Choosing the right skincare for you can be challenging! With so many brands and options available it can be hard to determine what to opt for. Is the moisturiser in your local supermarket going to measure up against a prescribed moisturiser? The price will certainly be different but what will be the difference in ingredients and the results you see? In this blog I’m going to delve deeper into this subject and give you some insight.
WHAT IS OVER THE COUNTER SKINCARE?
Over the counter skincare can be brought from your local pharmacy, supermarket, department/cosmetic store or online. In most cases you don’t receive much professional guidance when buying over the counter, which means you’re self-diagnosing. This can lead to your skin getting worse and wasting money through trial and error of products. OTC brands often spend a lot of money on Television marketing campaigns and less on the active ingredients, which are the ingredients that are scientifically proven to make a difference. A few examples of OTC brands are:
- Nivea
- Simple
- Garnier
- The Ordinary
- Clinique
- Elizabeth Arden
- La Prairie
Over the counter brands do not need to have clinical studies or research behind their claims nor do they need to state the amount of active ingredients in their products such as retinol.
WHAT IS MEDICAL GRADE SKINCARE?
Medical grade or pharmaceutical-grade skincare contains higher concentrations of active ingredients than what you can buy over the counter. You can only buy MGS through a dermatologist, medical prescriber or approved clinic. MGS is backed my clinical results. They are required to contain ingredients that are 99% pure and must have clinical research studies to back up any claims about their benefits. Here are some examples of MGS brands.
- Allskin Med
- Medik8
- Hydropeptides
- Skinceuticles
- Zo Skin Health
EFFECTIVNESS OF THE PRODUCTS
If you’ve purchased something from a non medical professional, in any store, or online, understand these agents only work on the outermost skin layer called the epidermis. They sit on the surface and barely penetrate into deeper layers. Pharmaceutical or medical grade skin care products are formulated to be delivered to the dermis. This is where the collagen scaffold, and collagen producing cells live. To make any real changes to the skin, the deep dermis has to be impacted.
PRICE
In a lot of cases OTC is more expensive than MGS. With OTC you are often paying for the brand name and fancy packaging. These big brands spend huge amounts of money on Television marketing ads and less on the ingredients in the products. Skincare lines that are MGS such as Allskin Med, Hydropeptides and Medik8 do not spend their money on advertising campaigns, instead choosing to spend that money on research, and quality product development. You really are paying for the quality and the quantity of ingredients in MGS. Another point to mention is that because the active ingredient concentrations are higher, and they penetrate into the dermis, generally you’ll need to use less product to achieve great results.
PRODUCT COMPARISON
Did you know that you can check the ingredients list of products online via https://incidecoder.com/
You can also compare products ingredients. I chose to compare La Prairie skin caviar night time retinol oil with Allskin Meds Essential retinol serum. The results were quite shocking! the 1st 19 ingredients of the La Prairie oil were emollients which basically makes your skin feel nice. Retinol didn’t appear until number 21 on the ingredients list. Skincare ingredients are listed in order of quantity. Given that retinol is featured as one of the main ingredients there is no mention of % and as its way down the list it would appear that there is very little Retinol in the product. The Allskin med retinol serum is available in three strengths. The lowest strength contains 0.2% retinol as well as Rentioate. Retinoate is the newest member of the vitamin A family. It converts into both retinoic acid and retinol when it interacts with the skin, meaning it offers both instant and delayed benefits as the retinol begins working through the layers of the skin. The ASM serum also contains 9 emollients, 3 hydrators including hyaluronic acid. Niacinamide and antioxidants all for a fraction of the price of La Prairie!
CONCLUSION
To conclude medical grade skincare is far more superior as they:
- Prescribed by a professional and tailored towards your skin
- Contain no less than 99% pure ingredients
- Work on the upper and deeper layers of the skin
- Contain higher concentrations of active ingredients
- Don’t need to use much of the product for it to be effective
- better value for money
- Clinically tried and tested
- Scientifically proven to make a difference to your skin
I hope you enjoyed this blog! Please tell me in the comments what subject you would like me to blog about next. If you would like product recommendations from me please complete the form below.
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