Vitamin A is the most ubiquitous molecule in skincare today. It has many forms, under many different names.

Chemically it is identified as retinoic acid. The many other chemical forms built around that core molecule are collectively called retinoids. These include alcohols like retinol, esters like retinyl palmitate, aldehydes and acetates like retinylaldehyde and retinyl acetate and so on. Some are charged particles like Retin-A (pure retinoic acid) and very strong acting on the skin, others are more desirable uncharged molecules like retinyl-acetate.

Properly used and applied Vitamin A will build out capillary growth, re-establish skin architecture, weed out undesirable cells and debris, build out the epidermis and repair sun damage.

Improperly used (over applied) it will shrink blood vessels, collapse and thin the skin, cause an addictive response that leaves the skin weak and vulnerable and in the presence of sunlight increase the likelihood of skin cancer.

Clearly some understanding is needed before handing any vitamin A product to your clients. It truly has a Dr. Jekyll/Mr.Hyde character.

To avoid problems, apply in the evening and do not exceed 2x per week application frequency. In the high UV sunlight seasons, simply avoid altogether.

Vitamin A or retinoids or retinoic acid or retinol or retinyl acetate and so on are all capable of doing much good and much harm.

The Skin Dork prefers retinol, retinyl acetate and retinyl linoleate. These will do the least harm and the most good. They are quite strong. All of these are un-charged molecules which is a very desirable feature for any skincare metabolite.

It is a not well-understood fact that a very active molecule works better and is better tolerated if the skin is involved in breaking it down by its natural enzyme action rather than the molecule going on into the cell as a highly charged ready to go stick of dynamite.

Another way to say that is the Vitamin A metabolite that does all the work is retinoic acid, it has the least molecular weight of all the vitamin A choices but applying pure retinoic acid causes immediate problems. Better to have a bigger Vitamin A molecule go into the skin and let natural skin enzymes unpack it to get to the retinoic acid.

By building out the retinoic acid molecule to other longer, heavier forms, the skin is not ‘shocked’ by the pure molecule and is better able to utilize it as a metabolite. The skin does not like to be shocked. Mild surprise is good; but, shocked and horrified is not.

There are specific receptors in the skin for Vitamin A and you can easily saturate these receptors which leads to receptor fatigue and a toxic buildup of the vitamin leading to inflammation and worse. Vitamin A is the ONLY skincare ingredient (metabolite) that comes with a skull and crossbones on the label.

The Skin Dork advocates 1x to 2x per week maximum application of Vitamin A (retinol, retinyl acetate, retinyl linoleate, retinyl aldehyde) for best outcome and to avoid receptor fatigue and worse.