Facial care for girls and adolescents who have become a trend on social networks, such as Tiktok, put young people at risk of lifelong skin allergy, according to a research of scientists in the US Northwestern Medicine Health System, published in Pediatrics.

The study studied 100 videos from the Tiktok platform. The researchers created bills on the platform stating that they are 13 years old to collect these videos and collect demographics of the creators of content, number and types of products used, their ingredients, and the total cost of these products.

The survey found that Girls of seven to 18 years of age use on average six facial care productswhile some use more than twelve. These products, according to the study, have high risk of skin and allergy irritation.

Specifically, the most studied videos studied contained an average of eleven potentially irritating active ingredients, involving the risk of developing skin irritation, sun sensitivity and skin allergy, known as contact allergic dermatitis.

In addition, only 26% of daily skin care shapes included sunscreenwhich is the most important skin care product for any agebut especially for children.

‘This high risk of irritation came both from the use of multiple active ingredients at the same time, such as hydroxyodeas well as the application of the same active ingredient over and over again, when this active ingredient was in three, four, five different products, ”notes Molly Hale, one of the study authors, postdoctoral researcher and dermatologist at the Department of Dermatology.

In a video included in the study, the content creator applied ten products to her face in six minutes. “As he applies the products, he begins to express discomfort and burning in the last minutes, develops a visible skin reaction,” describes the author, Tara Lagou, Assistant Professor of Medical and Medical Sciences at the same Medical School.

The authors point out that these videos offer Little to no benefits for the pediatric populations to which they are addressed.

Also, given the way algorithms work, it is almost impossible for parents or pediatricians to watch exactly what children or adolescents see. Molly Hale adds that there are risks beyond skin damage to these videos. “It is problematic to show girls to devote so much time and attention to their skin. We set 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 intertwined with the ideals of beauty, fineness and whiteness. “