Comparison of sunscreen products for babies and children with those for adults

INTRODUCTION: Topical sun protection is one of the methods used to prevent skin cancer. It is recommended that teenagers and children use sunscreen when exposed to the sun. For babies, the use of sunscreens is strongly discouraged before the age of 6 months. METHODS: The aim of this work is to compare baby sunscreens with adult products in order to evaluate their safety and effectiveness. The sample of products studied includes both conventional and organic products, i.e. products that are certified by organisations like Ecocert. In these analyses, we use Welch's tests to compare the mean between two categories of sunscreen. RESULTS: At the 5% level, organic creams contain significantly fewer filters and ingredients than conventional creams. The percentage of organic products with Ethyl alcohol is also significantly lower than conventional products. For the number of allergens, the difference between organic and conventional creams is not significant. The number of filters in organic creams is significantly lower than in conventional baby creams, which themselves contain significantly fewer than in conventional adult creams. For the other characteristics (number of allergens, ingredients, presence of Ethyl alcohol) there is no significant difference between organic and conventional baby creams, which are themselves significantly different from conventional adult creams. CONCLUSION: More precisely, the baby conventional and the organic creams are made with significantly fewer ingredients and allergens than the adult conventional, but the proportion of creams containing Ethyl alcohol is lower in the organic creams that in the baby and adult conventional, which are not significantly different.