Skin

Is Encapsulated Retinol the Gentle Alternative We've Been Waiting For?

Is encapsulation the key to managing the potent ingredient?

by Heather Cichowski | COMMENT

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What Is Retinol? There are a lot of scientific terms in relation to retinol, so sometimes a product could contain about retinol without us realizing it. CEO and Founder of REA Innovations and Co-Founder of Clarisonic Robb Akridge, PhD says that there's a vitamin A family of nutritional organic compounds with similar chemical structures. (Warning: The group features many R-words.)

Retinol is the form of vitamin A that circulates in the bloodstream and is delivered to skin. Dr. Janet Prystowsky, NYC leading board certified dermatologist, says that vitamin A from our diets is stored in the liver primarily as retinyl palmitate. It is turned into retinol when skin (as well as eyes and tissues) needs vitamin A. In the skin, it becomes retinoic acid which results in cell growth and maturation.

Retinol that is applied topically is absorbed directly into skin cells and turns into retinoic acid, skipping the whole diet-to-liver-to-skin route.

"Retinoids" is a more general term referring to any chemical compound that functions like vitamin A. (Remember what we said about all the R's?) Akridge says that "retinoids" is often used to describe both prescription formulas with a high concentration of active retinoic acid (tretinoin), as well as over-the-counter retinols that have lower concentrations of active retinoic acid.

Image via Imaxtree

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