Can butylparaben in cosmetics and lotions damage your eggs?

What's actually in it

Butylparaben is a preservative used in body lotions, face creams, shampoos, and makeup. It absorbs through the skin and enters your bloodstream. From there, it reaches your ovaries, where it can interact with developing egg cells.

Women are born with all the eggs they'll ever have. Anything that damages those eggs can't be undone.

What the research says

A 2026 study in J Hazard Mater tested how butylparaben affects egg cells at the molecular level. They looked at oxidative stress, DNA integrity, and cell division accuracy.

Butylparaben caused oxidative stress inside egg cells, overwhelming their natural antioxidant defenses. This led to DNA damage that could result in mutations or cell death.

The chemical also disrupted microtubule formation, the structural scaffolding that separates chromosomes during cell division. Faulty microtubules lead to eggs with the wrong number of chromosomes, a major cause of miscarriage and birth defects.

The researchers found that melatonin partially protected against butylparaben's effects, suggesting that the damage works through oxidative pathways that antioxidants can counter.