Petroleum is said to have been used as a medicine since 400 BC, and has been mentioned in the texts of classical writers Herodotus, Plutarch, Dioscorides, Pliny, and others.

"[1] After Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane, who was then Chief Surgeon of Guy's Hospital, recommended it as a treatment for intestinal stasis and chronic constipation in 1913, liquid paraffin gained more popularity.

[citation needed] Liquid paraffin is primarily used as a pediatric laxative in medicine and is a popular treatment for constipation and encopresis.

It acts primarily as a stool lubricant, and is thus not associated with abdominal cramps, diarrhea, flatulence, disturbances in electrolytes, or tolerance over long periods of usage, side effects that osmotic and stimulant laxatives often engender (however, some literature suggests that these may still occur).

These traits make the drug ideal for chronic childhood constipation and encopresis, when large doses or long-term usage is necessary.

[citation needed] Upon being taken orally, liquid paraffin might interfere with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, though evidence does not seem to fully support this.