Beauty Bug begs an answer: I’m currently reading Free Gift with Purchase, by Jean Godfrey-June, the beauty editor for Lucky. The books says that Retin-A helps with wrinkles and Beauty Bug wants the Beauty Brains to comment. Does Retin-A really get rid of wrinkles?
The Left Brain responds:
What is Retin-A
Retin-A is the brand name of a prescription drug called Tretinoin which is a derivative of vitamin A. In 1971, the FDA approved the topical application of Tretinoin to treat acne and sun damaged skin. This drug works by irritating the skin, which triggers the basal layer to produce fresh skin cells, thus increasing cell turnover. (Mmmm, turnover!) As new cells more rapidly replace the old ones, the skin takes on a younger, smoother appearance. So it does work, but there are a few issues you should be aware of.
5 Things You Need to Know About Retin-A
1) It’s a prescription drug so you can only get it from your doctor.
2) It doesn’t work over night. Wrinkles start to decrease or disappear after three to six months.
3) Some of the drug is absorbed into the body and may cause problems with pregnancy.
4) It can be so irritating that it burns and causes redness.
5) While it does help reduce wrinkles that doesn’t mean it gets rid of ALL your wrinkles. As they say, results will vary.
The Brains Bottom Line: Unlike so many wrinkle creams, this drug has been proven to really do something (despite the issues cited above.) And don’t fall for the claims of other products that are really just regular cosmetics with Vitamin A derivatives.
Similar Posts:
Loading ...
The Glamour Bee Says:
Hi, Beauty Brains. Great blog! Thanks for visiting mine. I’ll be back to read more soon!
Sandra Says:
My dermatologist prescribes me tretinoin, and so I use it every night for acne. But I heard that tretinoin may thin the skin out, so it’s often combined with hydrocortisone (or some kind of steroid, I forgot which exactly) to counter tretinoin’s thinning effect. Is this true? I don’t want to be thinning my skin out in the long run! And what effect can thinning facial skin have?
Eva Says:
This is a response to Sandra about skin thinning. I use a thick cream product that is 10% glycolic acid (sorry, can’t remember the brand, but it was over the counter), and was warned by the lady at the pharmacy that it can also cause skin thinning. This doesn’t mean that it will eat your face off! You can apply this product over and over, as long as you don’t get irritated by it.
What this DOES mean is that it causes dead layers of skin to fall away (I don’t notice anything, physically, although this can cause redness for some.) Because of this, glycolic acid can essentially give you age spots over time, because you are exposing more of your fresh, baby skin to the sun, instead of having those practically invisible layers of old skin to help protect it.
I imagine that physically having glycolic acid, or a product like tretinoin, on your skin while simultaneously being in the sun might essentially act as a magnifying glass. As such, I don’t wear the product on my face during the day, and put a suntan lotion for babies (SPF 50, it has Elmo on the bottle!) under my make-up. The effects of the product on my skin, however - smoother, less acne, shorter duration of a pimple, reduced scarring - are well worth any “thinning.”
Alexiou Says:
Interesting…
Danielle Says:
Please also be aware of the potential for hair loss. I am a pre-med student (desire to become a derm.) and have suffered from acne since my teens. I recently used Retin-A Micro before trying Differin and noticed hair loss. As mentioned, results and side effects vary person to person. I was not aware of this however, and wanted to fully inform those who read the article.
Kelly Says:
”And don’t fall for the claims of other products that are really just regular cosmetics with Vitamin A derivatives.”
I don’t get it. In this article:
http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/05/24/finally-an-affordable-wrinkle-treatment-that-works/
you say vitamin A and retinol CAN help and now you say it’s useless :S
Can you clarify this for me please?
Left Brain Says:
We didn’t say it was useless. We said that the things you buy in the store that are not prescriptions use vitamin A derivatives that don’t work. Vitamin A & Retinol do work. The derivatives of these compounds haven’t been shown to work.