BOTTOM LINE
In this highly selective group of patients with recurrent epistaxis, petroleum jelly (Vaseline) applied twice daily for 4 weeks did not reduce the number of bleeds in the subsequent 4 weeks. This should make you question this commonly recommended treatment. But don’t abandon it just yet, since it may work in children with less severe disease in the primary care setting, and because there was potential for recall bias by parents in this study. (LOE=2b)