# Phytoderma ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Origin | Germany | | Headquarters | Seelze | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | Seelze, Germany (Kreuz-Apotheke, own manufacturing unit) | | Distribution | Pharmacy | | Website | https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/product/phytoderma/ | Phytoderma is a German skincare brand made and sold by the Kreuz-Apotheke, a family-owned pharmacy in Seelze, a town on the western edge of Hanover in Lower Saxony. It consists of a single product, Phytoderma Pflegecreme, a care cream for dry and stressed skin that the company recommends for both adults and babies. The pharmacy produces it in its own licensed manufacturing unit and says the cream is available in pharmacies throughout Germany [1]. The name is older than the current product. Phytoderma began as a burn and wound ointment, a licensed medicinal product developed by pharmacist Constantin Meyer and sold nationwide [4]. In autumn 2009 the pharmacy replaced it with the cosmetic Phytoderma Pflegecreme. The brand is active and remains on sale through German pharmacies. ## Origin & founders Phytoderma grew out of a pharmacy business that is far older than the brand itself. The Kreuz-Apotheke traces its roots to 1910, when Max Meyer opened the Kreuz-Drogerie, a drugstore, in Seelze [4]. Meyer came from a long line of pharmacists but had to abandon his own pharmacy studies after the preliminary examination, because his father could no longer pay the fees for a large family. He set up as a druggist instead. According to the company's chronicle, the early business went well beyond medicines: it also ran a wine wholesale trade and sold machine oil and lubricants to industrial customers, including the regional railway repair works. His son, Carl-Oscar Meyer, qualified as a pharmacist in 1938. In 1957, after German pharmacists gained the right to open their own premises, he turned the family's building on Hannoversche Straße into a full pharmacy. This is the Kreuz-Apotheke that makes Phytoderma today. The brand's own origin lies with the next generation. Constantin Meyer, Carl-Oscar's son, finished his pharmacy studies in Freiburg in 1970 and took over the business from his father in 1973. The pharmacy's chronicle dates the takeover to September 1973 [4], while the personal timeline on its team page lists October 1973 [2]. It was Constantin Meyer who developed the original Phytoderma ointment. The company has not published the year in which that ointment first went on sale, so the brand's exact age is unknown; it is clear only that it predates the 2009 relaunch. ## History & milestones The pharmacy has a long tradition of making medicines rather than only dispensing them. Under Carl-Oscar Meyer it worked as a supply pharmacy for STADA, a cooperative of German pharmacists that set out to replace the countless house remedies of individual pharmacies with standard preparations of identical composition and packaging. The Kreuz-Apotheke produced STADA medicines under licence, both for its own use and for other pharmacies. The chronicle notes that Carl-Oscar's grandfather, Oscar Meyer, was among STADA's founding figures. In 1977 the Kreuz-Apotheke received a manufacturing permit under § 13 of the German Medicines Act, which allowed it to produce and test licensed medicinal products of its own and on behalf of other companies [4]. This permit is the legal basis on which the pharmacy still runs its production today. The decisive change for Phytoderma came in the late 2000s. Dr. Thomas Meyer, Constantin's son, worked on the re-registration of the company's own licensed medicines, a group that included the Phytoderma burn and wound ointment. At about the same time, the pharmacy consolidated its production of creams, ointments and liquids into a new manufacturing area on the building's second floor between 2007 and 2008. Phytoderma was produced in the new area from 2009. In autumn 2009 the company completed the project by launching two successor products: the cosmetic Phytoderma Pflegecreme and a medicinal cold ointment, Tauwetter Neu [4]. The relaunch moved Phytoderma from the category of licensed medicines into that of cosmetics. The chronicle does not explain the reasons behind that choice. ## Ownership Phytoderma is not a standalone company. It is a house brand of the Kreuz-Apotheke Seelze, which holds the manufacturing licence and makes the cream. German online pharmacies list the maker as "Kreuz-Apotheke C. Meyer" [6]. The pharmacy has stayed in the Meyer family throughout its history, and the company describes itself as having invested in the business for four generations. Its current owner and head pharmacist is Dr. Thomas Meyer [2], who has also led the pharmacy's quality control since 2004. Born in Hanover in 1973, he studied pharmacy in Freiburg and earned a doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry there in 2001. Beyond the main pharmacy, the family group runs two branch pharmacies in Seelze: the Adler-Apotheke, which dates back to 1893, and the Obentraut-Apotheke, opened by Carl-Oscar Meyer in 1973. Constantin Meyer, who developed the original Phytoderma