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[ANNOUNCEMENT] Official Statement on the Labelled SPF of the Dear, Klairs Soft Airy UV Essence

+Updated (May 26, 2022)

All-Day Airy Sunscreen Launch

We are delighted to announce that on May 26, 2022, Dear, Klairs launched a new sunscreen, the All-Day Airy Sunscreen.

Our sincere thanks goes out to everyone who has waited for our new sunscreen.
The All-Day Airy Sunscreen is an exclusive SPF prescription product of Dear, Klairs and underwent multiple tests with three clinic trial institutions in the past year and six months. Results proved that the All-Day Airy Sunscreen had SPF 50+ PA++++ levels.

As we’ve promised our customers in April 2021, we’ll continue to test all future Klairs SPF products with at least three institutions.

Now, Meet Klairs’ ‘All-Day Airy Sunscreen’

>> Find out more at Wishtrend.com

Hello from the Dear, Klairs Team.

After our first two notices made at the end of last year, we’re back with an update regarding the sun protection factor (SPF) of our Soft Airy UV Essence.

Thank you so much for your patience and continuous love and support for Dear, Klairs. 

Upon discovering the issue, we commissioned four specialized clinical institutions to conduct SPF tests to pinpoint the problems and cause of the issue.
While we wanted to provide more information sooner, this process took a considerable amount of time.

We apologize once again for the concern we have caused you.

 >> Read our statement on December 7th, 23rd

Below are the SPF results of the conducted clinical trials. 

No.

Name of
Products
SPF of
Original Formula

SPF Result
From Clinical Trials

1

Soft Airy UV Essence SPF 50+ SPF 12.4~25

2

Mid Day Blue UV Shield

SPF 50+

SPF 12.7~22.8

3

Illuminating Supple Blemish Cream SPF 40

SPF 41~44

(*The clinical trial SPF is based on a range of test values following various criteria, including the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Notice Act, ISO24444:2010 and ISO24444:2019 standards.)

We conducted clinical trials on our SPF products at four domestic and foreign-based clinical institutions under various criteria. The original SPF results of the products concerned were based on the SPF of the original base formula developed by the manufacturers  tested according to Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) standards.

However, through clinical trials, it was confirmed that there may be a deviation between the SPF of products that passed MFDS standards and our finished product sold on the market. 

With that, we’ve decided to discontinue sales of the Soft Airy UV Essence and Mid Day Blue UV Shield, and offer a full refund to those who purchased these products.

We’re truly sorry, and will do our best to rectify this situation to provide the best to you all moving forward.

However, we will be ready to resume sales of the Illuminating Supple Blemish Cream within this month as clinical trials have confirmed that the labelled SPF is correct.

Our team has been conducting internal studies for the past 5 months in order to determine the cause of the aforementioned deviations in SPF. Through the study, we found that such deviations could occur depending on many factors, such as product’s texture, uncontrolled variables during clinical trials and country-specific clinical trial criteria.

We take full responsibility for the lack of action on our end to verify the SPF of our products before launching.

We have taken this as a lesson to establish necessary changes to our internal product development process, and conduct at least three clinical trials with different trusted institutions before launch, in order to create trustworthy products.

To those of you who trusted and chose Dear, Klairs, we sincerely apologize for our shortcomings and will take this as a learning experience to better ourselves as a brand in order to fully repay the trust you have given us. 

If you have any additional questions and/ or concerns, please contact us at support@klairs.com and
we will do our best to give you the help you need as soon as we can. 

Thank you.


[Attachments] Dear, Klairs  –  Studies on the deviation of SPF.

Below are the studies the Dear, Klairs team has referred to during the past five months regarding the possible causes of SPF deviation.

While we hope that these studies can shed some light onto the issue at hand, we do not believe that we can pinpoint everything stated in these studies to be the answer. Our main focus is to make up for our past shortcomings so as not to disappoint you in the future. 

From here, we will continue to listen to your voices in order to continue to learn and grow.

If you would like more information, or have any studies you would like to share with us, please contact us at support@klairs.com

1. Sun protection factor (SPF) may vary  depending on a  product’s texture.

Our Soft Airy UV Essence and Mid Day Blue UV Shield were developed by our manufacturer based on their original formula that held ‘SPF50+ PA++++’ properties. In the process of improving the original formula, we changed the percentage content of the ingredients to reduce its heavy texture, improve applicability and reduce skin irritation. We were informed by our manufacturer that such changes in content would not change the SPF. However, academic studies confirmed that the UV protection index between the original formula and the final product may differ if contents are changed.


[References]
– G. Marti-mestres, “Stability of UV filters in Different Vehicles : Solvents and Emulsions”, Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 1997.
– Jutta Kockler, Michael Oelgemöller, Sherryl Robertson, Beverley D.Glass, “Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews”, School of Pharmacy and Molecular Sciences, James Cook University, 2012.
– Myriam Sohn, Adeline Hêche, Bernd Herzog, Georgios Imanidis, “Film thickness frequency distribution of different vehicles determines sunscreen efficacy”, J. of Biomedical Optics, 19(11), 2014.
– Nick Serpone, “An in vitro systematic spectroscopic examination of the photostabilities of a random set of commercial sunscreen lotions and their chemical UVB/UVA active agents”, Photochem Photobiol Sci, 2002. 

2. Sun protection factor (SPF) may vary depending on uncontrolled variables during clinical trials.  

SPF is measured by first selecting a tester who meets the measurement criteria, applying the product to the tester’s back, and checking the degree of erythema or irritation caused. During this process, it was confirmed that SPF could vary due to variables such as the subject’s skin tone and condition, application method, thickness of application, erythema measurement method, and proficiency of the researcher.


[References]
– A Multicenter Study Organized by the DGK Task Force Sun Protection”, Skin Pharmacology and Physiology, 2007.
– R. S. Petryshyn, Z. M. Yaremko, and M. N. Soltys, “Effects of Surfactants and pH of Medium on Zeta Potential and Aggregation Stability of Titanium Dioxide Suspensions”, Colloid Journal, 72, pages, 517–522(2010)
– Hao Ou-Yang, Joseph Stanfield, Curtis Cole, Yohini Appa, Darrell Rigel, “High-SPF sunscreens (SPF≥70) may provide ultraviolet protection above minimal recommended levels by adequately compensating for lower sunscreen user application amounts”, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2012
– Myriam Sohn, Adeline Hêche, Bernd Herzog, Georgios Imanidis, “Film thickness frequency distribution of different vehicles determines sunscreen efficacy”, J. of Biomedical Optics, 19(11), 2014.
– R Bimczok, H Gers-Barlag, C Mundt, E Klette, S Bielfeldt, T Rudolph, F Pflucker, U Heinrich, H Tronnier, W Johncock, B Klebon, H Westenfelder, H Flosser-Muller, K Jenni, D Kockott, J Lademann, B Herzog, M Rohr, “Influence of Applied Quantity of Sunscreen Products on the Sun Protection Factor, 2006.
– 강세훈, “한국의 자외선 차단지수 측정방법 개발(The Development of Korean SPF Test Method)”, LG화학 화장품연구소, 2014.

3. Sun protection factor (SPF) may vary depending on country-specific clinical trial criteria.

Clinical test criteria and test conditions for measuring SPF vary from country to country. SPF test conditions include UV irradiation area, application area, application time, and age of the subjects. We have confirmed that the same product may produce different SPF values depending on the clinical trial criteria of the country it was tested in.