In vitro and in vivo determinations of sun protection factors of sunscreen lotions with octylmethoxycinnamate

The aim of this work was to evaluate the correlation between in vitro and in vivo determinations of sun protection factors (SPF) of sunscreen lotions containing the synthetic sunscreen octyl methoxycinnamate. Three sunscreen lotions containing either 2, 4.5 or 7.5% octyl methoxycinnamate were prepared. The in vitro SPFs of these sunscreen lotions were determined according to the spectrophotometric method of Mansur et al. The in vivo SPF values were determined according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) method. The results indicate that there was a good correlation between the in vitro and in vivo determinations for the sunscreen lotions examined.