For the second time in about a year, there’s talk of mold in beauty products: First, there was thecontroversyover Kosas concealers, which several users claimed got moldy after months of use, causing hives and a blue cheese smell.
Now, Suntegrity Skincare has announced a voluntary recall of itsSuntegrity Impeccable Skin Sunscreen Foundation.According to the brand’s recall announcement, higher than acceptable levels of a key in of mold called Aspergillus Sydowii were found in some tubes of the tinted sunscreen.
Though testing on eight additional lots came back clear, all nine lots of sunscreen are being recalled out of an abundance of caution, and Suntegrity has stopped selling its tinted Sunscreen Foundation entirely until they figure out what caused the mold contamination.
Getty Images / Collage by Bella Geraci
The recall announcement states, a topical product that is found to be contaminated with Aspergillus Sydowii could potentially cause an allergic skin reaction and… a primary fungal skin infection if used on open wounds or sunburned skin.
If it is introduced into the eye, eye infections may occur… No adverse event reports had been received at the time of the recall.
The news comes during a time when there’s a bigger conversation about preservativesingredients that prevent bacteria from growinghappening in the beauty industry.
Over the last several years, a lot of brands have phased out preservatives called parabens, whichscientists have found in breast cancer tumors.
(They couldnt determine, however, if the parabens came from cosmetics or if they were even related to the tumors.)
There are also concerns about other preservatives in chemists' tool kits, like ones that release small amounts of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen and potential skin irritator.
(These preservatives are called formaldehyde releasers, and include DMDM hydantoin, imadazolidinyl urea, diazlidinyl urea, quaternium-15, bronopol, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, glyoxal, and polyoxymethylene urea; you’re free to find a more complete list of formaldehyde-releasing preservativeshere.)
Other preservatives include sodium benzoate, phenoxyethanol, and caprylyl glycol, and they may seem like better, cleaner options to use in beauty productsbut each has its own benefits and limitations in use, cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos haspreviously toldAllure.
Instead of being effective against a broad range of bacteria and fungi (yeast andmold) like formaldehyde releasers are, these other preservatives often are only effective against gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, yeast,ormolds, Dobos explained, and they may requirelow-formula pHsin order to work, which isnt deal for a lot of skin-care products.
In the case of Kosas concealer, most of the people who complained about mold saw it long after they should have tossed the product (according to theperiod after opening (PAO) symbolon the tube)and a lot of Kosas devotees said a shorter shelf life was a worthwhile trade-off for a beloved clean concealer.
(We say clean, in quotes, because, it’s worth noting here, there is no industry standard or regulation for the term.)
Others are a little more skepticalLucky Sekhon, MD, a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist and ob-gyn at RMA of New York,has previously toldAllurethat she does not find the mold risk associated with certain preservatives worth it, especially when it comes to paraben-free baby products.
This does not mean you should probably start inspecting all of your skin care for moldthe FDA is ramping up its oversight of the beauty industry and its manufacturing processes under theModernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act(MoCRA).
And even without this layer of regulation, contaminated products tend to be recalled quickly by brands: “Most often, recalls [by beauty brands] are due to microbial contamination thats pretty readily noticed by the company themselves, so they’ll pull the product,” cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowskihas previously toldAllure.
But it’s also possible that your favorite serum could spoil after you open it, so paying attention to the expiration date on the bottle is always a good idea.
“If [any] product does not look, smell, or feel the way you did when you purchased it, toss the product,” Joshua Zeichner, MD, the director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City,has previously toldAllure.
You might not always be able to spot mold as fluffy little green spots in your skin care (it can camouflage with the formula itself), but a change in a product’s smell can be a good indicator that it’s become contaminated.
To read more about mold and beauty products:
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