Many of my patients ask: What should I look for in a skin-care product?
Below is a list of my favorite topical skin-care ingredients, which consist mainly of topical antioxidants that possess potent free radical scavenging capabilities and excellent data to support their use.
- Vitamin E
- Ferulic acid
- CO-enzyme Q10 (CO-Q10)- HINT Look for CO-Q10’s synthetic equivalent Idebenone, which penetrates the skin
- Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) – can sometimes make the product brown in color
- Green tea
- Vitamin C – HINT Look for products with Vitamin C in its ascorbyl palmitate form, a lipid-soluble form that penetrates skin. Vitamin C packaging must be airtight and UV-protected so that the Vitamin C remains active.
- Coffee berry
- Resveratrol
- Retinol ** Most important ingredient. Look for ingredients with atleast 0.5% retinol.
Equally important as what’s IN your skin care product is what’s NOT in your skin care product.
Below Are Some Ingredients to Avoid.
Problematic Preservatives
- Quaternium 15 – 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1
- Dimethyl-dimethyl 3-diol (DMDM) hydantoin
- Kathon CG
- Imidazolidinyl Urea – Thimerasol
- Diazolidinyl urea – Para-Phenylenediamine
- Odiferous AllergensMli<
Here is a list of fragrance additives to avoid
- Balsam of Peru (a.k.a. Myroxylon pereirae)
- Colophony
- Oak moss
- Benzyl Acetate
- Cinnamic aldehyde
- Benzyl Alcohol
- Cinnamic alcohol Lyral
- Alpha amyl cinnamic alcohol Citral
- Geraniol
- Farnesol
- Hydroxycitronellal
- Coumarin
- Isoeugenol
- Citronellol
- Eugenol
- Alpha-Hexyl Cinnamal