Zinkoxide wordt uitwendig gebruik. De Martindale beschrijft het volgende over het gebruik van zinkoxide: ‘Zinc oxide is mildly astringent and is used topically as a soothing and protective application in eczema and slight excoriations, in wounds, and for haemorrhoids. It is also used with coal tar or ichthammol in the treatment of eczema. Zinc oxide reflects ultraviolet radiation and is used as a physical sunscreen’.
Zink zouten zoals zinkgluconaat, zinksulfaat en zinkacetaat worden als volgt beschreven in de Martindale: ‘Water-soluble zinc salts are used as supplements to correct zinc deficiency; for example, in malabsorption syndromes, during parenteral feeding, in conditions with increased body losses (trauma, burns, and protein-losing states), and in acrodermatitis enteropathica (a rare genetic disorder characterised by severe zinc deficiency). They have been tried in the treatment of a large number of conditions that may be related to zinc deficiency. Doses of zinc salts are usually expressed in terms of elemental zinc, and the following salts contain about
50 mg of zinc:
• zinc acetate (dihydrate) 168 mg
• zinc chloride 104 mg
• zinc citrate (trihydrate) 160 mg
• zinc gluconate 348 mg
• zinc sulfate (heptahydrate) 220 mg
De verhouding tussen zinkoxide en zinkzouten is moeilijk te maken gezien beiden een ander toepassingsgebied hebben.