I started October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with an episode about Pagets Disease of the Breast, to raise awareness of this not well known form of breast cancer. Today is the last day of the month and so I want to finish it with another episode relevant to breast cancer.
A friend of mine, Suzee Bailey, received a question from a friend of hers through her website,CoffeeBreakWithFriends.com, and asked me to help her respond.
Her friend is going through Breast Cancer treatment and she wondered if there were any types of ingredients in skincare treatments or lotions that she should avoid.
Suzee… And everyone… I have good news. There is very little that I know of in topical products, whether commercial skincare, cosmeceutical, or organic, that can adversely affect your friend who is unfortunately going through treatment for breast cancer.
There are some topical chemicals such as parabens, hydroquinone, mineral oil, and retinyl palmitate in sunscreens – that are alleged to be harmful.
The fact is, there has been no peer review evidence of any dangers when products containing any of these ingredients are used as directed. My many years of experience with over 10,000 patient visits per year confirm this as well.
And yes… We all know about the Environmental Working Group’s unfounded allegations of the “alleged” dangers of retinyl palmitate in sunscreens from their 2010 report… Which I refuted in a DermTV episode… But even more importantly, which were proven incorrect by Members of the Skin Cancer Foundation’s scientific committee, Doctors Warwick Morison and Henry Lim. They released the definitive paper on this topic in which they found retinyl palmitate to be safe.
So if you were concerned about the chemicals I mentioned in today’s episode, you can rest assured that when used as directed, they’re safe. And for those of you who are undergoing treatment, my thoughts are with you.
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