Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Minimal Erythema Dose (MED) Testing
Published on: May 28, 2013
Correlation of spectrophotometric data with sunscreen protection factors
1Avon Products, Inc., Suffern, NY 10901, U.S.A.
Abstract:
Synopsis Sunscreen protection factors, obtained for dilute solutions contained in 2 cm quartz cells placed between a human subject and the Xenon Are sun simulator lamp, are able to be correlated with spectrophotometric data. The correlation, interpreted in terms of the mechanism of sunscreen protection, successfully predicts that an opacifier which is active only in the UV-A spectral region, though ineffective as a sunscreen by itself, would significantly enhance the protective ability of an opacifier which is active mainly in the UV-B spectral region, and that complete erythemal prevention requires opacification to both the UV-B and UV-A regions. This correlation is reached by measuring the total area under the spectral curve in the UV-A and UV-B regions as predicted by a new form of Beer's law, for polychromatic radiation, which is derived. The procedure is shown to be a simple approach to predicting the efficacy of various sunscreen agents which do not exhibit fluorescence.
More Related Videos
06:31Precision Implementation of Minimal Erythema Dose (MED) Testing to Assess Individual Variation in Human Inflammatory Response
Published on: October 3, 2019
09:32Resolving Water, Proteins, and Lipids from In Vivo Confocal Raman Spectra of Stratum Corneum through a Chemometric Approach
Published on: September 26, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Spectrophotometry: Introduction
The essential components of a spectrophotometer include a source of electromagnetic radiation, a slot for placing a material to be analyzed, and a...
UV–Vis Spectroscopy: Beer–Lambert Law
UV–Vis Spectrum
The UV–Vis spectrum of a molecule is the plot of its absorbance versus wavelength. The plot is drawn by taking molar absorptivity (ε) or log ε on the y-axis (ordinate)...
UV–Vis Spectrometers
UV–Vis Spectroscopy: Woodward–Fieser Rules