The Use of Calcium Phosphates in Cosmetics, State of the Art and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Calcium phosphates (CaPs) belong to a class of biomimetic materials widely employed for medical applications thanks to their excellent properties, such as biodegradability, biocompatibility and osteoinductivity. The recent trend in the cosmetics field of substituting potentially hazardous materials with natural, safe, and sustainable ingredients for the health of consumers and for the environment, as well as the progress in the materials science of academics and chemical industries, has opened new perspectives in the use of CaPs in this field. While several reviews have been focused on the applications of CaP-based materials in medicine, this is the first attempt to catalogue the properties and use of CaPs in cosmetics. In this review a brief introduction on the chemical and physical characteristics of the main CaP phases is given, followed by an up-to-date report of their use in cosmetics through a large literature survey of research papers and patents. The application of CaPs as agents in oral care, skin care, hair care, and odor control has been selected and extensively discussed, highlighting the correlation between the chemical, physical and toxicological properties of the materials with their final applications. Finally, perspectives on the main challenges that should be addressed by the scientific community and cosmetics companies to widen the application of CaPs in cosmetics are given.

Criticisms in the Development of High-Protection and Broad-Spectrum “Natural/Organic” Certifiable Sunscreen

“…These materials are promising and represent a possible valuable alternative to the well-known ZnO and TiO 2 . Up to now, they have not been recognized in Annex VI to the EC regulation; however, they are often used and mentioned in the INCI and label as coloring agents or UV boosters [23][24][25][26].…”

Effect of L-Glutamic Acid on the Composition and Morphology of Nanostructured Calcium Phosphate as Biomaterial

“…This paper is a part of an interesting recent collection of research articles and reviews “describing numerical and experimental design techniques definitively aimed at improving the scaffold performance, shortening the healing time, and increasing the success rate of the scaffold implantation process”, as pointed out by Bocaccio [ 26 ]. Furthermore, it should be remarked that the use of CaP in cosmetics, as reviewed by Carella et al [ 27 ], shows the-state-of-the-art and future perspectives. These authors described the principal synthesis parameters that influence the characteristics of CaP, as well as the formation of different crystal phases from ACP to HAp, following an increase in thermodynamic stability.…”

Dental tissue remineralization by bioactive calcium phosphate nanoparticles formulations

“…Indeed, topical formulations are designed to be applied using universal or customized trays that allow prolonged contact of the formulation with the tooth tissues, thus providing a relatively high delivery of ionic species to hard tissues. Therefore, the inclusion of compounds with remineralizing capabilities in toothpaste and topical formulations has become a common practice nowadays 13 , 14 .…”