Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Maskot
Topics: Beauty, TikTok, Health, Social Media, US News
Liv Bridge
Topics: Beauty, TikTok, Health, Social Media, US News
A doctor is issuing a stark warning for a specific social media trend that young girls are seemingly picking up.
Young girls, teens and adult women being obsessed with fashion and beauty is nothing new, though social media has undoubtedly accelerated the industry to new heights.
And while some trends are obviously unhealthy, you might not think children looking after their skin falls into this category.
After all, skin cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in the US and almost 20 Americans die from melanoma every day, according to the AAD, so it must be a good thing the next generation are taking care of themselves.
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However, medics are warning enthusiasm for skincare might have gone too far, particularly as more than three in four parents (76 percent) reported that their seven to 17 year old girls have a 'skin care routine' - which may be costing them more than a pretty penny.
A new study published in the journal Pediatrics has revealed young girls are not only forking out eye-watering sums for the best products on the market, but the combination of chemicals could expose them to a host of skin problems.
The researchers further found the products could be weakening the skin and simultaneously not even protecting them from the sun's harmful rays, which should be the focal point of any skincare routine.
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To facilitate the study, Dr Molly Hales, a postdoctoral research fellow and a board-certified dermatologist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and another researcher created their own TikTok accounts and pretended they were 13 years old.
Under the 'For You' tab, which collates content recommendations, the pair came across 100 unique 'skincare' videos.
Their analysis revealed girls as young as seven to 18-years-old are piling on as many as six facial products all at once - and some are using more than a dozen, each of which can contain several active ingredients.
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The researchers further estimate the kids are paying around $168 for a month's worth of products - and on the more severe end, spending more than $500.
In one example, they found a creator used 10 products on her face in just a little over five minutes and was clearly putting her skin under unnecessary stress.
Senior study author Dr. Tara Lagu, an adjunct lecturer of medicine and medical social sciences at Feinberg, added: "As she’s applying the products, she begins to express discomfort and burning, and in the final few minutes, she develops a visible skin reaction."
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The authors said irritation can occur when people use products that have clashing active ingredients - which only intensifies when they add the same ingredient several times from across different products.
Those who do so can become sensitive to the sun and even develop an allergy know as contact dermatitis, a type of eczema that becomes an itchy, red, sensitive rash.
Meanwhile the study found just 26 percent of skin care routines in the TikTok sample included SPF sunscreen, which is vital to prevent skin cancer.
The pioneering study is considered the first peer-reviewed of its kind to examine teen skin care routines on social media
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The authors concluded: "Skin care regimens on TikTok are costly, infrequently 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 for the pediatric populations they are targeting."
Doctor Lagu added: "The pursuit of health has become a kind of virtue in our society, but the ideal of ‘health’ is also very wrapped up in ideals of beauty, thinness and whiteness.
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"The insidious thing about ‘skincare’ is that it claims to be about health.”