Moisturiser study: your questions answered
Publication Date:14/08/2008
You may have seen alarming stories in the newspapers about a link between moisturiser and skin cancer. But these stories all come from a study that looked at mice specially bred to get skin cancer. We take a close look at the study, to see whether the alarm is justified.
What do we know already?
A type of skin cancer caused by too much sunlight, called squamous cell carcinoma, is the most common cancer in the UK. It's rarely fatal, and people who get it can usually have it removed in a small operation.
We know that this type of skin cancer is more common in people who tend to get sunburn, such as people with pale skin, fair or ginger hair, or lots of freckles or moles. And we know that using sunscreen and avoiding getting too much sun can lower your chances of getting squamous cell carcinoma.
But we don't know what else might be linked to the chances of getting squamous cell carcinoma. To find out more about what causes skin cancer, and what protects against it, researchers have been working with mice specially bred to be at high risk of getting skin cancer. These mice have very thin skin, no hair, and are albino (have no melanin pigment in their skin).
In one experiment, researchers wanted to make a cream they thought might protect the mice against skin cancer. To make the cream, they planned to use a particular type of moisturiser as a base. But first they needed to do an experiment to check whether that moisturiser, or other common types of moisturiser, had any effect on the mice's chances of getting skin cancer.
What does the new study say?
The study found that some common types of moisturiser seemed to increase the amount of skin cancer that the mice got.
It's important to remember that these are mice that already have a very high chance of getting skin cancer, and are treated with UV light deliberately to trigger skin cancer. There's no reason to think that these creams would have the same effect on human skin.
Tell me more about the study's findings
The mice were treated with UV light (the cancer-causing rays in sunlight) for 20 weeks, then treated daily with applications of moisturiser or water for 17 weeks. Almost all of the mice got skin cancer, whether they were treated with water or moisturiser. But the mice treated with moisturiser had bigger patches of skin cancer, and more of them. Mice treated with water had an average of 4.5 patches of skin cancer. Mice treated with moisturiser had from 6 to 9 patches of skin cancer.
The moisturisers tested were Dermabase, Dermovan, Eucerin and Vanicream. The researchers also had a special moisturiser made up, without any mineral oil or sodium lauryl sulfate. The researchers thought these ingredients might be to blame for the increased skin cancers. When they tested this specially made moisturiser, the mice had the same amount of skin cancer as the ones treated with water.
Where does the study come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, in New Jersey, USA. It was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, which is owned by Nature Publishing Group.
How reliable are the findings?
The findings are not a reliable guide to the effect of moisturisers on human skin. Human skin is much thicker than mouse skin and is much less susceptible to skin cancer. Remember that almost all the mice in the study got some patches of skin cancer, whether they were treated with moisturiser or not. That shows how different these mice are from humans.
What does this mean for me?
There's nothing in these findings to suggest that using moisturiser increases your risk of getting skin cancer.
What should I do now?
We already know that the best way to prevent skin cancer is to avoid getting too much sun. Keeping out of hot sun, covering up with hats and T-shirts, and wearing sunscreen, are all sensible precautions against skin cancer. There's no need to take any further action as a result of this study.
From:
Lu Y-P, Lou Y-R, Xie J-G, et al. Tumorigenic effect of some commonly used moisturizing creams when applied topically to UVB-pretreated high-risk mice. Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Published online 14 August 2008.
To find out more about skin cancer and staying safe in the sun, see our information on squamous cell skin cancer.
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© BMJ Publishing Group Limited ("BMJ Group") 2007. All rights reserved
This information does not replace medical advice. If you are concerned you might have a medical problem please ask your Boots pharmacy team in your local Boots store, or see your doctor.
