Social media is fueling a tween skin care craze. Some dermatologists are wary
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/07/12/nx-s1-4990677/teens-skin-care-social-media-tweens-tiktok-influencers
Social media is fueling a tween skin care craze. Some dermatologists are wary
JULY 12, 2024 5:00 AM ET
HEARD ON MORNING EDITION
Maria Godoy
Dermatologist Elizabeth Houshmand sees a lot of tweens and teens in her Dallas practice. A few months ago, a mother brought her 9-year-old daughter in with a significantly red, itching face. It turns out the daughter had been using a moisturizer that she'd seen promoted on social media.
[...]
"It's not the product. Those are good products if used by the right person. It's the fact that it's the wrong product for that age demographic," Houshmand says.
Carol Cheng, a pediatric dermatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, says she's also seeing more kids and adolescents come in with rashes caused by layering on too many products in pursuit of a flawless, poreless look promoted on Instagram and TikTok as "glass skin."
[...]
One problem is that kids along with their parents may not realize that some of these viral beauty products include active ingredients, such as chemical exfoliants known as AHAs and BHAs, which help remove dead skin cells and oil. While those ingredients can be appropriate for teens with oily skin, Cheng says they're too harsh for the thinner skin of preteens who have yet to go through puberty.
[...]