BEST RETINOL FOR HYPERPIGMENTATION, ACNE & ANTIAGING

hi everyone welcome or welcome back to the channel for anyone new hello my name is alexis i am a board-certified dermatologist and in today's video we are talking about the royal family of skincare retinoids [Music] retinoids are a vitamin a derivative and they are one of the most well studied powerful effective efficient ingredients to get into your skincare routine but they are definitely one of the most confusing and most misused so in this video we'll take a deep dive into retinoids we'll talk about all of the different derivatives and which one may be best for you and your skin type i have some affordable easily accessible options found at the drugstore and we'll also talk about when to actually incorporate these when you might need to go up and how to avoid common signs of irritation that may happen if you use a little bit too much or the wrong type of retinoid first why in the world do you want to incorporate this retinoid family or a retinol teretinoic acid dappling into your skincare routine so one of the most popular benefits of retinoids is that they help with reversing the visible signs of aging so the fine lines and wrinkles they do this by actually promoting collagen and also decreasing the breakdown of collagen by the time we hit our mid-20s we are already losing collagen in fact one percent of collagen is lost every year after about that mid-20 range scary right i know so every year to combat that loss of collagen you really do want to make sure you're using some form of retinoid whether it is the true retinoic acid which requires the prescription or one of these over-the-counter options that we're going to hop into so that you can constantly be rebuilding collagen and making sure that the collagen that you have isn't broken down faster than it needs to be and collagen is what gives skin that bouncy youthful healthy appearance that we are all striving for the other well-known benefit of retinoids are that they have anti-acne fighting properties this is actually why they were developed to normalize keratinization which basically means they help the cells from sticking together or clogging the pores they actually help to thin out that top layer of skin cells called the stratum corneum this is the only part of the skin that actually gets thinner with the use of retinoid so this is actually a very good benefit and don't let anyone tell you that retinoids thin your skin you tell them nope they just thin out the dead skin at the top and they thicken the rest the epidermis and the dermis your dermis is where your collagen your elastin your hair follicles and your sebaceous oil glands live so it's the most important part and that part gets thicker plumper juicier and yields more healthy looking skin it also helps to reduce the amount of sebum or oil that is being produced within the skin it is a game changer for anyone suffering with acne it is definitely something that you want to incorporate into your routine so with retinoids naturally helping to shed off those dead skin cell layers you're actually going to notice some skin brightening effects it can really help with getting rid of signs of hyperpigmentation signs of sun damage dark spots it can improve your tone and texture of your skin there's actually so many additional benefits of retinoic acid than we can do in a short video here on youtube now let's take a look at the retinoid family tree you can actually break it down into two categories you've got prescription and non-prescription the queen of the family is the fda approved anti-aging a superstar tretinoin or retinoic acid brand name for this are things like retin-a then you have the other side of the family tree which is the over-the-counter non-prescription items that's what we are going to be focused on today because that is what i know is the most easily accessible for you and if you were getting the prescription you were already guided by your personal dermatologist the over-the-counter retinoids that you're going to see down your local skin care aisles are going to be your retinols retinol esters retinaldehydes adaptolene or the hpr gran active retinoid the ones over the counter usually require some level of conversion to actually work within the skin this does not mean that they are not affected it means that it takes a little bit longer for them to work it may actually take months for you to see the changes within your skin because they've got to get converted into that more active form to understand the conversion process we'll kind of start at the weakest all the way to the strongest you've got your retinal esters which then get converted into retinol your retinol then gets converted into retin-aldehyde right now the heart gets converted into retinoic acid the more steps in this conversion process you have the weaker the retinol because of less bioavailability but the more gentle on your skin the exception being adapylene also known as different or hydroxypenocolate retinoid hpr also known as gran active retinoid because these are unique derivatives that do not require conversion and can work directly within the skin the strongest retinoid available over the counter is adapylene you can find this in effect clear for la roche posay or different now this is the first prescription strength retinoid that is available over the counter remember this one does not require any additional steps of conversion to be active in your skin forms needing multiple steps of conversion tend to be weaker but also more tolerable for example i have eczema and extremely sensitive dry skin so me being able to use a less concentrated or a less potent version of one of these retinoids means that as long as i can use it consistently i actually will be able to see better results instead of just trying to jump head in with a stronger version of the retinol and then getting on this roller coaster of using