Drug & supplement interaction

Black Seed + Azelaic Acid

Azelaic Acid brand names: Azelex, Finacea.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 13, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Black Seed and Azelaic Acid in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Black Seed and Azelaic Acid

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Azelaic Acid and Black Seed in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Black Seed safety at a glance

Black Seed overall Use caution Likely safe in food amounts, but higher supplement doses are less studied long-term.
Pregnancy Likely Unsafe When used orally in amounts exceeding those found in food. Black seed may decrease or inhibit uterine contractions and may have contraceptive activity. Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Use caution Not enough reliable safety information, so it is best to avoid supplement doses.

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Azelaic Acid and Black Seed? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Azelaic Acid

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Azelaic Acid is filed under a single classification — topical drugs. Black Seed has documented interactions with 14 drug classes — the most serious being anticoagulant/antiplatelet drugs (moderate), antidiabetes drugs (moderate) and antihypertensive drugs (moderate) — and none of Azelaic Acid’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Black Seed Does Interact With Other Medications

Black Seed has 912 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Azelaic Acid isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 912 No known interaction 1,918 (incl. Azelaic Acid)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Black Seed

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Black Seed. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Black Seed and Azelaic Acid May Share a Side Effect

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so taking both can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do.

  • Itching Additional detail

    Black Seed

    “Orally, black seed can cause itching, but this adverse effect is rare. It has also been reported to cause bullous drug eruption and maculopapular eruption. Topically, black seed and its oil have been reported to cause allergic contact dermatitis. Rarely, topical use of the oil has been reported to cause a rash related to drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS).”

    Black Seed · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dermatitis.

    6 sources cited
    1. 94481. Farhangi MA, Dehghan P, Tajmiri S, Abbasi MM. The effects of Nigella sativa on thyroid function, serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) - 1, Nesfatin-1 and anthropometric features in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis: a randomized controlled
    2. 94480. Bonhomme A, Poreaux C, Jouen F, et al. Bullous drug eruption to Nigella sativa oil: Consideration of the use of a herbal medicine - clinical report and review of the literature. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2017;31:e217-e219.
    3. 100324. Dehavay F, Kolivras A, Scheers C. Local and systemic adverse skin reactions following the use of herbal products believed to contain Nigella sativa seeds and oil. Contact Dermatitis. 2019 Mar;80(3):176-177.
    4. 36053. Ali, B. H. and Blunden, G. Pharmacological and toxicological properties of Nigella sativa. Phytother.Res. 2003;17(4):299-305.
    5. 36296. al Sheikh, O. A. and Gad el-Rab, M. O. Allergic contact dermatitis: clinical features and profile of sensitizing allergens in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Int J Dermatol. 1996;35(7):493-497.
    6. 36297. Steinmann, A., Schatzle, M., Agathos, M., and Breit, R. Allergic contact dermatitis from black cumin (Nigella sativa) oil after topical use. Contact Dermatitis 1997;36(5):268-269.

    Azelaic Acid

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Azelaic Acid. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Black Seed but not commonly for Azelaic Acid: a severe skin reaction, stomach upset, kidney problems and liver problems.

Effects for Azelaic Acid come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Black Seed come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Special populations

Black Seed in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy Likely Unsafe

When used orally in amounts exceeding those found in food. Black seed may decrease or inhibit uterine contractions and may have contraceptive activity.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

From our Q&A

Questions About Black Seed or Azelaic Acid

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Black Seed or Azelaic Acid, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Azelaic Acid

This page covers Black Seed only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Azelaic Acid page lists 3 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Dimethylsulfoxide (dmso) (moderate), Turpentine Oil (moderate) and Alchemilla (minor).

By severity: 2 moderate · 1 minor.

Open the Azelaic Acid interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Black Seed as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 226 real supplement products containing Black Seed, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Black Seed. Even though Black Seed itself has no known interaction with Azelaic Acid, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Black Seed and Azelaic Acid Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Black Seed
Top 25%

#197 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Azelaic Acid
Top 25%

#417 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Black Seed reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Black Seed and Azelaic Acid records this page draws on were last updated July 11, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Black Seed

What is Black Seed?

Black Seed
  • Respiratory support (asthma, allergies, cough)
  • Digestive upset
  • Immune support
  • Blood sugar and cholesterol support
  • General inflammation

Black seed (Nigella sativa) is a traditional spice and remedy that has been studied for asthma, blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure, with early research showing some promise but no firmly proven benefits. It is generally well tolerated in food amounts, but supplement-strength doses are less studied, so talk to your pharmacist or doctor before using it—especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or take other medicines.

Nigella sativa · Ranunculaceae · Seeds and the oil pressed from the seeds · Whole seeds, ground powder, capsules, softgels, and cold-pressed oil

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Black Seed is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Black Seed record says about it on its own.

