Oxybenzone – Critical sun block ingredient or melasma trigger?
April 28th, 2009
I came across some information about oxybenzone, an active ingredient in different varieties of sun block. While oxybenzone is deemed safe by the Skin Cancer Foundation, a few studies have shown that there may be a correlation with hormone disruption.
The body misinterprets the chemical to be a hormone. Its even possible that the body could think the chemical is estrogen, which is not good for melasma. Estrogen is one of the reasons why we have melasma in the first place.
So what does this mean for us melasma sufferers who are emphatic about wearing sun block and serious about keeping our estrogen levels down? Unfortunately, its not real clear.
But to me, it’s not worth taking any risks so I won’t be using sun block containing oxybenzone any time soon. Here are a few sun blocks that do not contain oxybenzone, including my favorite tried and true, DDF Organic Sun Protection.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Melasma, Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 28th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I took a look at the DDF sunscreen as I’m in the market. I have my reservations about something that calls itself “organic sun protection” when it lists ingredients that only a lab rat could love (ie Lauryl PEG-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, is that an organic constituent of what?)