Retinoids: The breakdown. What’s the difference between Retinol, Tretinoin, Retin-A, Alpha Ret?
Retinol. You've heard of it, and it's likely you're using it. But what's the difference between Retinol, Retin-A, Tretinoin, Alpha Ret, etc. ?
They are all retinoids, a group of vitamin A-derived skincare products, and the difference between them is their strength/concentration and delivery method. The body cannot synthesize vitamin A, and it must be obtained through diet, or in this case topical application.
Retinoids have been known to be beneficial to the skin, apparently since ancient Egyptian times, and were further developed into today's prescription strength tretinoin in the 1960's. I like to say that retinoids are the vegetables of skincare. No one really debates their beneficial qualities, from acne to fine lines, wrinkles and collagen production, they are certainly beneficial. Topical retinoids work by increasing the rate of skin cell turnover, blocking inflammatory mediators in the skin, and augmenting collagen synthesis. Great stuff, huh?
Retinoids exist on a spectrum of low strength to high strength that starts with Retinol, which is a low-strength over the counter product you can buy anywhere from Walgreens, Sephora, or on the internet in various luxury branded skincare products. Retinol is an unstable molecule, and requires conversion by the body for it to become active in the skin. It's hard to know how much retinoid any given person gets from retinol because of the need for it to be converted to the active form, but the upside is that it tends to be well-tolerated and less inflammatory than the traditional full strength retinoids like Retin-A and Tretinoin.
Medical grade retinoic acid products are available through physician led practices, just like prescription medications. These include the classics: Retin-A and Tretinoin, among others. These vary in concentration, but are roughly 10-20x higher in concentration than over the counter strength retinol. Now, the downside of full strength retinoids is that they tend to make the skin flaky, dry, and inflamed-feeling for the first month or so of usage (assuming it's used daily) before the skin "gets used to it" and stops feeling so irritated. Many people don't want to tolerate the process of their skin "becoming retinized" and they stop using their full strength retinoid out of annoyance with the initial side effects.
Because full strength retinoids are often difficult to tolerate, one med grade skincare company, skinbetter science, has developed a full strength retinoid that is designed to be non-inflammatory: Alpha Ret. In the vast majority of people, even with nightly use, Alpha Ret doesn't make the skin flaky, dry, or irritated due to the retinoid molecule being encapsulated in lactic acid (also a beneficial alpha hydroxy acid) making a time-released delivery method which is much more tolerable, and equivalent in strength to the traditional medical grade retinoids. Alpha Ret also contains glycolic acid, niacinamide, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, antioxidants, and more. It's a great product: a tolerable full strength retinoid with several other rockstar skincare ingredients. It's $135 for 30 ml, designed for nightly application, the container lasts 3-6 months. For me, this is the one product I still apply when I really do not want to do my skincare regimen... I will at least put on my Alpha Ret.
In summary: retinoids increase the rate of skin cell turnover creating dewy youthful skin and helping treat wrinkles, acne and augment collagen production. Retinol is over the counter and is much less strong than medical grade retinoids Tretinoin and Retin-A. Alpha Ret is a full strength retinoid that is much more comfortable to use than the traditional retinoids. Clearly, we love Alpha Ret at Skinbeam and it was the original reason we brought on the skinbetter science skincare line.
Bottom line, retinol is better than nothing, and totally fine if your age starts with a 2 and you don't have any major skin concerns. :) If you aren't buying your retinoid through a physician-led practice, it's going to be retinol, the lowest concentration of retinoic acid. Example: La Mer. $500-700 products, very well marketed, lovely texture, however: not medical grade. My credit card is crying for La Mer users. In my opinion if you're going to spend hundreds on skincare, it had better be medical grade products which contain higher concentrations of active ingredients, and have clinical research studies to prove efficacy. Skinbetter is medical grade and way cheaper than La Mer.... don't even get me started.
Last thing: YOU MUST USE DAILY SPF. Period. Especially if you are using any type of retinoid including retinol. Retinoids sensitize your skin to UV. Photoaging (sun exposure) is a big factor in skin aging. USE DAILY SPF. Every skin color. Even if you're just running errands. Even if it's cloudy. Your car windows don't protect you from the sun. Put on the sunscreen every day.
Cheers!
