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The power of the normal - 10 reasons why Vitamin A deserves a place in your skincare routine
Published on: 20th November, 2018
By: Assoc Professor Greg Goodman
Categories: Anti-ageing, Resource Type 1
Here’s 10 reasons why any good skincare regime begins with the letter A.
1. Vitamin A slows down the ageing of your skin by altering the speed at which the skin cells mature.
2. Acne prevention. How? It normalises the way the skin functions by helping skin cells turnover more evenly. For acne-prone skin where overgrown skin cells can create blockages in the hair follicles, Vitamin A can prevent acne lesions from forming in the first place.
3. Pigmentation. Vitamin A evens out pigmentation and patchy colouring by decreasing over-active pigment cells and increasing the rate at which dead pigment cells are removed from the surface.
4. Vitamin A increases collagen production, and collagen production is key to improving wrinkles.
5. …It also reduces the appearance of pores.
6. Vitamin A increases hyaluronic acid production, which improves skin elasticity.
7. Moisture retention. Vitamin A helps the top layer of the skin stay moist by allowing for a free flow of water and by producing a more protective waterproofing material on the surface to keep moisture locked in.
8. Vitamin A reduces redness in two ways:
- By normalising damaged blood vessels, and diminishing their appearance.
- By decreasing inflammation (which also helps with inflammatory skin disorders such as psoriasis).
9. Photo damage. Vitamin A also reverses photoageing (a very specific type of ageing caused by UV exposure).
10. Skin cancer. And last, but certainly not least, Vitamin A can also play a role in preventing skin cancer from forming. How? It helps some precancerous cells turn back into healthy skin cells before they progress into something more sinister.
But there are a few things to remember before diving into the world of Vitamin A. Script founder and leading Dermatologist Greg Goodman explains:
- ‘Not all Vitamin A products are created equal.
Vitamin A in skincare comes in many forms and not all are as potent as each other. Retinoic acid is probably the most common and quite strong — which means it’s prone to causing irritation too, and rendering it unsuitable for certain skin types. Substituting it with other vitamin A products such as retinol or retinaldehyde via very clever delivery systems reduces many irritation issues, but the downside is that these products are generally not as powerful.’
- ‘Vitamin A makes your skin very sun sensitive — ironic, given its ability to reverse sun damage. This means if you are using a vitamin A product, even at night time, using an SPF and other sun protection measures is a must.’
- ‘Retinoids (medications derived from Vitamin A) taken orally may cause birth deformities. Although topical skincare products have not been directly linked, Script Skincare does NOT recommend that products containing vitamin A are used during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.’
It’s clear that the benefits of Vitamin A definitely outweigh the risks, but our advice is always to Script it to ensure you get the right dosage for your skin, and an A+ result.
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