Dermatologist shares truth about social media’s most popular skincare trends

Key takeaways:

• In 2024, 52% of Americans tried health trends from social media vs. 34% consulting their doctor.
• Samantha Karlin, MD, FAAD, discusses the risks of following certain skin care trends on social media.

Beauty influencers are taking social media by storm with their viral skin care routines, some of which are safe and effective, but others not so much.

In a press release from the American Academy of Dermatology, Louisiana-based dermatologist Samantha Karlin, MD, FAAD, discussed the risks and merits of multiple social media skin care trends and why patients should be cautious to try them.

“Everyone’s skin type is different, and everyone reacts to products and devices differently,” Karlin told Healio. “What works for your friend or for an influencer may not work for you.”

Glass skin

Perhaps one of the most popular skin care trends, glass skin is a Korean skin care practice that promotes keeping the skin as moisturized as possible to the point that the skin shines like “glass.” Garnering over 2.6 billion hashtag views on TikTok in 2023, according to a Statista report, the trend offers both benefits and possible risks.

According to Karlin, the glass skin method encourages cleansing, moisturizing and using sunscreen on the skin — all of which are good skincare habits to start. However, it also promotes excessive exfoliation.

“Over exfoliating the skin can actually lead to stripping the skin of its natural oils, causing the skin to overproduce oil,” Karlin said. “Because of this, exfoliation of the skin is best used in moderation about two to three times a week.”
She also cautions patients to be mindful of the moisturizer they are using as “heavy moisturizers that are not made for the face and ones that are comedogenic or oily can cause acne breakouts.”

Russian manicures

A Russian manicure is a type of manicure that employs a dry and waterless technique. Instead of preparing the nail with a soaking step, Russian manicures use an electric file to remove the surrounding skin and cuticle to allow for the polish to be placed lower on the nail bed, creating a longer-lasting manicure.

According to Karlin, this technique can cause problems.

“Disruption of the cuticle can introduce bacteria or fungus into the skin around the nail,” she explained, “leading to a skin infection called a paronychia.”

She went on to explain that the cuticle is a protective barrier and removing it can invite the skin around the nail to become infected, leading to inflammation, pain and discoloration.

Red light therapy

With most being cleared by the FDA, red light home therapy, which uses light emitting diode (LED) technology, is a popular social media trend that is supported by evidence — but not much.

“The FDA has cleared some of the home devices, but not all, and the devices are all created differently,” Karlin explained. “It’s yet to be determined how fast these results will happen and who will have these results and what is the optimal number of treatments for each home device.”

On the other hand, the evidence researchers do have supports the use of red light as an effective anti-inflammatory and collagen stimulator which can minimize the appearance of fine lines and winkles, skin texture and pigmentation. While there are also some data supporting its ability to induce hair growth, these findings are more limited.

Red light therapy can also be used to treat melasma as it can downregulate overactive melanocytes in the skin. However, patients must be careful which device they use.

“Heat can worsen melasma, which is why some lasers can worsen melasma,” she said. “Home LED devices are not supposed to get hot, so it should ideally be a good option for melasma; however, since they are not tightly regulated and no two devices are the same, anecdotally, I’ve seen patients who have had melasma and hyperpigmentation worsened by heat from their home LED devices.”

Overall, the evidence points toward red light therapy being a positive addition to a patient’s skincare routine as long as they are buying from a reputable source.

“In my opinion, red light therapy can be used as a complementary treatment if a patient wishes, as it’s generally considered safe and there are not many adverse side effects,” Karlin said.

Steering patients away from social media misinformation

According to a 2024 Healthline and YouGov survey comprised of over 4,000 individuals in the U.S., 52% of Americans who have tried a health trend, tool or approach in the past year say they found them on social media, whereas only 34% say they consulted their doctor or another health care provider.

These data represent a potential risk of patients consuming information from nonprofessionals, which can lead to negative consequences.

“Misinformation on social media is an ongoing problem,” Karlin told Healio. “My advice for dermatologists is to continue to correct misinformation when you see it, point patients towards the AAD social media pages if they do want to follow skincare trends and to show your credentials as a medical doctor and board-certified dermatologist when correcting misinformation.”

References:

• Most popular skincare trends on TikTok in 2023, by number of hashtag views. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1461015/most-trending-skincare-trends-tiktok/. Published May 22, 2024. Accessed Dec. 12, 2024.
• State of Consumer Health. https://www.healthline.com/health/consumer-health-survey#1. Published Oct. 8, 2024. Accessed Dec. 12, 2024.