Corresponding writer Dr. Molly Hales (left) and senior writer Dr. Tara Lagu (proper) evaluate a TikTok video from the examine. Credit score: Northwestern College
It seems when teenagers on TikTok say, “Get ready with me,” it may be extra dangerous than they could understand.
Within the first peer-reviewed examine to look at the potential dangers and advantages of sweet sixteen skin-care routines posted on social media, scientists at Northwestern Drugs discovered ladies aged 7 to 18 are utilizing a mean of six completely different merchandise on their faces, with some ladies utilizing greater than a dozen merchandise. These merchandise are typically marketed closely to youthful customers and carry a excessive danger of pores and skin irritation and allergy, the examine discovered.
The findings had been revealed within the journal Pediatrics.
Every teen’s each day skin-care routine prices a mean of $168 (which the authors estimate usually lasts a month relying on the scale of the merchandise), with some costing greater than $500, the examine discovered. As summer season nears, the examine authors cautioned that solely 26% of daytime skin-care regimens included sunscreen—arguably crucial skin-care product for any age vary, however notably for teenagers.
The highest-viewed movies contained a mean of 11 doubtlessly irritating energetic components, the examine discovered, placing the content material creators susceptible to growing pores and skin irritation, solar sensitivity and a pores and skin allergy often called allergic contact dermatitis. Prior proof has proven that growing such an allergy can restrict the sorts of soaps, shampoos and cosmetics customers can apply for the remainder of their lives.
“That high risk of irritation came from both using multiple active ingredients at the same time, such as hydroxy acids, as well as applying the same active ingredient unknowingly over and over again when that active ingredient was found in three, four, five different products,” mentioned corresponding writer Dr. Molly Hales, a postdoctoral analysis fellow and board-certified dermatologist within the division of dermatology at Northwestern College Feinberg College of Drugs.
For instance, in a single video included within the examine, the content material creator utilized 10 merchandise on her face in six minutes.
“As she’s applying the products, she begins to express discomfort and burning, and in the final few minutes, she develops a visible skin reaction,” mentioned senior writer Dr. Tara Lagu, adjunct lecturer of drugs and medical social sciences at Feinberg and a former Northwestern Drugs hospitalist.
Movies ’emphasised lighter, brighter pores and skin’
“We saw that there was preferential, encoded racial language in some cases that really emphasized lighter, brighter skin,” Lagu mentioned. “I think there also were real associations between use of these regimens and consumerism.”
These movies supply little to no profit for the pediatric populations they’re concentrating on, the examine authors concluded. What’s extra, given how the algorithms work, it is practically not possible for folks or pediatricians to trace precisely what youngsters or adolescents are viewing. Lastly, there are risks past pores and skin injury, Hales mentioned.
“It’s problematic to show girls devoting this much time and attention to their skin,” Hales mentioned. “We’re setting a very high standard for these girls. The pursuit of health has become a kind of virtue in our society, but the ideal of ‘health’ is also very wrapped up in ideals of beauty, thinness and whiteness. The insidious thing about ‘skin care’ is that it claims to be about health.”
Within the examine, Hales and one other researcher every created a brand new TikTok account, reporting themselves to be 13 years previous. The “For You” tab was used to view related content material till 100 distinctive movies had been compiled.
They collected demographics of content material creators, quantity and varieties of merchandise used and complete value of regimens after which created a listing of merchandise used and their energetic and inactive components.
The Pediatric Baseline Sequence utilized in patch testing was used to establish components with elevated danger of inducing allergic contact dermatitis.
Extra info:
Pediatric Pores and skin Care Regimens on TikTok, Pediatrics (2025).
Supplied by
Northwestern College
Quotation:
TikTok skin-care routines may put teenagers susceptible to lifelong allergy (2025, June 9)
retrieved 9 June 2025
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