Hey, guys welcome back to Sam here helping you get closer to great skin days. Today I'm kicking off a much-anticipated series on retinoids, one of my favourite if not the favourite active ingredient and I thought I'd go right back to basics, tell you what they are, what they do, what ones are out there and how you go about choosing the right one for you.
Retinoid is the term for the family of skincare ingredients that are somehow related to vitamin A and I think you'd have to be pretty much I don't know living in the middle of anywhere without the internet to not be aware of this category of skincare ingredient. So why retinol is so darn important in the skin, well the thing is vitamin A occurs naturally in our skin and whenever you look at skin cells in the laboratory and you put a retinoid in the petri dish.
So many things happen we think that up to a thousand genes are influenced by the addition of a bit of an A. They affect things like fine lines and wrinkles, they affect poor clarity and pore size they help reduce blemishes, they help improve skin tone, they help oppose the effect of UV exposure that is an antioxidant and overall they just makes skin clearer brighter and deliver that grown-up glow that we're all searching for.
What's not to like so how do you go about choosing the right retinoid for you? Imagine there's a couple of ways of looking at this firstly the question is are you gonna go the cosmetic route with what's available over-the-counter or are you gonna see a doctor prescribe a retinoid for you? So that's the first consideration and the second one is what are you trying to achieve. Someone for instance with significant acne that's leaving dark marks and even potentially scarring behind, you know get B to a physician and think about prescription retinoids from the get-go.
But if you're in your early 20s and just having a give a little block pours maybe the scenes not just quite as bright as you would like there was absolutely no reason not to kick off with a cosmetic grade retinol cream and with is available over-the-counter some considerations. Don't use them if you're pregnant and if you have a skin condition such as rosacea or eczema. You're definitely going to be better off using a physician's guidance to decide, are they suitable for you in the first place and B which one to choose?
So let's start with non-prescription retinoids. Most of these come as a cream. I think there's a little equation that we need to talk about you know gonna bore you too much but it's important to realize that the gold standard retinol cream which is called Trentino Anor retinoic acid which occurs naturally in our skin and is the active molecule that literally binds to DNA through retinoid receptors turning on the expression of genes.
It builds proteins like collagen-like hyaluronic acid which we want because that's the active thing in this skin. Now in our skin, we have enzymes that convert other molecules into that active form. So the storage form of vitamin A is called retinol palmitate, one enzyme step later you get retinol which is pure vitamin A. One enzyme step later you get retinaldehyde retinol, it's also known and then the final step gets you to retinoic acid.
Now each step you are away from retinoic acid the less active that ingredient is because of the conversion process and when you convert you lose something like tenfold activity. Does that make sense? Basically I don't even think about retinol palmitate. It's not useful topically, It's not well absorbed and has very little impact on skin health.
Let's think about retinol First. Retinol is probably the ingredient that you're most familiar with and in fact, people often talk about retinol and actually what they mean is retinoids. Because that's the true family name. But retinol is the one that everyone knows. Retinol is very unstable in life how it's packaged is super important because exposure to ultraviolet will break it down. It comes in lots of different strengths and for some from my view, I kind of thing that's the confusing part.
Because it's available in strength as low as 0.1%. But it goes up to 1% which is hundredfold stronger. That's a great big dosing range. Whilst that gives you lots of freedom for low medium and strong strength. As a consumer you know where you start and when do you go up. So I think for me I'm more interested in retinaldehyde which is a step along so closer to retinoic acid, therefore inherently with more potency and it kind of comes in just about two strengths point 0.5 and 0.1%.
It's an ingredient you can find in products like a Venn and it's also found in medicates products as well and I'll list some examples down below. I think that's a good place to start the other interesting thing about retinaldehyde is aside from its retinoid effect it probably has some additional acne benefits. Because it has a direct impact on acne. The bug that triggers acne spots, worthwhile giving it your consideration and I think it's often quite a gentle easy one to start. so other products to think about in the cosmetic non-prescription space-grown up to retinoid.
I've no doubt many of you have heard about this. Its come in moisturising retinol cream and because it's the one found in some of the ordinary products are very affordable. Here is some of the best retinol cream you can try. What's great about these retinol cream is, it has an effect without step to deliver onto the skin impacts on those retinoid receptors and lead to those skin benefits.
These retinol creams are a rich luxurious multi-benefit cream that works while you sleep to reduce signs of ageing, wake up with smoother softer skin and a more radiant youthful glow. The active ingredients in this formula are retinol vitamins A, C and E glycerin silk amino acids. How to use? Smooth interface and neck until thoroughly absorbed apply after facial serum and vitamin A gel for best result. It will improve with daily use and it benefits resurfaces and smooth the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles moisturizes and helps to improve texture and radiance.
I want to finish the cosmetic section is retinol, which is again an ingredient produced by Medicaid who is doing lots of interesting things in the retinoid space now it's a combination of retinol and retinyl acid in one molecule what that means it goes into the skin it's enzymatically broken down into those two molecules the retinoic acid part has its effect directly on retinoid receptors. Again giving all the retinoid benefits we've come to expect.
The retinol slowly converts into retinoic acid delivering a slow release action which can mean that ultimately it leads to a gentler impact on the skin and greater tolerability. Again not as much data as we'd like to see yet but it shows promise so moving on to the big guns the prescription retinoids and may I just say upfront prescription retinoids should come from a physician, not a doctor.
I know there's a lot of shared information on forums and the like about using these about accessing them but their medicines they are medicines for a reason it is incredibly difficult to use these things by yourself without proper physician guidance. So please don't be cleaver with your skin.
I will use it in those who have thin sensitive skin, who are quite nervous about starting a more grown-up retinoid for antiaging and are happy to go through retinol cream which means basically getting used to something which then will enable them to go to a higher potency retinoid later on with much less of an adjustment reaction. I use predominantly in those who have acne post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation and in very sensitive skin tread cinnamon definitely would be my go-to for anyone who is concerned about the signs of premature ageing whilst also being blemish-prone.
So that's a great big audience in my clinic certainly then we come on to other prescription retinoids topically. You might know I stress known as the tablet but it also comes in a gel and not only does it come in its own it's an independent form. It also comes combined with an antibiotic, let's call it rice attraction. In the UK, I tend to go for that in those who've got really quite a significant acne and are definitely at the higher end of the spectrum.
Because the vehicle contains alcohol certainly the formulation available to us in the UK. It can be hard to tolerate unless you've got quite Hardy skin that's robust but in those that it suits brilliantly. I want to consider something for both acne and anti-ageing. But I find huge tolerance issues with it in my practice and the vehicle that we have available to us and UK makes it a not terribly pleasant product to use.
Ultimately retinoids work best in combination with other active ingredients the challenging part, of course, is putting that routine together. But I genuinely think if you're doing this for the first time strip out everything else, give your retinoid your whole attention, put together the right support products to enable it to be as easy as it can be. I'll talk about that in a separate article and you will reap the rewards I hope you enjoyed this article about the guide to retinoid mastery.