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Skincare Ingredients to Avoid: A Dermatologist's Perspective — Transcript

by Dr Dray · 3,349 words · 516 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Skincare ingredients to avoid. I'm a
0:02boardcertified dermatologist. Let's
0:05discuss. This is a topic that is very
0:08confusing, stresses people out, and
0:10spoiler alert. The internet, the
0:12internet of all places, imagine,
0:15imagine, who would have thought, has
0:16over complicated something like when
0:19does that ever happen? I'm being
0:21sarcastic. There are lists, apps,
0:24ingredient checkers, commandments put
0:26forward from skincare gurus of
0:28ingredients one must avoid. Either
0:31claiming they're poor cloggers, they're
0:33endocrine disruptors, they're bad for
0:35your health. The number one reason why
0:37an individual would have to be hyper
0:40vigilant with regards to the ingredients
0:43in their skinincare products is if they
0:46have an established allergy to a
0:48particular ingredient. That's known as
0:49an allergic contact dermatitis. And it
0:52can happen to products or ingredients
0:53that you have been using for a long
0:55time. By definition, that's kind of how
0:57it happens. Most people will go their
0:58entire lives without ever developing
1:01allergic contact dermatitis. But certain
1:02groups are at greater risk, such as
1:05those who have attopic dermatitis and
1:07various other types of eczemas. People
1:09who work in certain occupations,
1:11especially if they do a lot of what we
1:12call wet work, meaning getting their
1:14hands wet. And allergic contact
1:16dermatitis can happen to pretty much any
1:19ingredient. It can affect any body
1:21sight, but more delicate areas are going
1:23to respond more robustly, like your
1:25eyelids, the size of your neck. You can
1:27develop an allergy not only to
1:28ingredients in skincare products, but to
1:31other things that might come in contact
1:32with your skin, like household cleaning
1:34products, occupational exposures,
1:36clothing, those little antimold sachets.
1:39you need to see a board-certified
1:41dermatologist if that is something that
1:43you think might be going on because we
1:45do a special type of test called patch
1:47testing to determine what allergen you
1:49are allergic to and then moving forward
1:51you have to avoid it. So those people
1:54who have a confirmed patch test
1:56established contact dermatitis allergic
1:58contact dermatitis to a particular
2:00ingredient they have to be really
2:01vigilant. Common allergens that end up
2:04being the culprits that we find when we
2:07do this testing are fragrance, certain
2:10preservatives like methyl isothiolinone,
2:12methyl chloroothiolinone.
2:15People might develop this contact
2:17dermatitis on their lips to various lip
2:19care products that contain not only
2:22flavorant aka fragrance, but also
2:24propololis, beeswax, lenoline. Certain
2:27essential oils are also common contact
2:30allergens. Scenario number two, where
2:32you need to proceed with caution with
2:34regards to certain ingredients in your
2:36skincare routine boils down to the
2:38location, location, location, location.
2:40Meaning, where are you putting these
2:42things exactly? Because, as I suggested,
2:44there are certain areas of the body that
2:46are a lot more accepting, if you will,
2:48and taking up different skinincare
2:51products, ingredients, and therefore
2:52those ingredients are a lot more likely
2:54to cause irritation. As I already
2:56mentioned, eyelid skin, it's very thin.
2:58It's very delicate. You need to be a
3:00little bit more mindful of what
3:02ingredients you put to eyelid skin.
3:04Hence the popularity of various eye
3:06creams, many of which are formulated to
3:08be a lot gentler around delicate eyelid
3:11skin. Less likely to cause irritation.
3:12But but but spoiler alert, you can still
3:15have problems to tried and true quote
3:17unquote eye creams that you might not
3:19have had you not gone after an eye cream
3:21in the first place. Also, the next skin
3:23is a lot more delicate. anywhere where
3:25you have skin on skin contact because
3:28you need to be aware of the factors
3:30going on in these locations that make
3:32irritation to ingredients more likely.
3:35For example, under the arms, in the
3:36abdominal fold area, in the groin area,
3:39under the breast, between the butt
3:41cheeks, you have skin on skin contact.
