The Contrarian Corner is a space for readers to broaden their understanding on foundational practices of the trade that oppose or reject popular opinion.
Most of the professional skin care world believes that retinol is an essential ingredient in an antiaging skin care routine. Most of them also believe that because retinols in all their forms are capable of becoming retinoic acid by conversion, they are therefore increasing collagen and elastin in skin. This is not true.
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The human body has to be incredibly efficient to manage the trillions of chemical activities that go on every second. They do not store five or more different types of retinol in skin to have backup for collagen manufacturing. Instead, each form in the retinol family has its own purpose. The purposes for these retinols are not known yet. However, existing research proves that retinaldehyde is exclusively used on demand to make retinoic acid, and retinoic acid is exclusively used to activate the fibroblast. When compared to retinoic acid, extracellular retinaldehyde stimulates the same amount of collagen, which is something no other form of retinol has achieved.
The problem with most retinols is that they are not only inefficient stimulators of collagen, but they harm skin as well. For example, retinoic acid itself, well known as an irritant and toxic to the skin barrier, has been found to cause the papillary dermis to thin by 18% after a year of use. It is therefore not meant to be used topically as it is a specialty tool that skin only makes when it needs it. Other retinols are well known to cause exfoliation and irritation to skin.
Even if used at night, all members of the retinol family will still be present in skin for at least 24 hours, making them likely to become oxidized by the sun and create even more damage. According to research, out of all retinols, retinaldehyde is the least likely to cause harm, especially when stabilized and liposome delivered. When the harm (aging) that the other retinols cause to the epidermis is combined with their inability to stimulate an increase in dermal collagen, it becomes clear that they are not a good tool in the fight against aging skin.
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