You use your phone for just about everything, but is the growing list of conveniences associated with smartphones making us willing to believe they are capable of anything? Plenty of people downloaded the AcneApp and Acne Pwner, which both claimed the ability to treat acne via colored lights emitted from the phone.
The Federal Trade Commission charged the makers of these apps with making unsubstantiated claims in the marketplace, namely that consumers could diminish acne by holding the display screen to the acne afflicted area for a few minutes daily while the app was on and expect to see results. Why are we not surprised that the first complaint from the FTC targeting health claims in mobile applications is associated with a beauty product? Will the marketing overhype ever end? It also doesn’t surprise us that acne sufferers would be willing to try just about anything but acne treatment by smartphone is a bit of a stretch. So what’s the real solution to acne? It’s still up in the air. Check out our post on the need for acne research here.
