Lemon is a no go!

So Pinterest wants you to use lemon on your face? Youtube too?! Wait! Before you do slather highly concentrated lemon oil and juice on your skin consider this!

Lemon is used in skin care as fragrance, antioxidant, anti acne and an antibacterial. Oil from the lemon peel, known as limonene, is commonly used in many skin care products from fragrances to moisturizes, though many of us have heard of it as being hailed a miracle and natural option for lightening or "bleaching" dark spots. Now, lightening over the short term it may do but bare in mind the following information before you try using any lemon products on your skin.




Lemon used as a DIY topical ingredient can cause serious blemishes when exposed to the suns rays. When applied to the skin it can cause photosensitvity/Polymorphous light eruption/phytophotodermatitis on exposure to sunlight which causes discolorations, sores and rashes on the skin which may result in some serious discomfort and unsightly messes on your skin. This is due to the limonene that's abundant in lemon juice and lemon oil. 

Now looking at the studies (found here) It seems it may well be ok to use in creams at low levels as the majority of the time the dermatological testing is done using a higher concentrate, limonene after all is FDA (US food and drug administration) approved and on the GRAS ( Generally Recognized As Safe. Under sections 201(s) and 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) list. This being so, it still means that those chemicals are still oxidizing and reacting with the sun all the while causing possible photosensitivity.

The other thing to look at the amount of people affected by photosensitivity when it comes to lemons in these studies which is only approximately 3%, according to wiki and 36% in a Positive Patch Test according to The Department of Dermatology at the University of Gothenburg, when used at a 3% concentration. Although in cosmetics leave on the skin products do not reach this level of concentration it is a very different story when making your own, unregulated DIY scrubs, peels, masks, oils and others! If you use lemon oil in a heavy way you will likely get an irritation, at some stage in your lifetime of use, and when you are doing a home DIY lemon face scrub your seriously putting yourself in harms way!

So this being said, skin care chemists call lemon a poor ingredient for skin products. keep that in mind next time you think of doing a DIY lemon face scrub.

Overview:

• Lemon oil and juice, when applies topically, in skin care products can cause irritation known as photosensitivity when exposed to sunlight. Though it is more common in industrial AND cleaning products over periods of exposure.
• Don't do a DIY Lemon bath/scrub etc and go in the sun.
• Would i use lemon in creams? I may, at night.
• Cosmetic Chemists/Skin care chemists calls lemon a poor ingredient for skin care products.
• It is not only lemons, its other citrus fruit too, such as oranges and limes.

Please note: I am by no means an authority on the subject. These are only some of the findings I believe people should be aware of before they embark on the DIY lemon skin care "whatevers".

Information sources:


National Center for Biotechnology Information
Paulas Choice Skin Care - Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary
Esoteric Oils
Mayo Clinic
The BeautyBrains
Auckland Allergy Clinic
Cosmetics Info
Read Cube - Air Oxidation of d-limonene (the citrus solvent) creates potent allergens by Ann-Therese Karlberg, Kerstin Magnusson both from the Department of Occupational Dermitology, National Institute of Occupational Health, Solna, Sweden, and Ulrika Nilsson Department of Anylitical Chemistry, National Institute of Occupational Health, Solna, Sweden.
Wikipedia - Phytophotodermatitis
Wikipedia - Limonene