CHANGES IN SKIN PH AFTER THE USE OF BABY WIPES

We recently made a double-blind safety-in-use comparison of four diffe rent brands of baby wipes using a panel of 302 infants over a period o f 10 weeks, For the first two weeks, only soap and water was used to c lean the babies' skin after each diaper change, and then for the eight -week test phase each baby was allocated one or other of the products for normal home use, The wipes differed in cleansing lotion formulatio n (emollients, preservative, pH) and fibrous composition, There were n o clinically detectable differences in the effects of the wipes in ter ms of erythema, frequency of rashes, edema, and desquamation, but we r ecorded significant changes in the pH of pubic and buttock skin inside the diaper area, In particular, the brand of wipes with the lowest pH (2.8) in the lotion reduced the mean skin pH from 5.6 to 5.0 (p < 0.0 1), and those with a pH of 5.5 had no significant effect, Wipes of int ermediate pH (3.7) gave a final skin pH of 5.4-but the downward trend was not statistically significant, These data indicate that skin pH ca n be depressed by such topical application, although the trial lasted only a fraction of the total time wipes might be used on each infant, Further research is necessary to evaluate the implications of these fi ndings.