ELSEVIER

Soaps ad Detergents in Children

KAZUYA YAMAMOTO, MD

T
here is no doubt that skin care is an important water content of the horny layer of infants is signifi-
habit in daily living. The fundamental method of cantly lower than that of adults, changing with the sea-
skin care is “to clean the skin and to keep it son as in adults.
moist.” The skin as the subject of care does not stay in The importance of emollient effects after children’s
a fixed condition but changes according to the environ- use of soaps and detergents is obvious from these re-
ment or the condition of the skin itself. Therefore, the sults.
care of skin in children may have characteristics differ-
ent from the care of skin in other age groups. The true Total Free Amino Acids Content of the Horny Layer
basis of skin care is cleansing of the skin. What is es- Natural moisturizing factor (NMF), composed of free
sential for the implementation of that-the agents that amino acids, occurs less in infants’ horny layer than in
are used most commonly for clean skin-are soaps and that of adults (Fig 3). This is an important fact to explain
detergents. It is important to know what conditions the cause of dry skin in infants. Therefore, not only
they should meet when they are used for children’s soaps and detergents but also the manner of taking
skin. Various physiologic characteristics of pediatric baths should be given much attention. The inclusion of
skin will be listed, and the kinds of soaps and deter- NMF-like substances in skin care products is recom-
gents that are desirable for these characteristics in chil- mended.3
dren will be described.
The skin of the cheeks of 54 healthy young children The Thickness of the Epidermis
(age 1 to 6 years) was examined under the following Measured by ultrasound, the epidermis (Fig 4) is obvi-
conditions; spring/summer, 77°F (25”C), 50 + 5% RH, ously thinner in infants than in adults.4 Although the
autumn/winter, 72°F (22”C), 45 + 5% RH. thickness of stratum corneum cannot be seen, according
to Fairley and Rasmussen, infants also have a thinner
Physiologic Characteristics of Infants’ Skin stratum corneum.5 Thus, we can say that infants’ skin is
thin and sensitive to external stimuli, including soaps
Skin Surface
and detergents.
As shown in Fig 1, the appearance of the skin surface
shows a marked influence of the climate. The microtop- Quantity of Sebum
ographic feature, obtained by the replica method, re- The sebum quantity in an infant’s skin is low in all
veals that the furrow of the skin is regular and the ridge seasons (Fig 5) and is significantly less than that of
is small and uniform in the summer.‘,* On the other adults.* It is therefore not crucial for infants’ skin care
hand, in winter the furrow of skin features becomes products to be able to wash off sebum or sebumlike
disordered, showing skin dryness. substances.
These findings suggest that the selection of soaps
and detergents for children’s skin care in various coun- Conversion Ratio of Squalene to
tries must accommodate seasonal changes in their cli- Squalene Hydroperoxide
mate.
Figure 6 shows the conversion ratio of lipid to lipid
peroxide.6 Lipid peroxides have been investigated by
Water Content of the Horny Layer
use of high-performance liquid chromatography with
There is a big difference in water content of the horny the chemiluminescence detection system. The conver-
layer, depending on the season (Fig 2). In the summer, sion ratio of squalene to squalene hydroperoxide in in-
the water content of the horny layer of infants is sig- fants is significantly higher than in adults.7
nificantly higher than that during other seasons.’ And it Infants’ skin is also sensitive to oxidative stress.
shows the lowest amount in winter. In all seasons the
Racial Difference of Physiologic Characteristics
From the Depwfment of Dermatology, Nation Children’s Hospital, To- As skin color differs with race, physiologic characteris-
kyo, Japan.
Address correspondence to Dr. Kmuya Yamamoto, Professor and Chair-
tics of skin could differ according to one’s origin. When
man, Department of Dermatology, Nafion. Children’s Hospital, 3-35-32 those characteristics are specific, dermatologists should
Taishido, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 154, ]apun. give much attention to advising their patients about

0 1996 by Elsevier Science Inc. 0738-081X/96/$32.00

655 Avenue of the Americas, Neu York, NY 10010 SSDI 0738-08ZQ95)00112-3
 Seasonal variations of skin surface microtopographic features

Figure 7.

skin care. In a study by Morosawa, 15 Caucasian infants According to these results, we do not need to use
living in Japan and 15 Japaneseinfants were examined.7 different soaps or detergents according to the child’s
The data from the comparisons are as follows. race.

