How to Counsel Patients About Skincare Safety, Sunscreen Safety, and Product Ingredients

On-site at the 2026 Society of Dermatology Physician Assistants (SDPA) Summer Dermatology Conference, Hannah Rodriguez, MPAS, PA-C, spoke with HCPLive about her session in which she highlighted the growing need for dermatology clinicians to help patients navigate increasingly complex conversations surrounding skincare ingredients, product safety, and sunscreen use.¹

During her presentation, Rodriguez had explored how social media has transformed patient expectations and highlighted the importance of providing evidence-based guidance amid a rapidly evolving skincare marketplace. Rodriguez explained that patients are increasingly arriving in clinic with questions about ingredient labels and terms such as “clean,” “natural,” “non-toxic,” and “toxic.” As dermatology professionals are often viewed as trusted authorities on skincare products, she believes clinicians must be prepared to interpret ingredient lists, understand patients’ concerns, and provide practical counseling on product selection.

In the following Q&A, Rodriguez highlights a number of key points drawn from her session at the SDPA meeting:

HCPLive: At SDPA, you presented a talk titled ‘Skin at Different Stages Track: Understanding Skincare Ingredients in Clinical Practice.’ Why did you feel the topics covered in this talk were important for clinicians?

Rodriguez: I have spent a lot of time researching ingredients of products, both for myself and for my family. I think if you look at social media trends, which are driving a lot of the conversations that we have in our clinic, patients are coming in asking about what is in a product. They throw around these terms, such as ‘toxic’ or ‘non-toxic’ or ‘clean’ or ‘natural,’ and we are seen in dermatology as the experts in those things.

But it's very difficult to keep up with the growing number of products that we have, and also all of the ingredients that are in those products. So, I wanted to be able to share with my colleagues how to read a label, how to understand what our patients care about, and how to counsel them about avoiding some of these things that they may be concerned about.

HCPLive: Would you walk us through a little bit about what are the harmful ingredients patients may be trying to avoid?

Rodriguez: There's a lot of conversation about chemical sunscreen ingredients, and I talk a lot about the evidence that's there. I also talk about benzene, which was a big thing in some of the acne products a couple of years ago, and why some of the products were recalled from the market. I talk about forever chemicals and parabens, which are things that have seen a lot of conversation, and some things that perhaps we don't want in our skin care products. Then also, just generally speaking, [I discuss] what are the supportive ingredients of barrier function and which ones are not going to create irritation in skin, generally.

HCPLive: Which would you say is the most pressing concern right now for patients? Which do you think should be the most pressing?

Rodriguez: I think two things. I think there are still ingredients in skin care that potentially are concerning for acting as carcinogens, and we need to do some due diligence in researching them further. That would be the number one concern, at least for me, as a parent and as a clinician. Beyond that are ingredients that potentially have endocrine or hormone-disrupting abilities.

These are the things that our patients are coming in asking us about on a daily basis, but there's still a really great lack of information there. We have a little bit of information at least to raise concern to some degree, and then truthfully, at this point, it's just about presenting the information and then helping our patients to decide if that's something that they want to try to avoid based on the lack of information that we have at this time.

HCPLive: Are concerns over chemical sunscreens warranted to any degree? Do you feel like sticking to zinc oxide and mineral sunscreens is safer?

Rodriguez: For people who are concerned, I think we have an abundance of safety information for the mineral sunscreen filters. So, zinc, iron, and titanium are all recognized by the FDA as generally safe. There's a list with that labeling. The chemical sunscreens really don't have solid evidence that they're concerning. I think there's some evidence to show that potentially they may contribute to things like PCOS, which would be concerning in the obstetrics and gynecology community.

There's some evidence that potentially at normal levels they may contribute to growth of breast cancer tumors or potentially metastasis of those tumors, but the evidence is very early, and given that I'm someone who also cares about climate change, and the fact that skin cancer rates are on the rise, it is incredibly important that we do not scare people about sunscreen use. Sunscreen is safe, but you may choose one category of sunscreen over another based on your own general concerns.

HCPLive: There are some patients who believe that sunscreens of any kind are more harmful to your health than sun exposure without protection. What would you say to those patients?

Rodriguez: I think it's creating a public health crisis, to be honest. There's a really fine line between talking about these products, making sure that we are pressuring these companies really to create products that are safe and healthy for our patients, and being careful about the messaging that we give. When it comes to the sun, I do think, for psychiatric reasons, there is a health benefit to being out in the sun, but that health benefit is not voided by your wearing sunscreen.

So, it is okay to be outdoors. I happen to love nature and being outdoors. I happen to love being out in the sun, but I always am wearing sun-protective clothing or applying sunscreen. I think that we have to be very clear about the messaging there, in that you can still enjoy the sun and be outdoors. In fact, it's very healthy to exercise and enjoy the outdoors. But we also have to protect our skin from what we know are the harms of UV radiation.

HCPLive: The FDA recently added a new ingredient, bemotrizinol, as a permitted ingredient in its list of over-the-counter (OTC) sunscreen products approved for skin cancer protection. It is the first addition of a new active ingredient to the OTC sunscreen monograph since the late 1990s. How significant is this move by the FDA?

Rodriguez: I think it's really great. I think the United States has been behind in our UV filters for quite some time. It's almost embarrassing from my perspective that it's taken over 20 years for us to adopt a sunscreen that was available since the 90s to the rest of the world. It has great safety data, and I think it will change the way that patients feel about wearing sunscreen, because while zinc is very safe, it also creates a white cast on the skin. It's very thick and sometimes uncomfortable to wear, especially when the weather is so hot and humid. So, having another option of a safe UV filter is going to make some of our sunscreens a little bit more elegant. Their application is fantastic for patients and for skin cancer prevention.

Disclosures: Rodriguez had no relevant disclosures of note.

References

1. Rodriguez H. Skin at Different Stages Track: Understanding Skincare Ingredients in Clinical Practice. Presented at SDPA Summer 2026. Jun 10-14, 2026.

2. FDA Adds Bemotrizinol as First New Sunscreen Ingredient in Decades. HCPLive. June 9, 2026. Accessed June 13, 2026. https://www.hcplive.com/view/fda-adds-bemotrizinol-first-new-sunscreen-ingredient-decades.