Skincare: Vitamin C

We often discuss the importance of sunscreen and UV protection when talking about the prevention of skin cancer and photoaging. Prevention is certainly at the heart of everything we do - especially when it comes to skin health - but there are some topicals that do have some fairly solid research!

Do you use vitamin C as part of your skincare routine? 

There are so many on the market, we are going to break down what to look for and what the hype is all about!

Vitamin C is found in fruits and vegetables and is a great source of antioxidants for our body. We can’t make it ourselves so we have to get it from food. There has been some interesting research suggesting that it’s antioxidant effects can help both protect us from UV damage as well as reduce those signs of damage. There are mechanisms through which UV degrades our collagen in our skin - vitamin C may help prevent this as well!

12 weeks of 10% topical vitamin C significantly reduced photoaging scores and improved wrinkles in one study. It may also help reduce risk of sun burn - pretty cool! There is some evidence that vitamin C may also help with pigmentation of the skin. This may be helpful for individuals with melasma or darker spots from sun damage. 

So with vitamin C showing up in products in every drug store, what is it we should be looking for?

There are typically 3 forms of vitamin C that have been studies - the most common - and most researched - is L-ascorbic acid. It is also the most biologically available. Because vitamin C is hydrophilic - loves water! - and our outer layer of skin is hydrophobic - repels water! - companies have to add other compounds to change the acidity and increase the absorbability of the serum. For example, you will often see vitamin C with ferulic acid. Other forms you will see are ascorbyl-6-palmitate and magnesium ascorbic phosphate. These are both esterified forms of vitamin C that are stable at a more neutral pH. Optimal concentration to look for is about 10-20% - above this you are likely not getting more benefit but will increase risk of irritation. 

The time to add it is probably about 2 hours before you are going to be out in the sun, although it may also help against other environmental skin irritants like pollution and cigarette smoke. 

Although vitamin C may help protect our skin, it’s still important to wear broad spectrum SPF and use physical barriers like a hat!