it and then having to stop to repair my skin using it again and having to stop to repair my skin so i actually use a retinaldehyde because it is only one step of conversion to get to a retinoic acid but it is a lot less irritating and all of the retin-aldehyde products that i have seen actually tell you the concentration so that you can start at a lower dose and easily move up let's go through the one that i really like it's actually this one here which is the event retranol retin aldehyde this one is a concentration of 0.1 but when i first started i actually used 0.05 and worked myself up to this one consistency is key i preach it all the time and it plays a role here too so if you are sensitive or if you have a condition like eczema or rosacea or some other condition that may impair your skin barrier slow and steady always wins the rays when it comes to introducing any kind of skin care product into your routine and retinol is no different so let's move on to the most common category of retinoids that are available over the counter which is retsonals retinols require two steps of conversion so you're going from retinol to retinaed high and retinaldehyde to retinoic acid with every step of conversion you are losing about 10x potency so technically a product with a retinol base is about 20 times less potent than a product that is a prescription retinoic acid this does not have to be a bad thing guys because if you've got sensitive skin you do not want to jump into something super strong and over time you may be able to get very similar results so my favorite over-the-counter retinol you've actually already heard me talk about it's the alley 24 max this product is a great product it is super moisturizing it also has one of my favorite ingredients which is niacinamide so on top of the fact that you will yield a lot of those retinol benefits you'll also get a lot of those other benefits from niacinamide including the fact that it helps with hyperpigmentation and it's just a super moisturizing because it has glycerin in here so if you have sensitive skin if you have eczema prone skin and you want to try a retinol or if you're a newbie to retinol or you're getting into those colder climates depending on the state that you live in this would be a really great option i use this one on my neck and the back of my hands every single day it is just such a great product and because of the way that it's formulated i don't get irritation on my delicate neck skin or the back of my hands guys you are forgetting to do your neck and the back of your hands sometimes with your skin care but that is how you show your age you can't be all about your face and then forget the skin on your body so this is a great option to kind of take down to the chest area and also put on your hands so you may be wondering what if you have normal or balanced skin or even oily skin which would be a good retinol for you i actually really like the rock capsules so these are the rock capsules and i love these because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of how much retinol you should be using because it comes in these little capsules that are already pre-determined amounts of retinol for you to use they're portioned out so you cannot get it wrong if you are heavy-handed this is for you because with retinol less is more so you don't have to guess you literally just squeeze this pop it out and there you go the perfect amount of retinol the reason i love this one for anyone with you see i'm putting on the back of my hands the back of my hands should be looking really young so the reason that i really love this one for anyone with balanced quote-unquote normal skin or oily skin is because or even combination so if you feel like you have some areas that are dry in some areas that are oily is because you can seriously just customize this to your already routine that you're using your wash and your moisturizers that work well for your skin type you're not compromising anything by just putting that retinol before your moisturizer that already works for your skin type so it's so great it goes on silky smooth takes all the guesswork out with great efficacy rock is a brand that's been around for many minutes many years does a lot of research and development and their retinols are incredible so these little capsules are fragrance free as is the olay 24 max that i showed you but i do believe they have a fragrance version if you prefer to have that nice sensorial filling when you're doing your skin care i personally prefer a fragrance free option when it's available because of the fact that i have eczema but these are fantastic choices now if you are someone that still has the active acne remember you want to reach for a version of a dappling whether it's the la roche posay the different i believe proactive has one and so does acne free adaptolene is your friend with really active acne so adaptolene is one of those stronger retinoids that definitely requires a little bit of buffering we'll go over some tips and tricks on how to start and the dappling it is most indicated for acne but you do have some anti-aging benefits with it as well i would say if you're someone who really has a severe acne it is worth finding a way to get into your dermatologist for a prescription straight retinoid but if you can't different is a good place to start now if you're past that phase and you have a lot of post inflammatory hyperpigmentation from acne then i would actually recommend the cerave retinol resurfacing serum i think that's what it's called i'll throw it here on the screen because it has the retinol the niacinamide and licorice root extract so it can really help to move some of those stubborn dark marks all right my friends let's go with a quick little recap anyone with active acne and you're trying to get as close as possible to a prescription you're gonna go with adaptolene anyone really trying to up their