ointment, died in 2019. Phytoderma shares its maker with two other products that the pharmacy sells beyond its own counter: Tauwetter Neu, the cold ointment launched alongside the cream, and Medica Mill Kamillenextrakt, a herbal chamomile extract classed as a medicinal product. The company presents the three together as "our products from Seelze". ## Philosophy & positioning Phytoderma is positioned as a simple, pharmacy-made care cream rather than a cosmetics line. The company describes the cream as relying on plant ingredients that have traditionally been used in skin care, and presents it as a protective cream for dry and stressed skin. It does not name those plant ingredients on its product page, and no full ingredient list is published there. The maker sees two main uses. For adults, the company says the cream cares for rough, cracked and strained skin on the face and hands, the kind of skin that weather tends to chap. For babies, it describes the cream as particularly suitable for the delicate skin of infants and toddlers, and says it helps protect the nappy area from wetness and soreness [3]. This positioning reflects the pharmacy's wider view of itself. In a statement on the company's team page, Thomas Meyer contrasts mail-order selling, which he says anyone can do, with what he calls the pharmacy's real field: pharmaceutical expertise, from manufacturing through patient advice to home delivery. Phytoderma, made on the premises and sold through pharmacies, fits that self-image. ## Products & innovation The range consists of one product, Phytoderma Pflegecreme. It is sold in 50 ml, 100 ml and 200 ml sizes, and the 50 ml size carries the German pharmacy product number PZN 05502700 [6]. The cream is made in Seelze, in the pharmacy's own production unit. According to the company, the Kreuz-Apotheke operates as a pharmaceutical manufacturer with a permit under § 13 of the German Medicines Act and holds a current GMP certificate, the quality standard for producing medicines [5]. Besides its own medicines and cosmetics, the unit takes on contract manufacturing of creams, ointments and liquid medicines for other companies. The cream thus carries the name of a former licensed burn and wound ointment, but the present product is sold as a cosmetic. No third-party certifications for the cream itself, such as organic or natural-cosmetics labels, are documented. ## Current status Phytoderma is active. The Kreuz-Apotheke continues to make the cream in Seelze and lists it among its own products on its website, alongside monthly updates that ran into October 2026. The maker states that the cream can be ordered through any pharmacy in Germany [1], and in October 2026 the German online pharmacy Aponeo listed the 50 ml tube as available, with the 100 ml and 200 ml sizes also listed [6]. Phytoderma is distributed in Germany only, and its presence online runs through the pharmacy's own website. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 1910 | Parent business founded: Max Meyer opens the Kreuz-Drogerie in Seelze (predecessor of the Kreuz-Apotheke that makes Phytoderma) | https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/ueber-uns/chronik/ | | 1977 | Kreuz-Apotheke receives permission under § 13 AMG to manufacture and test licensed medicinal products of its own and under contract | https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/ueber-uns/chronik/ | | 2009 | Phytoderma produced in the pharmacy's new manufacturing area on the 2nd floor (manufacturing area for semi-solid and liquid forms consolidated there 2007-2008) | https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/ueber-uns/chronik/ | | 2009 | Autumn 2009: market launch of the successor product, the cosmetic Phytoderma Pflegecreme, concluding Dr. Thomas Meyer's (re-)registration work on the company's own products | https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/ueber-uns/chronik/ | | — | Original Phytoderma burn and wound ointment (Brand- und Wundsalbe), a licensed medicinal product developed by Constantin Meyer and sold across Germany (year not stated) | https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/ueber-uns/chronik/ | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Phytoderma Pflegecreme** — Phytoderma Pflegecreme ist mit ihren zur Hautpflege traditionell eingesetzten pflanzlichen Inhaltsstoffen bewährt als Schutz und Pflege von trockener und beanspruchter Haut. Phytoderma Pflegecreme ist besonders geeignet für die zarte Haut von Säuglingen und Kleinkindern. — https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/product/phytoderma/ ## Sources 1. (T1) https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/ 2. (T1) https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/ueber-uns/team/ 3. (T2) https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/product/phytoderma/ 4. (T2) https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/ueber-uns/chronik/ 5. (T2) https://kreuzapotheke-seelze.de/arzneimittel-herstellung/ 6. (T4) https://www.aponeo.de/05502700-phytoderma-pflegecreme.html --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-13 Please cite with a link to the article URL.