Question of the month February 2010: 'Dermatologist tested'

Dear Paula,

Why aren't your products "dermatologist tested and approved," especially your sunscreens? I would think you would want your products to meet the standards of a respected medical organization or authority like other lines do.

Needing, via email

Dear Needing,

All sunscreen products and formulations are strictly regulated and approved by the FDA. Further, the American Academy of Dermatology does not have an approval system for either sunscreens or cosmetic products of any kind; no medical organization does. The Skin Cancer Foundation has an approval system for sunscreens, but their list includes sunscreens that do NOT contain UVA-protecting ingredients, which makes their recommendations precarious for skin. The need for UVA-protecting ingredients is substantiated by myriad sources (Sources: International Journal of Dermatology, May 2004, pages 326−335; and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, April 6, 2004, pages 4954−4959).

The dermatologist-tested and -approved stamp is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. If you don't know who the dermatologist is or why they are endorsing the product, the approval stamp is meaningless. An individual company can pay a dermatologist for an endorsement, but that's hardly an official stamp of approval. Though I have the deepest respect for the skill and knowledge of dermatologists, they are not skin-care experts, they are skin-disease experts. Having gone to dermatology conferences, I can tell you without question that doctors pay little attention to daily skin-care routines and they are not cosmetic chemists or formulators. The entire arena of skin care is a new area of interest that doctors are only beginning to pay attention to.