Black Seed: dosing

There is no official, standardized dose for black seed. Studies have used a wide range of amounts of seed powder or oil, and products vary a lot in strength.The safest approach is to follow the directions on the product label and start with the lowest suggested amount.

From our Black Seed monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Black Seed monograph & all interactions
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Black Seed

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Black Seed — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
912Moderate
0Minor
1,917No known interaction
912 Moderate 1,917 No interaction
Moderate

912 interactions

Showing 60 of 912 moderate interactions — see all 912 on the Black Seed page.

No interaction 1,917 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Black Seed against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 1,917 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Black Seed list.

See the full Black Seed interactions page
See every supplement checked against Azelaic Acid, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Black Seed References

The 60 references that drive our Black Seed monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. The Review of Natural Products by Facts and Comparisons. St. Louis, MO: Wolters Kluwer Co., 1999.
  2. Aqel M, Shaheen R. Effects of the volatile oil of black seed seeds on the uterine smooth muscle of rat and guinea pig. J Ethnopharmacol 1996;52:23-6.
  3. Keshri G, Singh MM, Lakshmi V, Kamboj VP. Post-coital contraceptive efficacy of the seeds of Black seed in rats. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 1995;39:59-62.
  4. Tennekoon KH, Jeevathayaparan S, Kurukulasooriya AP, Karunanayake EH. Possible hepatotoxicity of Nigella sativa seeds and Dregea volubilis leaves. J Ethnopharmacol 1991;31:283-9. PubMed
  5. Dehkordi FR, Kamkhah AF. Antihypertensive effect of Nigella sativa seed extract in patients with mild hypertension. Fundam Clin Pharmacol 2008;22:447-52.
  6. Zaoui, A., Cherrah, Y., Lacaille-Dubois, M. A., Settaf, A., Amarouch, H., and Hassar, M. [Diuretic and hypotensive effects of Nigella sativa in the spontaneously hypertensive rat]. Therapie 2000;55(3):379-382.
  7. Enomoto, S., Asano, R., Iwahori, Y., Narui, T., Okada, Y., Singab, A. N., and Okuyama, T. Hematological studies on black cumin oil from the seeds of Nigella sativa L. Biol.Pharm.Bull 2001;24(3):307-310. PubMed
  8. Meral, I., Yener, Z., Kahraman, T., and Mert, N. Effect of Nigella sativa on glucose concentration, lipid peroxidation, anti-oxidant defence system and liver damage in experimentally-induced diabetic rabbits. J Vet.Med A Physiol Pathol.Clin Med 2001;48(1
  9. Al Jishi, S. A. and Abuo, Hozaifa B. Effect of Nigella sativa on blood hemostatic function in rats. J Ethnopharmacol. 2003;85(1):7-14. PubMed
  10. Ali, B. H. and Blunden, G. Pharmacological and toxicological properties of Nigella sativa. Phytother.Res. 2003;17(4):299-305.
  11. Al Naggar, T. B., Gomez-Serranillos, M. P., Carretero, M. E., and Villar, A. M. Neuropharmacological activity of Nigella sativa L. extracts. J Ethnopharmacol. 2003;88(1):63-68. PubMed
  12. Kalus, U., Pruss, A., Bystron, J., Jurecka, M., Smekalova, A., Lichius, J. J., and Kiesewetter, H. Effect of Nigella sativa (black seed) on subjective feeling in patients with allergic diseases. Phytother.Res. 2003;17(10):1209-1214.
  13. Islam, S. N., Begum, P., Ahsan, T., Huque, S., and Ahsan, M. Immunosuppressive and cytotoxic properties of Nigella sativa. Phytother.Res. 2004;18(5):395-398.
  14. Fararh, K. M., Atoji, Y., Shimizu, Y., Shiina, T., Nikami, H., and Takewaki, T. Mechanisms of the hypoglycaemic and immunopotentiating effects of Nigella sativa L. oil in streptozotocin-induced diabetic hamsters. Res Vet.Sci 2004;77(2):123-129. PubMed
  15. Awad, E. M. and Binder, B. R. In vitro induction of endothelial cell fibrinolytic alterations by Nigella sativa. Phytomedicine 2005;12(3):194-202. PubMed

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Black Seed and Azelaic Acid Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Black Seed with Azelaic Acid?
We do not list a known interaction between Black Seed and Azelaic Acid. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Black Seed and Azelaic Acid have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to one of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
How was the Black Seed and Azelaic Acid combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Azelaic Acid is filed under 1 classification, and Black Seed has documented interactions with 14 drug classes — none of Azelaic Acid's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Black Seed interact with any other medications?
Yes. Black Seed has 912 documented drug interactions in our database — Azelaic Acid is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Azelaic Acid interact with any supplements?
Yes. Azelaic Acid has documented interactions with 3 supplements in our database — Black Seed is not one of them. The Azelaic Acid interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Where next

Keep Exploring

Black Seed monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Azelaic Acid supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Azelaic Acid, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 60 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Azelaic Acid and Black Seed?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.