anti-aging game but get as close as possible to a prescription you're gonna go with a retin-aldehyde if you are new to retinol have a really sensitive or dry skin i recommend finding a retinol in a nice moisturizing base if you have normal or balanced skin combo or oily skin i actually recommend just incorporating one of the capsules into your skin care routine because this is really going to help you just customize the routine you have and easily add in the retinol now if you have normal or oily skin but don't necessarily want to deal with a capsule i would recommend that you use a serum instead of a moisturizing cream all right friends so now that you know which retinoid is best for you let's talk about some ways you can really mitigate some of those irritating side effects that may occur so the first thing you want to do is when you are cleansing your skin make sure the cleanser that you use is free of other actives this is not the time to use your benzo peroxide or your salicylic acid or anything with any micro beads or even exfoliating powers not the time we're going to just use gentle and basic cleansers that get the job done without over irritating your skin or depositing any other actives you then want to make sure that you pat dry your skin don't over aggressively dry your skin needs to be dry before you're putting on your retinol your retinoids because damp skin can actually lead to increased penetration which could lead to more irritation so we're trying to avoid that you may even want to wait a few minutes before you go ahead and put on your retinoid now when you're applying your retinoid the amount may vary if you're using a creamy base like this you would actually use the same amount that you would use for any moisturizer or just follow the instructions on the back the beauty of the caps is it takes the guesswork out for you and you know how much to use because you're going to use the amount in the entire cap if you're using a prescription strength or if you're using the adaptolene p size amount is the key here i'm talking about a green sweet pea teeny tiny amount that you would then use and distribute that p all over your face making sure to avoid the corners of your eyes your nose and your mouth then you would put on your moisturizer if you found that doing it this way still leads to some irritation you may want to actually buffer your skin or create a barrier with applying a moisturizer first so you would wash leave your skin a little damp because you're putting on a moisturizer now and then you'd let that dry down for a couple of minutes and move on to applying your retinol the same amount would be in these different ways that we talked about also make sure that you are not using any other actives when first starting a retinol with time you'll find that you'll be able to incorporate some other things but for now keep it simple cleanse retinol and moisturize or if you're creating the barrier you're doing your cleanser followed by your moisturizer and then your retinol sometimes i even recommend doing a retinol sandwich if you are extremely sensitive like me now there are two ways to create a barrier if you found that doing the direct method causes some irritation you can either cleanse the skin leave it a little bit damp apply your moisturizer let that dry and then apply your retinoid or you could create a sandwich meaning that you cleanse keep the skin a little bit damp apply your moisturizer let it dry apply your retinoid and then go in with another layer of moisturizer this is really good for my extreme newbies or my extreme sensitive skin or anyone who is getting into the really cold weather this is a great way to avoid irritation really important with retinoids is to start slowly go low start slow so what i would say is try incorporating it only once a week i know it seems extreme but it's worth your not getting irritation if that's not a problem then do twice a week still not a problem move two three times a week and then four times a week etc it may take you up to two months to really be able to tolerate a retinol without irritation but remember consistency is what is key here so as long as you get there you will still be able to yield the benefits and minimize the irritation i'll put a little calendar here of the one that i usually recommend for my patients but basically it is starting slowly and building up by adding a new day until you get to the point where you can actually use the medicine every night now i know a lot of the retinal serums say that they can be used in the daytime but my general recommendation is to save it for your nighttime routine and don't forget to wear sunscreen in the daytime or else you're undoing all of the benefits that you're trying to gain from using a retinol in your night routine sunscreen is always of most importance i hope that this video helped you guys please leave me your retinoid questions down below i am more than happy to answer them i'll try and make my next video answering those questions about retinols so that i can make sure i'm delivering you guys the information that you need thanks so much for watching guys please don't forget to give the video a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel if you are not and until next time be well you

Channel: Dr Alexis Stephens

Views: 938,703

Keywords: retinoids, retinol, how to use retinol, when to use retinol, what is the best retinol, best drugstore retinol, the best drugstore retinols, retinols, retinol 101, retinols 101, retinols for black skin, retinols for brown skin, retinoids 101, what is a retinol, when to use a retinol, adapalene, antiaging, hyperpigmentation, retinol for anitaging, retinol for acne, differin for acne, how to use differin, differin for brown skin, differin for black skin, antiaging black skin, differin

Id: MJcDvTh0HL0

Length: 17min 51sec (1071 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 15 2021