Safety in cosmetics and cosmetovigilance

Although unwanted effects related to cosmetics do not commonly occur, they affect a considerable number of consumers. These undesirable effects are irritation, allergy, photo allergy and teratogenic, estrogenic, mutagenic or carcinogenic effects. Side effects related to cosmetics may vary depending on the duration of use of the product, the amount of use and the size of the application area. Cosmetovigilance is the collection, evaluation and monitoring of spontaneous reports of undesirable effects observed with the use of cosmetic products under normal or predictable conditions. In our country, the cosmetovigilance system was established by Turkey Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (TİTCK) in parallel with the EU Cosmetics Regulation in 2012. The notification and reporting of side effects related to cosmetics can be followed under favor of the guideline on the reporting of undesirable effects, New production technologies (nanotechnology, biotechnology) and new ingredients are used to achieve stronger effects in cosmetics, day after day. However, factors such as socio-economic developments, differing cosmetic trends, marketing strategies of cosmetic products increase people's cosmetic use. Increasing use of cosmetics causes people to be exposed to more chemicals. Changing cosmetic usage habits and contents create the need to determine new regulations in accordance with the current situation. For this reason, cosmetovigilance is a concept that experiences and is constantly changing. At this point, feedback and reporting of undesirable effects is of great importance. The aim of this thesis is to review scientific studies on cosmetic ingredients that can cause side effects and contribute to the developing concept of cosmetovigilance. For this purpose, studies in the literature on components and nano-cosmetics, which have been investigated to cause many side effects with their use in cosmetics, have been examined. As a result of the study, the importance of the feedback by healthcare professionals in the cosmetovigilance system, the consultancy service to be given to the consumer and the patient about the contents that should be considered, and conscious selection of cosmetic products have been revealed.