3:43What happens is moisture is trapped
3:45there from sweat and you have friction.
3:49Friction plus moisture leads to
3:51impairment of barrier integrity and
3:53enhanced penetration of things and can
3:55be very irritating. Similar to the fact
3:57that you can become allergic to pretty
3:59much any ingredient out there. Pretty
4:01much any ingredient out there might be
4:02irritating to you. But I like to focus
4:04on what I call the big three. Big three
4:08ingredients that you really want to be
4:10strategic, mindful, and perhaps avoid in
4:13these more sensitive areas. alpha
4:15hydroxy acids which as a reminder are
4:17actually an umbrella category of many
4:19different ingredients most commonly
4:21glycolic acid lactic acid and mandelic
4:23acid also salicylic acid and we'll say
4:27active forms of topical vitamin A
4:29whether it be prescription like tininoan
4:31tarotene triferitine adapylene which is
4:34also over the counter here in the US or
4:36cosmetic retinol or retinaldahhide are
4:38fine to use on the face right fine to
4:41use on various body locations but around
4:43the eyelids these These ingredients can
4:45be particularly irritating on the neck.
4:47They can lead to a lot of skin
4:48irritation under the armpits. They
4:51definitely can. In fact, right now, a
4:53lot of people love to put glycolic acid
4:55under their armpits in order to control
4:57body odor, but that can end up leading
5:00to a lot of irritation. In fact, many
5:02skin conditions that end up happening
5:04under the arm. The treatments that we
5:06use to treat those things when they
5:08happen on the face or the rest of the
5:10body, they end up not being well
5:11tolerated because of the nature of
5:13underarm skin. It's delicate, moisture
5:15trapping, friction, and that can lead to
5:17a lot of irritation. these active
5:19medicated ingredients end up being so
5:21poorly tolerated in those areas and
5:23sometimes causing way too much
5:24irritation that lends itself to a whole
5:26host of new skin problems that it's not
5:28even worth considering those ingredients
5:30in those situations. Another ingredient
5:32that you want to avoid on the eyelids,
5:35but is pretty well tolerated under the
5:37arms and in the skin folds provided you
5:39are rinsing it off of the skin in a wash
5:42form is benzol peroxide. Now, benzol
5:44peroxide is very effective acne
5:46treatment, but it can be really drying
5:48and it can cause a lot of irritation no
5:50matter where you're using it. Using it
5:52in a rinse off form like a cleanser as
5:54opposed to a leave-on form reduces the
5:56risk of irritation, but eyelid skin is
5:58like no thanks. So, I don't suggest
6:00washing your eyes with a benzo peroxide
6:03cleanser. And that's important because a
6:05lot of people will be instructed to use
6:06a benzol peroxide facial wash to wash
6:09their face as a way to help their acne
6:11because it is an active over-the-counter
6:13acne medication, but they may not be
6:15aware of the fact that they should not
6:16be using it to wash their eyelids. It
6:18can cause tremendous eyelid irritation,
6:21especially if you're using a higher
6:22percentage benzo peroxide like the 10%
6:25cleansers that are out there and very
6:27effective for acne, but not so great for
6:29your eyelids. What do you do if you feel
6:31as though you are developing skin
6:33irritation to a particular ingredient,
6:36whether it be on your lips, your
6:37eyelids, the rest of your face? How do
6:39you know? Well, like I said, it's best
6:41to see a board-certified dermatologist
6:43to know exactly what is going on and to
6:45help you figure out what the culprit
6:47ingredient is. One skincare product you
6:50hear me recommend all of the time, all
6:53of the time is petroleum jelly, name
6:56brand Vaseline, but it certainly does
6:58not have to be the name brand version.
