“The effect of TTO was slower however was clinically, apparent adverse effect with TTO was lower than control group than TTO was more effective (Ernst and Huntley 2000).”
Backgroundvan de Sande, W. W. J., Fahal, A. H., Riley, T. V., Verbrugh, H. A., & van Belkum, A. (2007) · Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy · doi:10.1093/jac/dkl526 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Reduction of nickel-induced contact hypersensitivity reactions by topical tea tree oil in humans
Pearce, A. L., Finlay‐Jones, J. J., & Hart, P. H. (2005) · Inflammation Research · doi:10.1007/s00011-004-1317-6 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Thompson, G., Blackwood, B., McMullan, R., et al. (2008) · BMC Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1186/1471-2334-8-161 · Cited by 21 · cited 1× · see citing works
“At 10% concentration TTO effect was comparable with those of topical mupirocin against the bacterium s. aureus (Thompson et al., 2008).”
BackgroundJoksimović, N., Spasovski, G., Joksimovic, V., et al. (2012) · Updates in Surgery · doi:10.1007/s13304-012-0153-4 · Cited by 20
Nanoemulsions: colloidal topical delivery systems for antiacne agents- A Mini-Review
Najafi-Taher, R., & Amani, A. (2017) · doi:10.22034/nmrj.2017.23532 · Cited by 19
Evaluation of Efficacy and Safety of Perfact Face Gel and Perfact Face Tablets in Management of Acne
Yadav, N., Singh, A., Chatterjee, A., et al. (2011) · doi:10.4172/2155-9554.1000118 · Cited by 19 · cited 1×
“Acne was found to be improved but no side effects have been reported (Yadav et al., 2011 ).”
BackgroundAcne vulgaris and similar eruptions
Layton, A. (2000) · doi:10.1383/medc.33.1.44.58332 · Cited by 12
Flagged first, then by citations
9 of the 42 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [1]1. Ahmad S, Afsana , Popli H. A review on efficacy and tolerability of tea tree oil for acne. J. Drug Delivery Ther. [Internet]. 2019 May 15 [cited 2026 Oct. 11];9(3):609-12. Available from: https://jddtonline.info/index.php/jddt/article/view/2838 ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver AMA Download Citation Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX Issue Vol. 9 No. 3 (2019): Volume 9, Issue 3, May-June 2019 Section Review Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). How to Cite
- [1]1. Ahmad S, Afsana , Popli H. A review on efficacy and tolerability of tea tree oil for acne. J. Drug Delivery Ther. [Internet]. 2019 May 15 [cited 2026 Oct. 11];9(3):609-12. Available from: https://jddtonline.info/index.php/jddt/article/view/2838 ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver AMA Download Citation Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX Crossref Scopus Google Scholar Europe PMC jddt Online ISSN: 2250-1177 Make a Submission Make a Submission categories Categories Aims & Scope Editorial Policies Publication Ethics Palgiarism Policy Retraction Policy Open Access Policy Processing Charges and Waiver Policy Indexing Latest publications Atom logo RSS2 logo RSS1 logo Announcements || Editorial Board || Indexing || Contact The publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) . View Legal Code
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Bungău, A. F., Radu, A. F., BUNGAU, S. G., Vesa, C. M., Ţiţ, D. M., & Endres, L. M. (2023) · Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy · doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2023.115003 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Essential Oils in the Treatment of Various Types of Acne—A Review
Nurzyńska-Wierdak, R., Pietrasik, D., & Walasek-Janusz, M. (2022) · Plants · doi:10.3390/plants12010090 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“gypseum), anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of tea tree oil have been demonstrated [28].”
BackgroundCosmeceuticals in photoaging: A review.
Chan, L. K. W., Lee, K. W. A., Lee, C. H., Lam, K. W. P., Lee, K. F. V., Wu, R., Wan, J., Shivananjappa, S., Sky, W. T. H., Choi, H., et al. (2024) · Skin Research and Technology · doi:10.1111/srt.13730 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Ossa-Tabares, J. C., Llanos, C. J., & Garcı́a, A. M. (2020) · Biomédica · doi:10.7705/biomedica.5122 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“Su potencial terapéutico ha sido reconocido y se destacan sus propiedades antinflamatorias y antimicrobianas (1-4).”
BackgroundInfluentialEngineering nanofibers for cutaneous drug delivery systems and therapeutic applications
Pradhan, M., Basha, N. S., Sahu, K. K., et al. (2025) · Medicine in Novel Technology and Devices · doi:10.1016/j.medntd.2025.100386 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Cyclodextrin Applications in the Cosmetic Industry: A Review
Conesa, I., Vidal-Sánchez, F. J., Navarro‐Orcajada, S., et al. (2025) · Cosmetics · doi:10.3390/cosmetics12060244 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Finally, tea tree oil, extracted from Melaleuca alternifolia, exhibits antimicrobial activity against bacteria, viruses, moulds, and yeasts, and is therefore used in cosmetics for the treatment of acne, athlete’s foot, nail fungus, and mosquito bites [110].”
The Role of Herbal Plant Essential Oils in the Treatment of Acne Vulgaris
Kelvin, & Wijayadi, L. J. (2022) · Science Midwifery · doi:10.35335/midwifery.v10i4.764 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“In addition, this compound together with -terpineol compounds, suppresses the production of superoxide by monocytes (Ahmad & Popli, 2019).”
BackgroundEssential Oils as an Alternative to Synthetic Antiseptics in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products
Yusupova, U. Y., Tojiboeva, D. S., Mukhamatkhanova, R. F., & Dusmatova, D. E. (2026) · Chemistry & Biodiversity · doi:10.1002/cbdv.202503449 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“In addition, genetic (transcriptomic) analyses have demonstrated that these compounds downregulate genes associated with the ability of acne-causing bacteria, C. acnes and S. aureus , to cause disease [ 57 ].”
Phyto-nanomedicine for the Treatment of Autoimmune and Other Related Skin Disorders
Yadav, D. K., Sucheta, Vijayalakshmi, R., Yadav, R. K., Dubey, A., Minz, S., & Pradhan, M. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-63677-6_10 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Chasanah, U., Nurwiyanti, A., Miftakhurrohmah, A. S., et al. (2023) · KnE Medicine · doi:10.18502/kme.v3i2.13087 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Terpinene-4-ol is a compound that has broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity [7].”
BackgroundTHE CONTEMPORARY ISSUES RELATED TO CONVENTIONAL TREATMENT OF ACNE AND THE WAY FORWARD
Abubakar, A. B., & Abduljalal, A. S. (2024) · International Journal Of Trendy Research In Engineering And Technology · doi:10.54473/ijtret.2024.8301
- Authors
- Ahmad, S., Afsana, & Popli, H.
- Affiliations
- Delhi Pharmaceutical Science and Research University (IN)
- Venue
- Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics
- Publisher
- Society of Pharmaceutical Tecnocrats
- Published
- 2019-05-15
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 609-612
- ISSN
- 2250-1177 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3214500029
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Acne and Rosacea Treatments and Effects
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Essential Oils and Antimicrobial Activity
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Skin Protection and Aging
- Keywords
- tea tree oil, acne, monoterpenes, terpinen-4-ol, topical formulation, antimicrobial activity, antioxidant activity, allergenicity, liposomes, ethosomes, nanoformulations, natural medicine
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review