International STD Research & Reviews

Introduction: A study on the knowledge of young people on the consequences of the use of toxic cosmetic products was carried out at the Institut Supérieur des Techniques Médicales of Kisangani with the objectives of analysing young people's knowledge of the use of toxic cosmetics, determining the consequences of abusive use of these products and evaluating the treatment in the event of irritation or intoxication.

Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study based on face-to-face interviewing of students in the period from 1 January to 15 October 2021. Based on a Simple random sampling. Thus, 60 young people were recruited from a population of 1,865 students.

Results: It was shown that the majority of young people (81.7%) were not aware of the chemical agents contained in toxic cosmetics, skin cancer was the consequence of the abusive use of toxic cosmetic products (50.0%), changing products considered toxic was the management observed in case of allergies or skin irritations (53.3%).

Conclusion: Young people's lack of knowledge about the chemical agents in toxic cosmetic products is a real public health problem. The need and importance of raising awareness among young people about not using toxic cosmetic products that can cause harmful and damaging consequences on the skin is essential. This is where the role of the authorities in charge of controlling and regulating the conformity of products released for consumption comes in.