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Exposure to oxybenzone from sunscreens: daily transdermal uptake estimation

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 33, pages 283–291 (2023)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Fugacity, the driving force for transdermal uptake of chemicals, can be difficult to predict based only on the composition of complex, non-ideal mixtures such as personal care products.

Objective

Compare the predicted transdermal uptake of benzophenone-3 (BP-3) from sunscreen lotions, based on direct measurements of BP-3 fugacity in those products, to results of human subject experiments.

Methods

We measured fugacity relative to pure BP-3, for commercial sunscreens and laboratory mixtures, using a previously developed/solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method. The measured fugacity was combined with a transdermal uptake model to simulate urinary excretion rates of BP-3 resulting from sunscreen use. The model simulations were based on the reported conditions of four previously published human subject studies, accounting for area applied, time applied, showering and other factors.

Results

The fugacities of commercial lotions containing 3–6% w/w BP-3 were ~20% of the supercooled liquid vapor pressure. Simulated dermal uptake, based on these fugacities, are within a factor of 3 of the mean results reported from two human-subject studies. However, the model significantly underpredicts total excreted mass from two other human-subject studies. This discrepancy may be due to limitations in model inputs, such as fugacity of BP-3 in lotions used in those studies.

Significance

The results suggest that combining measured fugacity with such a model may provide order-of-magnitude accurate predictions of transdermal uptake of BP-3 from daily application of sunscreen products.

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Fig. 1: Measured \({\acute{F}}_{BP - 3}\) vs. mass fraction of BP-3 in commercial sunscreen products, dilutions of commercial sunscreen products, and mixture of BP-3 in Glaxal Base cream.
Fig. 2: Measured relative fugacity (\({\acute{F}}_{BP - 3}\)) of each commercial sunscreen product vs. BP-3 mass fraction (total sunscreen and in non-volatile content (NVC)) of the sunscreen product.
Fig. 3
Fig. 4: Experimental (Gonzalez et al. [39] Sarveiya et al. [38] Gonzalez et al. [15], and Hayden et al. [13]) and simulated cumulative excreted mass of BP-3 (mg) vs time (h).
Fig. 5: Experimental vs. simulated total excreted mass of BP-3 for all human subject scenarios.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Center for Research in Energy and the Environment (CREE) of the Missouri University of Science & Technology for their help with the instruments. The modeling component of this research was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation through the Modelling Consortium for Chemistry of Indoor Environments (MOCCIE 1, G-2017–9796 and MOCCIE 2, G-2019-12306).

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  1. Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Azin Eftekhari & Glenn C. Morrison

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AE collected data, generated model simulations, drafter and revised the manuscript. GCM conceived of the work, supervised model simulations, revised the manuscript. All authors approved of the final version and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

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Correspondence to Azin Eftekhari.

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Eftekhari, A., Morrison, G.C. Exposure to oxybenzone from sunscreens: daily transdermal uptake estimation. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 33, 283–291 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-021-00383-9

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