Is your daily moisturizer ruining your skin?

Figure 1: An advertisement reminding viewers to always use sunscreen. Source: http://www.25af.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2001587349/ (accessed Feb 1st, 2018)

It seems that people are constantly on the search for a product that will keep their skin looking nice, wrinkle-free and youthful as long as possible. What these people don't realize is that the magical product has been sitting on their washroom counter all along! Soap? Shaving cream? No! It's, Sunscreen! Sunscreen helps protect your skin from the harmful ultraviolet rays emitted from the sun [1]. An important ingredient in many sunscreens is octocrylene. Octocrylene is a chemical that absorbs short-wave UVA and UVB rays from the sun, thus protecting the skin from potential DNA damage [1].

Octocrylene can be found in a wide variety of products, ranging from moisturizers to lip balms to tanning oils [2]. The chemical octocrylene allows these products to protect your skin from sun damage! Even better, octocrylene is believed to have emollient and anti-inflammatory properties [3]. The emollient properties give octocrylene a moisturizing effect, while the anti-inflammatory properties can inhibit edema [3]. Octocrylene works great as an emulsifier, easily combining with other oils [2]. Of course, nothing can be perfect. While octocrylene does have sun protection abilities, its effects are weak alone [2]. However, octocrylene is chemically stable and has the ability to boost the photo stability of other sunscreen ingredients, resulting in a stronger product [2].

While essentially non-toxic to us humans, it has been found to have long lasting harmful effect to organisms living in water. So if fishies are your best friends, this may be an ingredient to stay away from. Along with being harmful to aquatic organisms, octocrylene has also been found to cause allergic and photoallergic reactions in adults and children, and contact dermatitis in children [4][5]. These reactions on the skin are very easy to notice (who doesn't notice a red, itchy rash on their face?), so if you happen to be one of the unfortunate people who develop allergies to this product, you may want to look into some alternative choices. An alternative choice is sunscreens without octocrylene as an ingredient, or mineral sunscreens [4]. Be careful with those mineral ones though, you might look like a mime when you step out of the house!

References
[1] Octocrylene. (2015, November 10). Retrieved February 01, 2018, from http://www.advanced-dermatology.com/au/octrocrylene
[2] Octocrylene. Retrieved February 01, 2018, from https://www.thedermreview.com/octocrylene/
[3] Octocrylene. (2014, September). Retrieved February 01, 2018, from http://wisderm.com/ingredients/octocrylene#2-skin-penetration
[4] Gilaberte Y., Carrascosa, J.M. Sun Protection in Children: Realities and Challenges. Actos Dermosifiliogr. 2014;105:253-262. DOI: 10.1016/j.adengl.2013.05.006
[5] Avenel-Audran, M., Dutarte, H., Goossens, A., Jeanmougin, M., Comte, C., Bernier, C., Benkalfate, L., Michel, M., Ferrier-Leboudedec, M.C., Vigan, M., Bourrain, J.L., Outtas, O., Peyron, J.L., Martin, L. Octocrylene, an Emerging Photoallergen. Arch Dermatol, 2010;146(7):753-757. doi:10.1001/archdermatol.2010.132