moisturizers in the news

bitmover

bitmover

Cathlete
Anyone see this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/2008081...cerinmousestudy;_ylt=A0WTUcZWm6RITx0BUQes0NUE

what do you think? Having had melanoma, and being a big facial product user, I'm not thrilled to see this news! My friend who had a worse go-in with melanoma than I did, so stays on top of the research a lot better said what he's read is that they're even finding evidence that sunscreen causes other cancers that go into the adipose tissue, and even melanoma. My husband has been telling me for years I shouldn't be so heavy handed with the sunscreen. His theory being that skin cancer is a lot easier to detect and treat than other cancers the sunscreen could be causing. I guess maybe he had something there.....

-Beth
 
GREAT. Not what I wanted to hear, having melanoma in my family and pigment-free burn-prone extra-sensitive dry skin. Crap! Yeah, let's get on finding out what those ingredients were, guys.

I will continue to slather on my Neutrogena spf 70 every morning though, and cover myself in Aveeno. Since in fact I think my face will just crack and fall off if I don't.
 
I must admit I'm not a big sunscreen user, unless I am going to be out all day in high summer temps. A friend of mine told me once to check out how cancer rates have risen since sunscreens become popular. He's a bit of conspiracy theorist so I blew it off a bit. Maybe he was right!
 
I wish they had listed the ingredient(s) that they pinpointed was causing this, 'cause I would like to check my own creams. I am an absolute moisturizer-aholic, I use them EVERY DAY for extremely dry skin GRRRRR. Hopefully they will do more research and let us know....
 
Interesting. I can see why it would, though, when you consider the chemicals that are added for smells and texture. I have always used Vitamin E oil for my face and body, so I wonder what will come out about that :p

Missy
 
CRAP!! Is there anything out there that doesn't cause cancer? I use sunscreen on my face and moisturize my body everyday. I guess your damned if you do and damned if you don't:confused:

JJ
 
Hey Beth!...

I'm a sporadic sunscreen user.

I've always felt that putting chemicals on your skin constantly couldn't be good for you. the other thing I worry about is Bug Repellent. That stuff SMELLS toxic!

But I think, PROBABLY, if you have a big history of melanoma, that you're better off with the sunscreen...
 
Chris, the bug repellent is definitely bad news (from what my husband has read). I do still use sunscreen, like crazy, but, I have also taken to wearing hats, sun-protective clothing (my "bathing suit" is a long sleeve rash guard shirt with boy shorts that are down to my knees -- very sexy!), and try not to be out in the direct sun so much. Tough when you like to be outdoors though!

-Beth
 
There are so many chemicals in products nowadays, it's scary. Many of them are petroleum based, so it's like spreading crude oil on your skin. I've really started leaning away from all of that and using natural products that don't use these chemicals, to the extent I can (Aveda, Origins, Burt's Bees, etc.). I also use Method, Caldrea, and Seventh Generation at home. Think of all of the diseases that keep rising as we further "enhance" all of our products (including food) - cancer, ADD/ADHD, autism, etc. That just can't be coincidence. I'm trying to clean up not only my diet, but everywhere I can, as a result. Things things weren't as big of issues before all of this stuff entered our lives.
 
In all seriousness without proper testing in human subjects, the results really don't carry that much weight. It is curious, but also remember, its direct UV radiation on mice as opposed to the UVB exposure that one might get at the beach. And time scale too -- mice a great model because its the closest thing to studying mini-humans that are easily genetically manipulated but they're still not people in the end. And the fact that they weren't able to list one chemical to me is that they don't have enough statistics to back up the chemical ingredients yet. Going organic is a good thing but I'm not sure if I buy the whole premise yet without more evidence.
 
Ok, since I have access to the journal article, here's the breakdown...(I was curious and I'm waiting for something anyway)...

For the actual products...

