Sun Protection Factor (SPF) Assessment of the Sunscreen Composed of Natural Substances

Abstract

The harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation by increasing sun exposure are making people use sunscreens casually. To keep pace with this trend, many researches about mixing different ingredients or extracting effective ingredients from natural materials are conducted by cosmetics industry. In the present study, we evaluated the UV blocking effect of the sunscreen containing Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi extract. 10 volunteers were measured by minimal erythema dose (MED) and sun protection factor (SPF) of each product. The SPF results were 34.52 ± 2.13 and 32.67 ± 1.44 in the sunscreen containing Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi extract and that of not containing the substance, respectively. Although the difference of SPF between two products was statistically not significant, it is thought to be meaningful in evaluating clinical effects of the sunscreen using natural substance to humans without any adverse reaction.