Science Hub

September Science Wrap 2022

28 September 2022

Ginni Mansberg

Welcome to spring!

On September 14th ESK celebrated our 5th birthday.

In some ways starting ESK, 3 years after having started Aurora Care (ESK’s sister company that started and still does make evidence based skincare for dermatologists and plastic surgeons) feels like forever ago.

Then again, this journey has been incredible! Now with a gorgeous big office, our beloved team around us and a warehouse FULL of products, I can remember when it was just the two of us, in a spare bedroom we co-opted when David, our second eldest travelled after school. It started with a laptop and studies. Thousands and thousands of studies.

To work out what the evidence says works for different skin conditions from pigmentation to acne, rosacea to wrinkles and what should be in truly evidence-based skincare. Trawling through studies is what we’re still doing today. Here’s September’s laptop haul;

Natural skincare warning

A team writing in the JAMA Dermatology reported that dermatitis and skin irritation caused by personal care products increased 2.7-fold between 1996 and 2016.

So they looked at natural skin care products, often favoured by people with sensitive skin to see what was in them.

“Natural”, “clean” and even “organic” are unregulated terms so any skin care can shove that label on their box and imply they will do no harm.

Only 6% of the 1651 natural products they looked at had no known irritants in them. And 89.5% contained 1 or more of the 100 most well-known allergens in the American Contact Dermatitis Society’s Contact Allergen Management Program database.

Claiming that these products are good for sensitive skin is false advertising the authors warned!

Psoriasis after COVID vaccines

Anyone who knows me knows I am a passionate advocate for vaccines- all vaccines. But there is no denying a link between COVID vaccines and psoriasis flares, according to a review of 7 studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Dermatology this month.

The second vaccine was the biggest culprit. People either got a flare up in their psoriasis after between 1 and 90 days or a brand-new psoriasis outbreak 2-21 days later.

I guess it’s not that unexpected as psoriasis is from an anomaly of the immune system and that is often being stimulated by the spike protein in these vaccines, thankfully temporarily. “Most patients experienced favourable outcomes, with improvement or resolution occurring within 3 days to 4 months,” the authors said.

Rosacea in the eye? Yes, and it’s more common than you think!

A Finnish study of almost 2000 people found that rosacea is really common. The study found that 15.1% of people have rosacea.

Eye symptoms in rosacea subjects were surprisingly common in that group, with dryness in 32.3% of them, watery eyes (29.4%), gritty feeling like you have something in your eyes (21.8%), and light sensitivity (20.5%) being the most common ones.

So just a reminder that if you have rosacea - or even just suspect it, and you have ANY of those eye symptoms, book in to see your optometrist or GP for advice!