7:00There are store versions out there that
7:03um are the same thing, just 100%
7:05prolotum. that product is one of the
7:07safest things you can put on your skin
7:09and very low almost no risk of allergic
7:13contact dermatitis developing to it can
7:15cause irritation for some people um
7:17especially in the heat and the humidity
7:19but it is a very safe thing to put on
7:21the skin especially when you don't know
7:23if you have developed an allergy to
7:24something and you're having problems
7:26with the skincare products that you are
7:28using I often will recommend that as a
7:30lip balm for people who are dealing with
7:32chronically dry chapped lips because
7:34they may have developed an allergy to
7:36something that is commonly found in most
7:38lip balms or that um maybe even they're
7:40irritated by it. And petroleum jelly is
7:43like the ultimate free of product
7:46because it's free of the majority of
7:48allergens, potential allergens, and
7:51tends to not be irritating on the lips
7:52at least. And it also protects the skin
7:55from another culprit that could make a
7:57particular ingredient even more
7:59problematic for you and is relevant to
8:01the mouth, the lips, the corners of the
8:04mouth, around the mouth, and that is
8:05saliva. Saliva is uh something that can
8:09actually be a culprit in chapped lips,
8:11irritated lips, skin, frequent lip
8:13licking, chewing gum, all of those
8:15things can end up being the culprit.
8:17Petroleum jelly can act as a barrier to
8:19protect your skin from the saliva, which
8:21is irritating. Things get a little bit
8:23more tricky when we are talking about
8:25ingredients to avoid during pregnancy. I
8:28think there is a lot of misleading
8:30information out there. A lot of
8:32fear-mongering. For the most part, I
8:35will say the vast majority of skin care
8:38products out there are not anything that
8:41anyone would need to concern themselves
8:43about with regards to their safety
8:45during pregnancy. There's not an
8:47established face wash, face cream that
8:50is quote unquote pregnancy safe or
8:52pregnancy unsafe. And that's just a lot
8:54of misleading information. People will
8:57misrepresent certain scientific studies
8:59with regards to ingredients maybe in
9:01unrealistic conditions or not even
9:03relevant to what is actually used in
9:05skincare and use that to terrify
9:07pregnant women that they should buy
9:08certain products over others because
9:10they could cause hormone disruption or
9:12something of that sort. So, for the most
9:15part, that is not the case. There is an
9:17exception as far as an ingredient that
9:19you might buy over the counter that you
9:21don't want to use during pregnancy, and
9:23that is what I call active vitamin A,
9:25whether it be the cosmetic stuff,
9:27retinol or retinaldahhide or the
9:29prescription stuff, tininoan, uh,
9:31tazeritine, triferitine, adapylene,
9:34those we caution not to use during
9:38pregnancy. And a while ago, I did a
9:40video really doing a deep dive on why it
9:42is this is recommended. And it's it's
9:44actually not as scary as it sounds.
9:46Turns out there's really no proof, per
9:49se, that applying any of these
9:50ingredients to the skin actually ends up
9:52causing any kind of harm to a developing
9:54baby. It is merely a recommendation out
9:57of a super abundance of caution because
10:00if you're not familiar here, we're
10:02talking about the stuff that you put on
10:03your skin. The active forms of vitamin A
10:05that you take by mouth like isotininoan
10:08aka Accutane, acetrin aka psoriotane or
10:12vitamin A supplements, they are
10:14tteratogens very harmful to the
10:16developing baby. So very very much not
10:19safe. Their topical equivalents on the
10:21other hand we just say all right no one
10:24no one's going to test if that's that's
10:26good or bad. I mean just think about
10:28that for a minute. That is unethical.
10:30that's an uneth unethical testing to go
10:33about conducting. So, out of an
10:34abundance of caution, it's like we don't
10:36really know. While there's no evidence
10:38that it causes harm, let's just say no.
10:40Let's just say we're not going to do it
10:41and make peace with that. It's 9 months.
