Absorption of sunscreens across human skin: an evaluation of commercial products for children and adults.
OBJECTIVE
Topical sunscreens are routinely applied to the skin by a large percentage of the population. This study assessed the extent of absorption of a number of common chemical sunscreen agents into and through human skin following application of commercially available products.


METHODS
Sunscreen products were applied to excised human epidermis in Franz diffusion cells with the amount penetrating into and across the epidermis assessed by h.p.l.c. for 8 h following application.


RESULTS
All sunscreen agents investigated penetrated into the skin (0.25 g m-2 or 14% of applied dose), but only benzophenone-3 passed through the skin in significant amounts (0.08 g m-2 or 10% of the applied dose). With one exception, suncreen agents in corresponding products marketed for adults and children had similar skin penetration profiles.


CONCLUSIONS
Whilst limited absorption across the skin was observed for the majority of the sunscreens tested, benzophenone-3 demonstrated sufficiently high penetration to warrant further investigation of its continued application.
Jiang
R
R
School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Roberts
M S
MS
Collins
D M
DM
Benson
H A
HA
D000328:Adult; D001577:Benzophenones / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004058:Diffusion; D004817:Epidermis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D012869:Skin Absorption / Q000502:physiology*; D013473:Sunscreening Agents / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
D001577:Benzophenones; D013473:Sunscreening Agents; C047723:benzophenone