Study: Many Popular Sunscreens Do Not Adhere to AAD Guidelines

A significant number of highly-rated sunscreens did not adhere to AAD guidelines, especially due to water resistance, according to a recent study.

In order to understand consumer sunscreen preference to better inform dermatologists in their recommendations, researchers conducted a study of the top 1 percentile of sunscreen products as rated on Amazon.com as of December 2015.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Less Than 1% of U.S. Physicians Mention Sunscreen to Patients
Sunscreen Alone Is Not Enough to Prevent Melanoma
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reviews of the sunscreens were analyzed and coded by a consensus qualitative coding scheme, including positive and negative descriptors in 6 major categories: affordability, cosmetic elegance, separate ratings, product ingredients, product performance, and skin compatibility.

Overall, there were 6500 products categorized as sunscreen on Amazon.com, of which 65 products were evaluated. Of the 65, 40% did not adhere to AAD guidelines (*broad spectrum, SPF of 30 or greater, and water resistance). Cosmetic elegance was the most commonly cited positive feature, followed by product performance and skin type compatibility.

“In this cohort of highly rated sunscreen products, a significant proportion did not adhere to AAD guidelines, mostly attributable to a lack of water resistance. The most striking variation in this cohort was price, which varied by more than 3000%. Dermatologists should balance the importance of cosmetic elegance, cost, and AAD guidelines for sun protection in making their recommendations to consumers.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Xu S, Kwa M, Agarwal A, et al. Sunscreen product performance and other determinants of consumer preferences [published online July 6, 2016]. JAMA Dermatol. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2016.2344.