By Dr. Marc DuPéré, Plastic Surgeon, Toronto
“If you’re using sunscreen to contour your face or body, you’re literally using skin cancer prevention the wrong way… it is a terrible idea and should be forbidden”.
Every few months, social media introduces a new beauty trend promising effortless results with little or no cost. Some are harmless. Others are simply ineffective. Some are just dangerous.
Unfortunately, a growing trend known as SPF contouring (or sunscreen contouring) falls into a far more concerning category: it encourages intentional, uneven sun exposure to create the illusion of facial definition.
As a plastic surgeon who has spent over 25 years helping patients restore and preserve healthy, youthful skin, I find this trend particularly troubling—not because it fails to achieve beautiful results, but because it promotes permanent skin damage in pursuit of a temporary cosmetic effect.
I must be clear: it is a dangerous, fatuous and vacuous (read stupid) trend.
The irony is difficult to ignore: people are deliberately damaging the very tissue they hope will remain youthful.
What Is SPF Contouring?
The concept is deceptively simple. They are trying to do what make-up can do, creating shades of light and shadow.
Instead of applying sunscreen evenly across the face, individuals apply a high-SPF sunscreen only to areas they wish to appear lighter—typically the bridge of the nose, under the eyes, the forehead, chin, or jawline.
The remaining skin is intentionally left with little or no protection so that it tans more deeply, supposedly creating “natural contouring.”
Videos demonstrating this technique have accumulated millions of views on TikTok, Instagram and other platforms, particularly among teenagers and young adults. I honestly wish that some warnings could be added to those videos to protect the younger crowds who may not yet understand all the consequences.
The promised result?
A sculpted face without makeup.
The actual result?
Uneven UV damage. Premature aging. Possible skin cancers 10, 20 or 30 years later.
The Problem Is That UV Damage Is Never Cosmetic
The sun does not distinguish between areas you intentionally expose and those you protect.
Ultraviolet radiation causes injury at the cellular level every single time the skin tans or burns.
A tan is not a sign of healthy skin, contrary to what Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was thinking in her fashionable 1920s Deauville days. A tan is your body’s emergency response to DNA damage. When skin darkens, pigment-producing cells (melanocytes) increase melanin production in an attempt to shield the DNA inside your skin cells from further injury. In other words, the tan itself is evidence that damage has already occurred.
Repeated exposure accumulates over years and decades.
Unfortunately, your skin remembers every minute of unprotected sun exposure.
The Long-Term Consequences
Intentional uneven tanning can lead to numerous long-term problems, including:
- Premature wrinkles
- Loss of collagen and elastin
- Skin laxity
- Persistent pigmentation
- Uneven skin tone
- Enlarged blood vessels (telangiectasia)
- Sunspots (solar lentigines)
- Rough skin texture
- Actinic keratoses (precancerous lesions)
- Increased risk of skin cancers, including melanoma
Ironically, these are precisely the concerns that bring many patients to a plastic surgeon or dermatologist years later.
Many of the treatments we perform—laser resurfacing (Halo Erbium laser, CO2, etc.), IPL/BBL, chemical peels, medical-grade skincare, and even surgical facial rejuvenation—are aimed at repairing damage that could have been prevented in the first place.
Keep in mind that skin cancers require skin excision surgery, and one cannot chose where the scars will be positioned… scars will be where the cancer is.
Your Face Does Not Tan Evenly Anyway
Another flaw in SPF contouring is that it assumes tanning behaves predictably.
It does not.
Different areas of the face receive different amounts of UV exposure depending on:
- Facial anatomy
- Angle of the sun
- Time of day
- Latitude
- Reflection from water, sand or snow
- Skin thickness
- Previous sun damage
- Individual pigmentation genetics
The result is rarely the beautifully sculpted look portrayed online.
Instead, many people develop irregular patches of pigmentation that can persist for months—or become permanent.
Hyperpigmentation Can Be Extremely Difficult to Treat
Once uneven pigmentation develops, reversing it is often far more difficult than preventing it.
Some pigment changes respond to:
- Prescription lightening creams
- Retinoids
- Vitamin C
- Chemical peels
- IPL and BBL photofacials
- Pigment lasers
Others remain stubborn despite multiple treatments. Conditions such as melasma may actually worsen after UV exposure and can become chronic. Creating intentional pigmentation is therefore a very risky cosmetic experiment.
Young Skin Is Not Invincible
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of this trend is its popularity among teenagers. Youth often gives the illusion that skin is resilient because damage is not immediately visible. However, approximately 80% of lifetime sun exposure occurs before adulthood. The cumulative effects frequently become apparent only years later, when collagen loss, pigmentation, wrinkles, and skin cancers begin to emerge.
Good skincare is an investment whose benefits become increasingly visible with time.
Poor sun habits work exactly the same way.
Social Media Rewards Novelty and the number of “likes” and “views”—Not Medical Accuracy
Social media platforms reward content that attracts attention.
Healthcare rewards evidence.
Those are not always the same thing.
Unfortunately, beauty advice online often spreads faster than scientific information because it is visually dramatic and easy to imitate.
Many viral trends are created by influencers with little or no medical training.
This does not make them always malicious although as a plastic surgeon relying on decades of scientific literature which is available to all, I question many of those “self-proclaimed influencers”.
Entertainment should never replace evidence-based skincare.
As physicians, we have an obligation to help patients distinguish between what is popular and what is actually healthy.
If You Want Better Facial Contours, There Are Safer Ways
The good news is that beautifully defined facial contours do not require sun damage.
Depending on your goals, options may include:
- Professional makeup contouring
- Medical-grade skincare that improves skin quality
- Healthy body weight maintenance
- Facial rejuvenation procedures when appropriate
- Injectable treatments performed by experienced medical professionals (I personally perform ALL injections at my clinic for heightened safety and results)
- Surgical facial contouring in carefully selected patients
These approaches preserve skin health instead of sacrificing it.
Sunscreen Should Never Be Used Selectively
Sunscreen is designed to protect your skin—not to create cosmetic effects.
It should be applied generously and evenly to all sun-exposed areas of the face, ears, neck and décolletage, and reapplied throughout the day when outdoors. Don’t forget your forearms and hands… skin aging and cancers do occur on the back of the arms and forearms too.
No sunscreen blocks 100% of ultraviolet radiation, which makes consistent application even more important.
Think of sunscreen as daily preventive medicine rather than simply beachwear.
My Advice
Every generation has its beauty myths. Some disappear quickly. Others leave lasting consequences. SPF contouring is one trend I hope disappears sooner rather than later. Beautiful skin is not created by strategically damaging parts of your face. It is created through years of protecting it.
As plastic surgeons, we can restore, rejuvenate and improve many aspects of facial aging—but no procedure is as powerful as preventing unnecessary damage before it begins.
Your future self will thank you for every day you chose protection over trends.
