How to check what is really in a US sunscreen, using the FDA's own databases
In the United States a sunscreen is regulated as an over-the-counter drug, not a cosmetic. One consequence is useful to shoppers: every sunscreen sold here has a label on file with the federal government, and anyone can read it. The filing gives the exact percentage of each active ingredient and the pack sizes, which marketing copy often leaves out.
This is how we build the launch records on this site. It takes about a minute and costs nothing.
The two databases
| DailyMed | openFDA | |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | National Library of Medicine | FDA |
| Best for | Reading one product's label | Searching by ingredient |
| Search by name | Yes | Yes |
| Search by ingredient | Yes | Yes, and better |
| Cost | Free | Free |
| Account needed | No | No |
Look up one product
- Go to DailyMed and search the product name as it appears on the bottle.
- Open the result. The Drug Facts panel lists each active ingredient with its strength, exactly as the manufacturer filed it.
- Scroll to Product Information for the NDC code, and to Packaging for the sizes filed. The Marketing Start Date is the date the maker says it may be sold from.
The strengths are usually given per millilitre or per gram, not as a percentage. To convert, multiply a "mg per mL" figure by 0.1. So 60 mg per mL is 6%.
Find every product containing one filter
This is the query behind our bemotrizinol tracker. Paste it into a browser and change the ingredient name:
| Query | https://api.fda.gov/drug/ndc.json?search=active_ingredients.name:"BEMOTRIZINOL"&limit=100 |
|---|
What the filing does not tell you
- Whether you can buy it. A filing is a regulatory step. Products appear on the register before, sometimes long before, they reach a shelf. Some never arrive.
- The price. That is never in the filing.
- How well it works. The SPF on the label is a measured figure, but nothing in the database compares one product with another, and neither do we.
- Whether the data is right. Manufacturers file their own records. We have seen obvious errors, including a sunscreen filed with the wrong route of administration and one whose ingredient list mixes actives with water and fragrance. Read a filing as what a company said, not as an inspection result.
Why we do it this way
Launch coverage usually reports what a brand chose to announce. The register shows what companies have committed to on paper, including products they have not talked about yet. Both are worth knowing, and the second one is free and public.
Sources
- DailyMed, National Library of Medicine, read September 2, 2026
- openFDA drug/ndc API documentation, read September 2, 2026
- FDA National Drug Code Directory, read September 2, 2026
Source links are not affiliate links. This page records prices, dates and label facts. It is not advice about your skin, and it does not describe what any product will do.
