According to dr. Alif Zulfugar, manager of the Naftalan Clinic, the oil used for therapeutic baths, known as Naftalan, is to heavy for industrial use, so it is only used for clinical purposes. It doesn’t get treated in any way, just loaded up in tankers and delivered to the clinic. Most of it is heated and poured into the basin for baths, but there are other treatments available, as well. The resin from the crude oil is extracted and painted on the patient’s limbs, helping the nervous and blood system and easing joint pain.

Even though the staff at Naftalan Clinic make sure patients are thoroughly cleaned after their baths, they all take a few drops of oil with them wherever they go, as their saturated skin oozes crude oil for a period of two-three days.