Retinol is actually a very pure form of Vitamin A, which is the most important vitamin for our skin and eyes. However, this doesn’t mean that if you take vitamin A supplements, your wrinkles and saggy skin will just disappear… it’s not that simple. That being said, retinol has continued to be a best seller in the anti aging product market. Peter Thomas Roth Retinol Fusion is one of the top selling and performing Retinol products on the market. You can read customer reviews here on Amazon
Unlike Collagen, which cannot penetrate the skin (we’ve mentioned the ‘collagen myth’ before), Retinol does absorb into the layers of your skin. What’s more, the skin is very receptive to it and readily allows it to penetrate quite deep down. As long as it can go far enough into the skin, it can start to work on those lower layers and produce some pretty good results. Wrinkles start to smooth out and elasticity is increased.
As we age, our skin cells become altered and change their shape. Retinol has been proven to have the ability to encourage new skin cells to grow that are the same as those we produced when we were younger. In other words like the cells we had before the aging process began. Over the last 3 years or so, Retinol creams have become more sophisticated and more effective. Advances in technology have allowed the manufacturers to develop products that work to the maximum effect, although it still takes a few months of regular use in order to see all the benefits.
What exactly can we expect from it? Some users start to see an improvement after only a few days, but it’s more likely to be at least two weeks before you notice any decrease in wrinkles and lines. Ultimately many people will see a very big difference after 3-4 months of using daily. Less lines and wrinkles, better complexion, a more supple and youthful skin. Skin that has a lot of sun damage can take longer to repair, 6 months or more. It’s possible that you may have some flaking of the skin during the first couple of weeks, especially if you have dry skin. This is nothing to worry about. It’s knows as the ‘retinoid effect’ and should clear up within a week or two.
There are many different products out there containing Retinol, including oils, serums, eye creams, lip treatments, hand creams and acne creams. Generally the acne creams are prescription only, but even the anti aging cream products can have a beneficial effect on acne, depending on severity. So what about the strength of the Retinol product you buy? How important is it? Well although it is important, there are other factors to think about too, such as quality and how ‘trusted’ is the company making the product? You want to make sure there is a money back guarantee in place and the longer the better because as we’ve said before, not all wrinkle creams will have the same results for all users. While one user might get amazing results, another might be really disappointed. Before trying something out, all we can do is look at how well rated it is, does it seem to be working for the majority, is it selling well, etc etc. However, we will never really know how well it will work for us until we actually try it out!
We have used a Retinol cream ourselves with good results and continue to use it now. You can combine it with other products by using one in the morning and one at night. However, never combine it with skin peeling treatments otherwise you could have some irritation. Remember too that it can increase your sensitivity to the sun, so always use a sun block (which you should anyway!). Another tip is to build up the usage gradually if you have any redness or tingling when you first begin to use it. So instead of using it every night, use every other night until your skin gets used to it. This applies more to the higher strength creams and serums which obviously have more of the active ingredient and are more likely to irritate sensitive skin.
Retinol products do tend to be fairly expensive and be wary of anything that’s ‘cheap’ because at best you are probably wasting your money and time and at worst, you could damage your skin. You can expect to pay around $50 – $70 or so for a month’s supply, but sometimes you can find really good offers, such as ‘buy two get one free’ or discounted sales. Hopefully though you will get the results you want from this one. We’ve found that it compares well with our top rated product, Lifecell Skin, although Lifecell does give that extra boost on sagginess because it contains Deanol.
Retinol a, also known as Retin-a or Tretinoin, is primarily used for acne and acne scarring where its known to be very effective. However, we’ve also included it in our wrinkle cream reviews
because it’s also claimed to be very good as an anti-aging agent. A word of warning about Retinol a: It should never be used without carefully following instructions. Overuse or misuse can cause your skin to get a lot worse! There are some horrendous stories of people who have ordered Retinol a from overseas pharmacies and not knowing which strength to buy, or how to use it, have ended up with major issues. There are incidents of users being left with severe photo-sensitivity for months afterwards, or even worse. This is the only product in our wrinkle cream reviews that we did not test ourselves, but as there is a wealth of information about it online, including scientific papers, we gathered everything we could for this review.
Features
- A powerful skin peeler designed for surface scars, such as those caused by acne.
- Said to remove fine lines and smaller wrinkles
- Claimed to even skin tone
- Can remove age spots and other surface blemishes
Benefits and Results
There are some major benefits to Retinol a and the results can be good providing its used very sparingly and at a very low concentration. If you have acne scarring or major sun damage to the skin on you face, the best way to get it is on prescription. However, if you want to use it as an anti-aging cream, your doctor will probably not prescribe it. Because Retinol a acts as a peeling agent, even at a very low concentration, this is what will happen. The skin on your face will peel, leaving you with a softer, clearer, more even complexion. Any light surface blemishes will of course peel off with the skin and fine lines will be reduced. Your wrinkles will be ‘smoothed’ but deeper wrinkles will not be improved.
Plus’s
- Works quickly.
- Lasts a long time because you only need a tiny amount
- Great for scarring and sun damage
Minus’s
- Can be dangerous and result in permanent damage if used incorrectly
- Must stay out of the sun while using it or use very high strength sun block
- Dries the skin
- Can react with some other skin products
- Makes face peel for several days
Conclusion
To conclude, we could never recommend Retinol a for use as a regular wrinkle cream. Even though all the evidence says it does work to a degree, there are other anti-aging creams that do a better job and are safe to use. If you feel you MUST have it, then only buy from a reputable source that will provide you with instructions in English… some of them will send you the product with instructions in Spanish only. Obagi Medical sells different strength Retinol a products and has good reviews. You can buy them here on Amazon.com. Before you decide to go ahead and buy Retinol, think about the potential issues it may cause your skin and consider other effective, but safe options first.
