Centella asiatica in dermatology: an overview.

Centella asiatica is a medicinal plant that was already used as a 'panacea' 3000 years ago. The active compounds include pentacyclic triterpenes, mainly asiaticoside, madecasosside, asiatic acid and madecassic acid. We have conducted an overview to summarize current knowledge on the results of scientific in vitro and in vivo experiments focused on the improvement of the healing process of small wounds, hypertrophic scars and burns by C. asiatica. In this paper, we discuss the data on constituents, recommended preparations and the potential side effects of C. asiatica.