[research] Retinoids, anti-aging, and purging

Beauty Tips For Body Care
Ok this is going to be a bit of a long one.Firstly, I wanted to share an excellent article reviewing the properties of retinoids, such as tretinoin. There is a lot that won’t be relevant to everyone so I have copied the most relevant passages belowAdapted from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09546634.2017.1309349Currently both tretinoin and tazarotene are approved for the treatment of the photoaging skin. Several weeks or months of treatment are needed before any changes become observable.A double-blind study by Lowe et al. compared tazarotene 0.1% cream with tretinoin 0.05% emollient cream applied once daily for 24 weeks in 173 individuals. During the course of treatment, tazar- otene was superior in terms of mottled hyperpigmentation, coarse wrinkling, and overall assessment of the investigators. At the study endpoint, tazarotene was superior only in terms of fine wrinkling. The study conducted by Kang et al. in 2001 also com- pared the different concentrations of tazarotene to 0.05% tretin- oin. At the end of 24 weeks of therapy, tazarotene concentrations of 0.05% and higher were as effective as tretinoin in terms of fine wrinkling, mottled hyperpigmentation, and physician assessed overall improvement. The lower tazarotene concentrations were somehow less effective but statistical significance was only reached with 0.025% tazarotene in terms of fine wrinkling (7).Topical retinoids enhance the penetration of other topical agents such as antibiotics. In inflammatory acne, combination therapy of a topical retinoid with an antibiotic is superior to antibiotic monotherapy.An important takeaway from this study was that for fine lines 0.02 was effective, however for more pronounced wrinkles 0.1 was effective. It is also very important to build up to the higher concentrations.PurgingFinally, I wanted to address something that was bugging me. The conception of “purging” when starting a new treatment or product, retinoid or not, it not entirely correct. Your skin doesn’t have “deep imperfections” that products draw out causing worse acne. What does happen is a flare up of acne symptoms. So yes- starting a new product may cause worse acne. This, however, is not a sign of the product working, rather just a reaction to the introduction of new actives. I know this sounds a bit pedantic but I think it is an important difference.
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