10:43Let's just make peace with that. Um, you
10:45will find, however, certain medical
10:47scenarios where a topical vitamin A is
10:50really necessary. And there you'll find
10:52physicians using it for their patients
10:54during pregnancy and it being okay. I'm
10:56telling you guys this not to green
10:58light. Okay, go ahead and use these
11:00ingredients during pregnancy. But I'm
11:01telling you this because a lot of times
11:03what ends up happening is that people
11:05use these ingredients in their skincare
11:07routine. They follow my videos hyping
11:10them up and then surprise surprise they
11:12find out they've been pregnant for the
11:13past however many weeks. They didn't
11:15know and they're terrified. They're
11:17terrified that they have done something
11:19irreversible and harmful. And hopefully
11:21this puts your mind at ease. If you want
11:23more information, definitely check out
11:24that video. All of the lore with regards
11:26to certain sunscreen ingredients or
11:28skincare product ingredients outside of
11:31that topical vitamin A that we just
11:33mentioned is just that it's lore.
11:35There's no reason to believe that any of
11:37that is unsafe during pregnancy. Also
11:39breastfeeding is there's nothing
11:41skinare-wise, even active topical
11:44medication wise that is not safe to use
11:47during breastfeeding because the
11:48likelihood of absorption into the body
11:51making its way into the breast milk to
11:54lead to problems to the baby. It's just
11:56not there. A lot of people will say, can
11:58you recommend a breastfeeding safe
12:00alternative to retinol? topical retinol
12:02or any form of topical vi topical
12:04vitamin A that you apply to the skin is
12:06safe during breastfeeding. As long as
12:08you're not putting it on the breast and
12:10then putting baby right on there to
12:11nurse it off, uh it's more than fine.
12:14It's more than fine. What about
12:15ingredients and sunscreens? A lot of
12:17people hear these inflammatory reports
12:19with regards to the fact that certain
12:21chemical sunscreen ingredients can be
12:23detected in the bloodstream following
12:25topical application. And there's a lot
12:26of scary headlines around this, like,
12:28"Oh my gosh, scientists discover high
12:30amount excessively far exceeding the
12:32threshold amounts." They make it sound
12:34really scary. And in reality, exceeding
12:37the threshold amounts actually is still
12:41incredibly negligible. And there's no
12:43evidence that detected in the
12:45bloodstream equates to harm to human
12:47health. There's not been any established
12:50or even suggested confirmed adverse
12:52effect to any human from applying
12:54sunscreens. no matter the ingredients to
12:56the skin. So, as you can see, there's
12:58really not a whole heck of a lot out
13:00there that you should be strictly
13:02avoiding unless you know the the one
13:05situation where we can say 100% you've
13:07got to be extremely vigilant with
13:09avoiding this ingredient is if you are
13:12allergic to it. If you you have a patch
13:14test confirmed allergy to a particular
13:16ingredient, then absolutely. Some people
13:19feel as though or notice within
13:21themselves that if they use a particular
13:22ingredient causes problems for them.
13:24It's like a pattern that they've they've
13:26picked up on. And I say pay attention to
13:28that. Also, keep in mind that the
13:29presence of an ingredient in one product
13:31may not necessarily mean that all
13:33products with that ingredient are going
13:35to be bad for you. Because aside from
13:37allergic contact dermatitis, again,
13:38where you got to be super vigilant
13:40because you have an allergy. Aside from
13:41that, an ingredient causing some
13:43problems for you and in one product
13:45doesn't necessarily mean that all
13:46products with that ingredient will cause
13:48problems for you because there's a lot
13:49of heterogeneity from product to product
13:51as far as the overall formulation and
13:53what can influence a given ingredients
13:55relative irritency to you. There are a
13:58couple of things out there that get
14:00perpetuated that have no basis in
14:02science and one of them is seeking out
14:04and avoiding strictly pore clogging
14:07ingredients. So there are some older
14:08studies done on um rabbit ear models u
14:12suggesting that certain ingredients
14:14might be ktogenic but those rabbit ear
14:16models didn't end up being
14:18representative of what actually happens
14:19in human skin. Those ingredients also
14:22are not utilized at those concentrations
14:25or in that way in skincare products. And
14:27so I find this whole rhetoric around
14:29pore clogging ingredients to be very
14:31unscientific and unhelpful. Um they're
14:33not really established ingredients that
14:35clog pores. Uh now you may find as
14:37someone with acne prone skin that if you
14:39use certain products that you find that
14:41you get more breakouts or something of
14:43that sort. And again I say pay attention
14:44to that for yourself. But to go online
14:47seeking out products or to have brands
14:50market products as not containing pore
14:52cloggers. Yeah. Um that's nonsense.
