____ is used bleached or purified yellow wax.

• A. White ointment, USP
• B. Yellow Ointment, USP
• C. White Petrolatum, USP (White Vaseline)
• D. Petrolatum, USP (Vaselin)

Answer: (A)

Bleached or purified yellow wax is used to whiten an ointment base. White ointment, USP, is made by combining petrolatum with white wax that has been bleached to remove color, producing a white, non-tinted base. This whitening step is what distinguishes White ointment from the other bases: Yellow ointment uses yellow wax without bleaching and appears yellow; White petrolatum is simply petrolatum that has been purified to remove color but doesn’t rely on adding bleached wax for whiteness; Petrolatum, USP (Vaseline) is the general petrolatum base without the whitening wax modification. So the base that specifically uses bleached yellow wax to achieve a white color is White ointment, USP.