Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating General Does anyone know any testing centre that can test the existence of hydrocortisone in a lotion?

  • Does anyone know any testing centre that can test the existence of hydrocortisone in a lotion?

    Posted by cindychums on June 6, 2018 at 8:04 am

    I’m currently applying a baby lotion on my baby who has eczema skin, the lotion is so effective that the eczema is gone in a very short time but it came back if I stopped using it. I hope the lotion is as good as it claims that is natural. I just want to make sure all is safe for the little one. Any recommendation is very welcome. Thanks.

    cindychums replied 5 years, 9 months ago 7 Members · 17 Replies
  • 17 Replies
  • maria

    Member
    June 6, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    Your suspects bring to my mind an old case:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16286743

  • gunther

    Member
    June 6, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    You’ll need to get an accredited lab to test for several corticosteroids, not just hydrocortisone = expensive

    Rather, you can complain to the FDA, and tell them that you fear that it has undeclared corticosteroids, as it has happened before with other brands.
    Undeclared ingredients are especially worrisome since it’s product for babies.

    Likely, they will take the complain seriously (you can call back to follow up) and will test it accordingly.

  • cindychums

    Member
    June 6, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    That’s scary…. This lotion is marketed as 98% natural baby product and is made in the UK, I would assume that it’s passed the EU regulation? The EU regulation is relatively strict with the ingredients used especially for baby product category. The ingredients listed on the packaging doesn’t mention any steroid/ active ingredients. Unless the actual ingredients used in this product are different from what it claims…. Does the EU actually take the product sample to test the presence of the listed ingredients?

  • cindychums

    Member
    June 6, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    @Gunther it’s a good idea, thanks~

  • maria

    Member
    June 6, 2018 at 9:16 pm

    BTW, can you share the ingredient list?

  • zaidjeber

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 4:17 am

    Your baby Eczema might be mild, thats why its very effective. 

  • cindychums

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 6:00 am

    the ingredients are:

    aqua, caprylic/ capric triglyceride, glycerin, isopropyl myristate, cetearyl alchohol, polyglyceryl-3 stearate, stearic acid, glyceryl stearate SE, shea butter, cocoa seed butter, benzyl alcohol, parfum, sunflower oil, dehydroacetic acid, tea tree leaf oil, rosmary leaf extract

  • cindychums

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 6:14 am

    I wonder if the active ingredients are tea tree leaf oil and rosemary leaf extract that take effect on the eczema…. I tried a mix of pure shea butter and cocoa butter but just wasn’t enough to clear up my daughter’s eczema. 

  • maria

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 7:07 am

    I would discuss this with your daughter’s doctor, I’m sure he knows how to proceed. BTW a mix of pure shea butter and cocoa butter is very drying  for the skin.

  • doreen

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 9:06 am

    @maria
    Why would a mix of shea and cocoa be drying?

    @cindychums
    Does the EU actually take the product sample to test the presence of the listed ingredients?

    I would like to know this too, especially for baby products.
    I totally understand your suspicion. I don’t think the tea tree nor the rosemary has any positive effect on eczema.

  • markbroussard

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 11:48 am

    This whole conversation is quite a bit unhinged … calling regulatory authorities because a product actually works, but is all natural, therefore it must be adulterated?! … Seriously?

    The effective moisturizing ingredients in this formula are glycerin, shea butter, cocoa butter (No, Shea + Cocoa is not drying to the skin.  In fact, it is a classic combination used in most natural moisturizing products).  The tea tree oil may provide some antimicrobial effect.

    I would suspect that the glycerin is included at a quite high percentage and this is the main moisturizing ingredient.

    This is a fairly straightforward moisturizer formula, very similar to Palmers (also based in the UK that is a drug-store brand that consistently wins in blind testing against much more expensive brands as best moisturizer).  It is simply a good combination of ingredients that work.

    Since this product is made in the UK, it would have had to have undergone a Safety Assessment by an independent third-party professional and registered with the EU for sale.  Anything is possible, but highly unlikely that the company would risk their reputation and lawsuits by adulterating their products.

  • maria

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    @Doreen 
    because a pure lipidic mix does not provide the ‘moist’ part as in a lotion

  • gunther

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    While I don’t know about UK regulatory specifics

    Most regulators worldwide don’t test every single batch from every registered manufacturer.
    At best they’ll do some random testing.
    And IF they do any random testing at all, meds have the highest priority, cosmetics the lowest.
    It’s up to the manufacturer to do all internal testing.

    When registering new products
    most regulators worldwide will only do microbiological testing
    and not Chromatography testing (which is expensive and time-consuming but it could spot undeclared ingredients)
    so there’s plenty of room for unscrupulous manufacturers to add undeclared ingredients, and get away with it.

  • markbroussard

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 3:41 pm

    Correct Gunther.  Regulatory bodies typically do not conduct scientific testing on a cosmetic formula to confirm the ingredients … way too expense and unnecessary.  They will only undertake an investigation if there are multiple complaints against a manufacturer.  Such adulteration could only occur if the company does its own manufacturing or is in cahoots with its contract manufacturer.

    In this case, it would be one person complaining that the product actually works … so something MUST be wrong! … SMH!

  • bill_toge

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 7:44 pm
    in my experience the Trading Standards Agency (the body responsible for enforcing the Cosmetics Regulation in the UK) only get involved with cosmetics if a product is found to have consistently short weights, someone is injured by a product, or there are microbially contaminated/flagrantly illegal products on the market; for the most part, they have much bigger fish to fry
    having worked at a factory which produced large volumes of aqueous creams and ointments of various hydrophobicities, which were used religiously by certain members of staff and their families, it is quite possible that the occlusive effect of the product was in itself enough to alleviate your baby’s eczema
  • bill_toge

    Member
    June 7, 2018 at 9:07 pm

    as an example, one of the people who swore by these products was the company chairman himself, who was in his seventies, did a lot of manual work around the site and frequently had cracked/chapped skin on his hands; once he started using the aqueous cream regularly (which had no pharmaceutically active ingredients - any effect was entirely due to petrolatum and mineral oil) these problems went away completely

  • cindychums

    Member
    June 8, 2018 at 5:53 am

    These are fantastic insights and inputs, thanks~

    @Bill_Toge I agree, some ingredients such as propylene glycol would clot skin and a possible allergen, it would escalate eczema. I therefore try to look for products with simple and short list of ingredients. Though petrolatum and mineral oil are not “organic, natural” ingredients, as long as it is able to capture moisture in the skin, it would help retain moisture of the skin. My problem with this is if it’s for baby, I’d opt for “eatable” ingredients as it’s very easy for her to get her hands in the lotion and the next thing she does is to put it in her mouth. 

    @Gunther  thanks for the details of how the monitoring works in the market~

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