Parabens are a family of five related anti-bacterial and anti-fungal preservatives used for many decades in skin care and cosmetic products. Long considered safe for topical applications, recent research has shown that people with forms of Atopic Dermatitis (including Eczema and Psoriasis) can have allergic reactions to them; and one particular paraben - methylparaben - can lead to skin damage from sunlight1.
For our allergy research, we reference the North American Contact Dermatitis Group's state-of-the-art, allergy patch tests on suspected allergic irritants. The group's 2017 patch test study found 12% of those tested exhibited a paraben skin reaction2.
And while an allergic reaction is certainly reason enough to avoid these preservatives, we further found that methylparaben can cause skin damage when exposed to either direct or ambient sunlight3.
Because far less controversial preservatives are available, why take the risk on parabens? Instead, we ensure every VU formulation is always paraben free.
Article References
1- Allergic Contact Dermatitis Caused by Parabens: 2 Case Reports and a Review (2000) American Journal of Contact Dermatitis, Volume 11, No. 1, Page 53.
2- American Contact Dermatitis Society Core Allergen Series (2017). Dermatitis, Volume 28, No 2.
3- Methylparaben Potentiates UV-Induced Damage of Skin Keratinocytes (2006). Toxicology, Volume 227, Issues 1-2, October 2006, Page 62.
Photosensitized methyl paraben induces apoptosis via caspase dependent pathway under ambient UVB exposure in human skin cells (2018). Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 120, Page 729.
