When fine lines start to appear on your face, this is a sign that it's time to bump up your daily skin-care routine. Shopping around for the right wrinkle treatments can be confusing--many consumer products sold in drug and department stores claim to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and prevent future damage to your skin. Retinol skin-care products are worth looking into, according to the Mayo Clinic. Although this ingredient hasn't undergone the same rigorous scientific testing and studies as those performed by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, research suggests that retinol may be of benefit to your skin.
Vitamin A
The American Academy of Dermatology states that vitamin A is essential to the health of your eyes and skin and should be eaten daily. Vitamin A is found in produce that's yellow, red or orange, such as oranges, carrots, pumpkin and squash. But vitamin A can also be applied to the skin topically to encourage skin cells to turn over more rapidly. Retinoids are a type of vitamin A that come from foods but which can also be synthesized chemically.
Tretinoins & Retinol
Retinol has a curious relationship with more stronger vitamin A derivatives, known as tretinoins (Retin-A, Renova and Avita). These medications, or "cosmeceuticals," are approved for use by the FDA to treat wrinkled and sun-weathered skin and are available only with a doctor's prescription. The less-potent cosmeceutical form of vitamin A is retinol, and this is the active ingredient in over-the-counter skin-care products. Retinol, explains skin-care guru Paula Begoun, is the "entire vitamin A molecule"; when broken down, it forms retinoic acid, the active ingredient found in tretinoin. Begoun notes that skin cells are "extremely receptive" to retinoic acid.
Retinol
Retinol was one of the first antioxidants to be used in commercially available products, according to the Mayo Clinic. Antioxidants neutralize unstable oxygen molecules that cause skin cells to break down--a process that leads to wrinkles. Begoun points out that the controversy centering around the use of retinol in skin-care products is if it breaks down into retinoic acid--if it cannot, retinol in itself is an ineffective ingredient. Begoun notes that newer, more stable forms of retinol have been introduced into today's skin-care products. Additionally, more research has been supplied to support that these products do exert their effect.
Combination Approach
Skin-care products that work the most efficiently in fighting wrinkles and aging skin need more than the presence of retinol or reinoic acid, Begoun asserts. Other ingredients are equally as important if not more--namely sunscreen to protect the skin from photoaging. Also, alpha hydroxy acids (ADA) and beta hydroxy acids (BHA) are essential to slough off layers of sun-damaged skin. To wit: retinol shouldn't be the only ingredient you seek out in your skin-care product, Begoun says. For more information, see Resources.
Tips & Cautions
The AAD warns that both prescription retinoids, such as Retin-A, and its over-the-counter variant, retinol, can cause irritation in the skin, as well as dryness and peeling. Also, because the FDA doesn't treat retinol as a drug, you don't have any guarantee that a certain product will reduce wrinkles. The Mayo Clinic points out that lower concentrations of an active ingredient, such as vitamin A, ultimately mean that your results from using a retinol product may be limited and temporary.
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