14:55There's not a list, in other words of
14:57products that are quote unquote acne
14:59safe or acne unsafe or poor clogging
15:02ingredients. There's not a list like
15:04that. it's not established. And like I
15:06said, an individual ingredient in one
15:08product may actually be a culprit for
15:10causing problems for you, but in another
15:12is totally fine. So, you see how that's
15:15not particularly helpful. The other
15:17nonsensical thing out there that can
15:19trap a lot of consumers is these
15:21ingredient checking apps like the Yuka
15:24app. Um, was it Think Dirty app? Was
15:26that a popular one a while ago? They
15:28have a couple of them. These ingredient
15:29checking apps are utter nonsense. Utter
15:32nonsense. They're not rooted in any
15:34science. They misrepresent small animal
15:36models, cells in a dish type research
15:39studies where the ingredient they're
15:41demonizing is not being tested in a way
15:43in which it's representative of how it's
15:46used in um skincare products. Um and a
15:48lot of these ingredient checking apps
15:50also have their own agenda as far as
15:52what they want to promote and not
15:54promote. So be mindful of that. That's
15:56not anything that any dermatologist or
15:59physician is out here using to guide
16:01patients. It's it's very anti-science,
16:03okay? There's no science behind those
16:05ingredient checking apps. Here's another
16:07thing I get a lot of questions about and
16:08honestly it's a bit beyond my area of
16:11expertise and that is with regards to
16:13phthalates in uh skinincare products. Um
16:16a lot of people are afraid of them. Now
16:17phthalates is actually a broad category.
16:19There are a lot of different phthalates.
16:21The ones that are actually in uh
16:23personal care products, whether it be
16:24skincare or cosmetics or hair care,
16:26they're not associated with um you know
16:29potential for harm. they're they're
16:31excluded. And there are a lot of great
16:32cosmetic scientists who debunk these
16:35myths like um Jen from the Echo Echoell
16:38or Michelle Labm up in Beauty Science.
16:40They have some really great posts um
16:42talking about the nuances of phthalates.
16:44But suffice it to say, you don't need to
16:46concern yourself with those. They're not
16:47going to disrupt your hormones. There's
16:49no proof as as a side note that any skin
16:51care product leads to hormonal
16:53abnormalities. Again, a lot of what
16:55causes people to generate those types of
16:58headlines and perpetuate that rhetoric.
17:00Simply misunderstanding of animal
17:02studies or what we call preclinical
17:04cells in a dish studies with a given
17:06ingredient in a very unrealistic
17:08scenario and not how it actually ends up
17:10playing out in how skincare products are
17:12formulated, for example, in real world
17:14use conditions. All right, guys. That's
17:16what I wanted to talk about in today's
17:18video with regards to ingredients to
17:20avoid. As you can see, it's pretty
17:22straightforward. If you're allergic to
17:23something, you got to be vigilant. I
17:25mean, that's like the most aggressive uh
17:27ingredient checking you you have to be.
17:29Um is if you've got a patch test
17:31confirmed allergy to to a given
17:33ingredient. The other scenario where you
17:35need to be real mindful of what you're
17:37using is location, location, location.
17:40Eyelid, neck, underarms, skin folds,
17:43groin, between your butt cheeks. Uh
17:45those are areas where you can get
17:47moisture trapping. You got skin on skin
17:49contact, friction, occlusion. Those are
17:51factors that make ingredients more
17:53likely to cause irritation. And certain
17:55ingredients for sure, I call them the
17:57big three. Retinoid, alpha hydroxy acid,
17:59salicylic acid can be really irritating
18:02in these locations. Um, I hope this
18:04video was helpful to you guys. Uh, if
18:06so, give it a thumbs up, share it with
18:08your friends, and as always, don't
18:09forget sunscreen and subscribe. I'll
18:11talk to you guys tomorrow. Bye.
18:16[Music]
18:28Heat. Heat.
18:30[Music]

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