Dermatologist: Pass on drinkable sunscreen
May 21, 2014, 5:00 AM | Updated: 5:00 am
PHOENIX — Drinkable sunscreen has made headlines worldwide recently and could be the next big idea to hit poolsides and lake shores in Arizona this summer, but one Valley dermatologist has his reservations about a product that he said could be “too good to be true.”
Colorado company, Osmosis Skin Care claims their Harmonized H20 can help users achieve UV-30 protection with “new technology that isolates the precise frequencies needed to neutralize UVA and UVB,” according to the company’s website.
Harmonized H20 sells for about $30 a bottle and claims the water that has frequencies “imprinted” onto it that “will vibrate on your skin in such a way as to cancel approximately 97 percent of the UVA and UVB rays,” and provides protection for two to four hours of daily sun exposure.
However, Dermatologist James Pehoushek, with Phoenix’s Allergy and Dermatology Specialists, said he’s skeptical about a product that has very little testing or approval.
“It sounds like an easy way to get your sun protection without a lot of mess and trouble,” Pehoushek said. “But I think you might be getting lead down the Primrose path on this one.”
While Pehoushek said it is good to be hydrated, that alone won’t provide any sun protection.
“It’s good not to get dehydrated when you’re out in the heat and the sun, but that in and of itself, being well hydrated is not going protect from (the) sun or sun damage,” he said. “So I would take this with a very big grain of salt.”
Pehoushek said he’d like to see more testing and approval by respected agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, before he’d consider the product a valid replacement for traditional sunscreens.
“There really isn’t anything on their website or anywhere else that I’m aware of that supports any of their claims at this point,” Pehoushek said.
“I would be very wary of this and wear your sunscreen; that would be my advice to patients.”
