[Research] Tretinoin Degradation in Indoor Light

Beauty Tips For Body Care
Very long, but this is info I wish I had months ago when first learning about actives so I thought I would share.When I was first researching about retinoids it was made clear that the sun would degrade retinol and tretinoin, making it useless. So I was concerned about whether exposure to any indoor light would also ruin it. I couldn’t find any clear answers online. Everything was very vague and just “well apply right before bed to be safe”. But that was unpractical for me because of my routine schedule and because I wash my hands before applying anything, and I can’t wash my hands in bed. So I didn’t want to deal with the inconvience unless it was actually necessary.I recently subscribed to Curology. I was prescribed tretinoin in my formula so after my provider went over instructions, I messaged her to try to get a clear answer on the light situation. And this is what she said:“Good question! While tretinoin is degraded more quickly when exposed to UV light, it is the UVA wavelength that is more of the culprit. So, if where you work is lit with fluorescent lights or compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), there may in theory be meaningful inactivation of the medication. However, in real life, the amount of UV escaping from the bulb is very small. At distances of about a foot, UV radiation from a CFL isn’t any more than that of a conventional incandescent bulb.It is impossible to know how much and how quickly this degradation of tretinoin may occur, as there are so many variables regarding bulbs, the distance from the lights to the skin, and so on, and the studies are few.So, the degradation of tretinoin from indoor lighting may not be significant, but in order to get the most benefit from your treatment, apply your Curology medication right before bedtime when possible! :)”So my take on that is regular light bulbs are fine, light from TV is fine, light on in the bathroom is fine. As long as you’re not standing directly in front of those energy efficient light bulbs (which release UV radiation), your tretinoin is probably safe. Hope that helped someone :)
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by Objective_Evening