TikTok Skincare Videos Created by Teens Promote Expensive Products That May Irritate Skin, Offer 'No Benefit': Study

Skincare trends celebrated pinch kids arsenic young arsenic property 7 tin harm their tegument while offering “little to nary use for nan pediatric populations they are targeting” — each while costing an mean of $168 a month, caller investigation says.

For nan first-ever peer-reviewed study connected teen societal media skincare trends, researchers created TikTok accounts pretending to beryllium 13-year-olds, past recorded nan videos they declare were promoted to them connected nan societal media network’s “For You” page. The study was published June 9 in Pediatrics, nan flagship aesculapian diary for nan American Academy of Pediatrics.

Researchers recovered that “skin attraction regimens connected TikTok are costly, infrequently see sunscreen, and often impact vulnerability to ingredients that transportation a consequence of irritation, allergic interaction dermatitis, and sun sensitivity.” 

A TikTok spokesperson told PEOPLE, "This type of contented is communal crossed each media, and nan authors admit they did not measure its effect connected teen well-being. However, they did find existent benefits to teen self-expression, parent-teen bonding, and building a supportive organization connected TikTok."

The contented creators utilizing nan beauty products were arsenic young arsenic 7 years old, nan study says, but TikTok argumentation states that users must beryllium 13 aliases older to motion up. The institution notes that it besides automatically sets young teens' profiles to private and has removed much than 21 cardinal accounts from young teens who person signed up pinch mendacious birthdates to bypass nan rule.

Each video reviewed for nan study was arguably viral, pinch an mean of 1.1 cardinal views; nan study did not specify whether circumstantial hunt position were utilized to find nan videos.

The skincare routines successful nan videos were analyzable and costly, pinch nan study uncovering they featured “an mean of 6 products, costing an mean of $168/regimen.” Only 26.2% of nan products included sunscreen — and successful a reappraisal of nan products utilized successful nan apical 25 most-viewed videos connected nan researchers' accounts, nan study says they contained an mean of 11 perchance irritating progressive ingredients. 

“That precocious consequence of irritation came from some utilizing aggregate progressive ingredients astatine nan aforesaid time, specified arsenic hydroxy acids, arsenic good arsenic applying nan aforesaid progressive constituent unknowingly complete and complete again erstwhile that progressive constituent was recovered successful three, four, 5 different products,” said Dr. Molly Hales, a board-certified dermatologist astatine Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and nan study’s corresponding author, said successful a press merchandise connected nan study.

One mom told CNN that she recovered $300 anti-aging pick successful her 15-year-old daughter’s room: “I sewage very upset,” Giselle Peña told nan outlet. "It says it makes your tegument ageless, improves good lines, wrinkles and firmness. I was like, ‘This is not for you, girl.’ “

“It's problematic to show girls devoting this overmuch clip and attraction to their skin,” Hales said successful nan release. “We're mounting a very precocious modular for these girls. The pursuit of wellness has go a benignant of kindness successful our society, but nan perfect of ‘health’ is besides very wrapped up successful ideals of beauty, thinness and whiteness. The insidious point astir ‘skin care’ is that it claims to beryllium astir health.”

As nan study concludes, these regimens “offer small to nary use for nan pediatric populations they are targeting.”