Calendula Oil and Surgical Scars: What the Evidence Covers
Calendula oil does not belong on a surgical wound that is still open, on stitches, or on anything your surgeon has told you to keep dry or covered. Once a scar has closed, calendula is an optional extra with very little evidence behind it, and the habits that dermatologists actually back for scars are sun protection, silicone and your surgeon's instructions. This page lays out what the research does and does not show, so you can decide where, if anywhere, an infused oil fits.
Calendula Oil
Our own small-batch calendula oil, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.
From $13.99
Shop Calendula Oil →First, which stage are you in?
Everything below depends on one distinction, and it is the one most product pages skip.
- Stitches, staples, glue, scab or any open area. Follow your surgeon's written instructions only. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) says to "follow your doctor's advice on how to care for the wound and when to get the stitches removed," and that if an injury is deep, very painful or infected you should seek immediate medical care (AAD, minimizing scars). We make an oil, not a sterile dressing. The FDA notes that cosmetics are not required to be sterile, and we make no sterility claim for ours, so it should not go into a wound.
- Closed, but still pink or raised. This is the stage where products are marketed hardest and where the evidence is thinnest. Keep reading.
- A scar that is getting thicker, painful, very itchy or larger than the original cut. That is a question for your surgeon or a dermatologist. The AAD scar page points to silicone and dermatologist care for these, and does not list oils.
What the dermatology sources put first
The AAD advice for a healed wound is plain: "Apply sunscreen to the wound after it has healed," using a broad-spectrum product of SPF 30 or higher, reapplied often, which the AAD says can help fade red or brown discoloration. For raised or persistent scars the AAD says silicone gel or sheets may be helpful, used after the wound has closed and worn "often for months" (AAD, scars). The evidence for silicone is itself modest: a 2013 Cochrane review of 20 trials in 873 people (O'Brien and Jones) found weak evidence of benefit for preventing abnormal scarring in high-risk people, and improvements in scar thickness and colour in trials it rated poor quality and highly susceptible to bias.
The same AAD page says of non-prescription products containing onion extract, vitamin A or vitamin E that "Research on how well these work is limited," and that you should speak to a board-certified dermatologist before using them. It does not mention oils at all. That is the honest baseline for calendula: it sits in the same limited-evidence category, and the best-supported steps do not involve it. If you are weighing it against another common home option, see our comparison with vitamin E oil.
The calendula studies, in order of how close they are to your scar
Almost all of this research used ointments, creams or standardized extracts, not an infused oil. Applying any of it to an oil is an inference.
- Cleft earlobe repair, 2025. In a split-ear trial of 35 patients (Kunjir et al., Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg), a 10% calendula ointment went on one earlobe and petroleum jelly on the other for 7 days, with scar scores on days 1, 7 and 15. Scores did not differ on day 1 (p=0.525) or day 7 (p=0.324) and did on day 15 (p<0.001). The abstract gives neither the direction nor the size of the difference, and day 15 is far too early to say anything about a final scar.
- Cesarean and episiotomy wounds. A 2018 Iranian trial of 72 women (Jahdi et al.) compared calendula ointment with routine care after cesarean section; its abstract reports no scores. A 2022 Italian trial of 100 women after episiotomy (De Angelis et al.) reported lower pain from day two with calendula ointment than with standard care. Both compared against routine care, not a placebo ointment, and episiotomy pain is not scarring.
- Systematic reviews. A 2023 review of essential-oil topicals for scars and wounds (Wang et al.) found only three eligible studies; one, a Hypericum-Calendula oil, was reported to have a smaller wound-perimeter area than control, and the authors noted a paucity of studies. A 2008 review (Leach, Wounds) found six randomised trials of topical calendula for wounds, only one of good quality, and called the evidence weak. A 2013 review in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (Reddy et al.) listed calendula among complementary products with some evidence of benefit in dermatologic surgery, noting that most studies were small and often flawed, and that contact dermatitis is a possible complication.
None of these followed people for six months, tested an infused oil on a mature surgical scar, or compared calendula with silicone or sun protection. A page that offers a month-by-month account of calendula "working" on a scar is not describing anything in this literature. For the broader wound evidence, see our review of the wound studies.
If your surgeon says the scar is closed and you still want to try it
- Ask first. A surgeon or dermatologist who knows your scar can tell you whether anything topical is a good idea, and which.
- Patch test. Calendula is an Asteraceae (Compositae) plant, and the EU herbal committee's 2018 monograph lists hypersensitivity to Asteraceae plants as a contraindication and notes skin sensitization has been reported, frequency unknown. In one Austrian patch-test series of 443 dermatitis patients (Reider et al., 2001), 9 (about 2%) reacted to marigold; those were clinic patients, not the public. Newly healed skin that turns red and itchy is hard to read, because a scar is already pink and tender, so test on the inner forearm before using it on the scar (our patch test article).
- Put sunscreen and silicone first, as the AAD does. An oil is not sun protection, and we make no SPF claim for ours.
- Know the carrier. Our oil is calendula extract brought into a carrier oil, and the carrier is on the batch paperwork: email the lot number to [email protected].
- Stop if anything stings, spreads or itches, and tell the surgeon.
Who should not use it on a scar
- Anyone with a daisy-family allergy or a past reaction to calendula.
- Anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, including after a cesarean: the EMA monograph says safety has not been established and use is not recommended. Ask your OB/GYN or midwife first. See also our pregnancy article.
- Children under 6, for whom the same monograph does not recommend skin use; ask a pediatrician.
- Anyone with a scar they do not remember getting. The AAD says to see a board-certified dermatologist right away, because skin cancer can resemble a scar.
For the record, what we can say firsthand is about the oil: dried flowers, in-house production, nothing added, every batch independently tested with documentation on request. What a scar does over six months is not something our paperwork can show, and the literature does not either. Treat calendula as a possible add-on after your surgeon says yes, and treat sun protection and silicone as the parts with the evidence.
Calendula Oil
Nature's Golden Botanical, bottled: small-batch calendula oil in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.
From $13.99
Shop Calendula Oil →Sources & Further Reading
- American Academy of Dermatology. Minimize a scar: proper wound care tips. aad.org, minimizing scars
- American Academy of Dermatology. Scars: diagnosis and treatment. aad.org, scars
- O'Brien L, Jones DJ, 2013. Silicone gel sheeting for preventing and treating hypertrophic and keloid scars. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. PMID 24030657
- Kunjir et al., 2025. Bilateral cleft earlobe rejuvenation with and without Calendula officinalis 10%. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. PMID 40093501
- Jahdi et al., 2018. The impact of calendula ointment on cesarean wound healing. J Family Med Prim Care. PMID 30598929
- De Angelis et al., 2022. Use of calendula ointment after episiotomy. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. PMID 32460565
- Wang et al., 2023. Effects of essential oils on scars and wound healing: a systematic review. Facial Plast Surg. PMID 36070793
- Leach MJ, 2008. Calendula officinalis and wound healing: a systematic review. Wounds. PMID 25941793
- Reddy et al., 2013. Common complementary and alternative therapies with potential use in dermatologic surgery. J Am Acad Dermatol. PMID 21890235
- FDA. Small Businesses & Homemade Cosmetics: Fact Sheet. fda.gov
- EMA/HMPC, 2018. European Union herbal monograph on Calendula officinalis L., flos. ema.europa.eu
- Reider et al., 2001. The seamy side of natural medicines. Contact Dermatitis. PMID 11722485