The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7439 p184
17 February 2007

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Lavender oil and gynaecomastia

Repeated topical exposure to lavender and tea tree oils has been proposed as the likely cause of three cases of prepubertal gynaecomastia reported in The New England Journal of Medicine earlier this month.

US researchers performed studies using human cell lines to investigate the observed association between use of the oils and the condition in three boys. The in vitro studies indicate that the oils have oestrogenic and anti-androgenic activities (2007;356:479).