Can I Use Medications That Contain Impermissible Ingredients for a Skin Condition, and Is My Prayer Valid with Such Medications on the Skin?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I have a skin condition in private areas that cause me to itch, resulting in skin coming off and wounds with pus/bleeding. The doctor has prescribed medication (Hydrocortisone Ointment 1% w/w), also containing wool fat (lanolin), amongst other ingredients. Another doctor prescribed Trimovate Cream.

If I apply to my affected areas and surrounding areas, would it spread impurity and impact the validity of Salah? Can I use these without worrying? What about other medications prescribed in the future?

The medication was prescribed months ago, and I haven’t used it because of my fear of impermissibility and impurity; my skin condition has not improved. These medications have ingredients that I’m unaware of, and I don’t know who to ask.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

The general rulings around medication with impermissible ingredients can be found in this link:
Is It Permissible to Use Medicine With Haram Ingredients?

Lanolin

Lanolin is a substance made from sheep’s wool. The sheep are not killed to extract this ingredient.

Sheep’s wool is permissible and pure. [Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]

Trimovate Cream

Trimovate Cream is also permissible. It does contain cetostearyl alcohol, which is permitted in the Hanafi school, as you will find in the above link.

Hope this helps
Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.