"Topical applications of 100 mg of Dermabase, Dermovan, Eucerin Original Moisturizing Cream (Eucerin), or Vanicream once a day, 5 days a week for 17 weeks to these high-risk mice increased significantly the rate of formation of tumors and the rate of increase in tumor size per mouse." (Lu, 2008)

And here's an important part too:

"Female SKH-1 hairless mice were treated with UVB (30 mJ cm-2) twice a week for 20 weeks to obtain tumor-free "high-risk" mice. The mice were then untreated, treated topically with water (100
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l) or with the indicated cream (100 mg) once a day, 5 days a week for 17 weeks in the absence of further treatment with UVB." (Lu, 2008)

The key to this is that they selected a population that was high risk. Not genetically high (they're a breed of hairless albino mice btw) risk but after continued treatment with UVB radiation.

I can't show the figures from the paper...but it is interesting. They are showing a statistically significant increase with the mice with the creams but again mice skin, not human skin. But it actually looks like a pretty good paper and they clearly did this with a fair number of mice too.



(And if you want more info:
Dermabase cream
Paddock Laboratories Inc. (Minneapolis, MN)
Ingredients:
Purified water, mineral oil, petrolatum, cetostearyl alcohol, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, isopropyl palmitate, imidazolidinyl urea, methylparaben, and propylparaben.
Dermovan
Healthpoint Ltd. (Fort Worth, TX)
Ingredients:
Water, glyceryl stearate (and) stearamidoethyl diethylamine, glycerin, mineral oil, cetyl esters, cetyl alcohol, butylparaben, methylparaben, and propylparaben.
Eucerin Original Moisturizing Cream (Eucerin)
Beiersdorf Inc. (Wilton, CT)
Ingredients:
Water, petrolatum, mineral oil, ceresin, lanolin alcohol, methylchloroisothiazolinone, and methylisothiazolinone
Vanicream Pharmaceutical Specialties Inc. (Rochester, MN)
Ingredients:
Purified water, white petrolatum, cetearyl alcohol and ceteareth-20, sorbitol solution, propylene glycol, simethicone, glyceryl monostearate, polyethylene glycol monostearate, sorbic acid, and BHT.
Custom Blend
Johnson and Johnson Skin Research Center (Skillman, NJ)
Ingredients:
Purified water, propylene glycol, stearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, polysorbate 20, isopropyl myristate, C12-15 alkyl benzoate, benzoic acid, glycerin, and sodium hydroxide (final pH=5.8)
)
 
Boingo1 said:
I've always felt that putting chemicals on your skin constantly couldn't be good for you.
Click to expand...

I also feel uncomfortable putting things on my skin that would be toxic in my body. What's on our skins is absorbed into us, otherwise those topical patches for BC and smoking wouldn't work. Of course, if using one skin lotion were the only thing that was risky, it might be easier to counteract risks (like with a high-antioxidant diet). But we're so surrounded by things that can have negative health effects, reducing or eliminating the ones we have control of is a good idea, IMO.

I've switched to mineral-based sun screens for my body. They get their results mechanically--from minerals ike zinc and titanium-- rather than chemically. One other advantage of them is that they work immediately, instead of having to wait 15 minutes or so before they absorb. One disadvantage is that many of them leave a pale look or a whitish coating (not as bad as the zinc nose-block creams lifeguards used to wear, but still noticeable).

I like this one : www.melansol.com , but it doesn't smell very good! A strong almost-antiseptic, herbarl odor. I haven't, though, used it enough to see if the odor dissipates. They do say you get used to it...but what about people around you? I may not smell bad to me, but what if I stink to everyone else?:confused:

I just ordered a 100% natural/organic one I just saw on QVC yesterd to try out. I might like that one better, and reserve this stinky one for when I'm in a Marlene Dietrich mood!

For moisturizer, there are some excellent natural alternatives (I don't always use them, because the 'age-fighting' promises of some of the ingredients in Principal Secret stuff is too tempting still).

