Viral TikTok skincare routines worry dermatologists, study finds

On TikTok, you can find all kinds of content , from -clearly- entertainment (with dancing, jokes, and even challenges), to self-help and personal development posts, to the famous skincare routines, especially for the face, which are usually shared by influencers around the world.

And as their name suggests (in the last case cited), these people are like the "leader bird" of the internet world, since advice from these content creators can be followed and applied by thousands of people around the world , who want to look just like them on camera. See more: Does shampooing with water really work? This is what AI said.

However, this wouldn't be entirely positive considering that not everyone has the same skin type - leaving aside the high costs that some of the products these influencers use can represent - and it's also possible that the body might have some kind of unexpected reaction to any of these products that are promoted by the influencers.

This was demonstrated by a recent study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, titled "Pediatric Skincare Regimens on TikTok," which focused on such routines in children under 18 years of age.

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The researchers opened an account on the platform, pretending to be a 13-year-old. In the "For You" tab, they collected 100 videos of skincare routines and found that the content creators ranged in age from 7 to 18. " Each video reviewed had an average of 1.1 million views. Treatments included an average of six products, with an average cost of $168 per treatment ."

Furthermore, only a quarter of the videos (26.2%) included sunscreen. The 25 most-viewed videos contained " an average of 11 and a maximum of 21 potentially irritating active ingredients . Twenty of the inactive ingredients are included in the Pediatric Reference Series ."

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As such, the researchers noted, TikTok skincare treatments are very expensive, " rarely include sunscreen, and often involve exposure to ingredients that carry a risk of irritation, allergic contact dermatitis, and sun sensitivity. They offer little to no benefit to the targeted pediatric population ." Parents should therefore be very careful about the content their children view, as it could potentially affect their health.

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