Water Content of the Horny Layer Concept of Skin Care in Children

In both Japanese and Caucasians, the water content of Characteristics of infants’ skin suggest many important
an infant’s skin is significantly less than that of adults. points about skin care products for children’s use. It is
Water content is greater in Caucasian infants’ skin than a principle of human skin care to keep the skin clean, to
in that of Japanese infants. prevent any undesirable stimulus from the outside, and
to keep the skin moist.
Quantity of Sebum We cannot expect the ideal features of skin to bt?
The quantity of sebum in an infant’s cheek skin is sig- maintained all the time even if the skin were to be
nificantly less than that of adults in both races. The treated with proper soaps and detergents. To help
forehead of Caucasian skin showed more sebum than clarify what is desirable soap and detergent, a proper
did that of Japanese skin.
Figure 3.
Figure 2.
Comparison with Adult
Seasonal Variation Total Free Amino Acids Content of
Water Content of Horny Layer Horny Layer
(cheek) (back)
I200

2 800
.r if
;i 600

e
IL 5 400
-a
z
MEANfSE t- 200 MEANtSE
t-test t-test
** : p<o.oi **: p<O.Ol
n
Spring Autumn Winter lnfents AduRs(2Ows.F.)
Clinics in Dermatology 9 1996;14:81-84 SOAPS AND DETERGENTS IN CHILDREN 83

Thickness of Skin (Ultrasound Picture)

Epidermis epidermis
Dermis

vis
1
4:
i .,.i

Infant Adult (20yrs. F.)

Figure 4.

Comparison with Adult baby skin care cream was applied on 53 healthy infants
Quantity of Sebum for 4 weeks in the winter, in order to test for any im-
(cheek) provement of skin condition. Each subject was treated
with same baby skin care cream only on one half of the
40
I ***l face every day, while the other half remained untreated
I **l
after the use of soap. The result is clearly shown in Fig
5 7. The skin treated with baby skin care cream displays
$ 30
apparently normal features.’
b

MEANiSE
t-test
Conclusions
***: p<o.O01
**: p<o.oi
From the many results described above, the conditions
for soaps and detergents that are desirable for a child’s
Infants Adults Adults skin become clear. Prodticts that may meet these con-
(20yrs.F.) (40yrs.F.)
ditions are, in fact, being developed; however, the study
F&we 5.
also showed that the use of such soaps and detergents

Figure 7.
Figure 6.
Effect of Baby Skin Care Cream
Comparison with Adult on Infant’s Dry Skin
Conversion Ratio of Squalene to
Water Content of Horny Layer
Squalenehydroperoxide
(after 4 weeks)
(forehead)
7

6
+g 5

8 4
E
2 3
2 2
MEANiSE MEANASE
t-test
u” t-test
*** : p<O.OOl ***: p<O.OOl
n
Infants Adults (20yrs.F.) Untreated Treated
84 YAMAMOTO
alone may not be enough under some conditions to
protect children’s skin. Unfortunately, there are no
soaps or detergents anywhere that are good enough to
be used without other skin care. Therefore, advice
about skin care, even for healthy children, should take
various aspects-into consideration.
References
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ous factors affecting the efficaciesof skin care products by
instrument skin measurementand consumer preference
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2. Kawajiri Y, Suyama S, Ohara Y, et al. Phylosiological
properties of infants’ skin. J Pediatr Dermatol 1993;12:77-
81.
3. Koyama J, Horii I, Kawasaki K, et al. Freeammo acidsot
stratum corneum as a biochemica1markers to evaluate
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