Coconut oil is my favorite. It's well absorbed and has lipids that are similar to those in our own skins.And it smells so good! (unless you get the highly-refined stuff, which has hardly any odor. I prefer the extra-virgin stuff.)I used it on my face after a bout of poison ivy two years ago, and the aweful-looking skin I thought would never look good again turned out fine. Right now, I'm using some Jarrow Extra Virgin Coconut oil on my poison ivy areas. (It's a jar that was in my kitchen, but has now been moved to the bathroom! Coconut oil also makes great popcorn!)

I've also been using jojoba oil (with a bit of concentrated rose water mixed in). It also is supposed to have properties similar to our natural sebum.

Olive oil is another skin-friendly oil.


(Poor mice :()
 
bitmover said:
Chris, the bug repellent is definitely bad news (from what my husband has read).
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My local health food store carries "neem" oil. It's a natural insect repellant (it's in some organic insect repellants I've used for my plants). I'd never seen it 'as-is' in a store (it's usually mixed in something). I was browsing in the essential oils area for stuff to make bath soaks with.

It was kind of solidfied in the jar, so the woman who works there opened it to see if it was okay. It did soften up after she played with the dropper for a while and held it in her hands. Because she couldn't sell it after it was opened, she offerered it to me (vs. throwing it out) and I took it.

The label says it's good for skin, and to add 'a few drops' to shampoo or lotion. Since the stuff reeked like feet* when I whiffed the whole bottle of it (hence my hesitation to take it, until it was a freebie), I was hopiing a small amount would be not as bad. It's not, more like burnt nuts. So I've been putting a couple of drops on my PI areas, along with the coconut oil.

I think it could be mixed with water and spritzed as an insect repellant, but I haven't tried that yet.


*WHY does everything bad I'm encountering in food and scents smell like FEET?: the bad-smelling candle at the home office store, some jasmine water (well, that TASTED like feet) I got at the health-food store, noni juice.....FEET, I tell 'ya!:confused:
 
Hope they follow this up with additional studies. I remember reading an article about how they found lip glosses to cause similar problems. However, it wasn't the chemicals used (natural or synthetic), it was that the same visual effect that made the lips shiny also magnified the intensity of the UV radiation reaching the skin of the lips.

Interesting stuff!
 
We are taking away our bodies actual defenses against skin cancers by using sunscreen..everyone needs 15 minutes of unprotected sun exposure a day in order to manufacture vitamin D. In countries where the people are constantly exposed to the sun and do not wear sunscreens, there are lower or nonexistent rates of skin cancers.
 
Do I understand this correctly?

Am I reading this right, that it's actually the moisturizer not the sunscreen that might be causing the problem, and that it is aggrivating an existing cancer, not neccessarily causing it. Í think the thought posted here about moisturizers being petrolium based is a thoughtful one. Sure makes me want to look for a non petroleum based moisturizer. Does anyone know of one?
 
I don't use sunscreens at all because I have a weird hormonal reaction to them, similar to that "mask of pregnancy" skin discoloration some of us (me) get temporarily. I get deep brown patches on (under?) my skin that leaves me with an ugly, mottled complexion that last for months, sometimes years. I get the spots on my face, for the most part, but also on my forearms and hands. If find that a little frightening.

Shari
 
Everyone has great points here -- Hottie, thanks for digging into more of the real info for us! As far as non-petroleum based moisturizers.... I read somewhere once that someone used olive oil on her face. I tried it for a while, but honestly, I seemed to dry out -- hard to believe, but it didn't work so great for me. Coconut oil is interesting.

Tiffany, where I live, and how I live, getting 15 minutes of unprotected sun is pretty darn easy -- just doing the drop off and pick up at school I'm sure I get that (I do have sunscreen on my face at that point, but pretty much never on my arms/legs (the legs are actually rarely exposed unless it's really hot). I guess once it gets cooler, I do have most everything covered, so maybe it's not as easy as I think.....

Re: mineral based sunscreens.... have you tried the powder sunscreen by color science? I have, and I always feel I'm not sure it's really on.

-Beth
 
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