The Science of Laser Skin Treatments and Picosure Review

7 January 202312 August 2022

This video was sponsored by Cynosure, although this post was not. Lasers! You can use them to cut things, you can use them to point at words, and you can use them to treat about a million different skin-related things. These are just the ones I found on the AAD website: Birthmarks, melasma, hyperpigmentation, freckles, acne, rosacea, psoriasis, wrinkles, fine …

Ascorbyl Glucoside Vitamin C: Avène A-Oxitive

21 June 2020

This post is sponsored by Avène. I’ve been really happy to see more vitamin C products hit the marketplace recently. Vitamin C is one of my favourite skincare ingredients – it’s a powerful antioxidant that’s fantastic for soaking up free radical damage, which makes it great for evening out skin tone and reducing fine lines. As someone who’s very prone to …

Why do we still use whitening products?

7 June 2020

I’ve been mulling over this topic ever since Buzzfeed’s “Are You Unwittingly Buying Whitening Products?” and Vox’s “Why the Market for Skin Whitening Is Growing” videos came out in late 2017/early 2018, but didn’t really feel like I had a good enough grasp on the topic to write about it until recently. Hopefully this won’t be interpreted as hopping on …

Tranexamic acid: a newer skincare ingredient for pigmentation

14 May 2020

What is tranexamic acid? Tranexamic acid (TXA for short) is a relatively new ingredient in skincare. It’s a synthetic derivative of the amino acid lysine: You can take tranexamic acid orally as a tablet, apply it topically on your skin as a cream or serum, or have it injected into the lower layers of your skin (the dermis). Oral tranexamic …

Mythbusting: Are Vitamin C Serums Bad for You?

14 September 201814 December 2017

I’ve been asked a lot for my opinion on a recent article on whether vitamin C serums are bad for your skin. In the article, Wendy explains why Oumere will never have a vitamin C serum in their line. She outlines that vitamin C can:

Act as a pro-oxidant when it reacts with iron in the air (or iron and copper in cosmetics) via the Fenton reaction, leading to irritation, collagen and elastin breakdown and acne
Lead to desensitisation (tachyphylaxis) so if you start using it too young, your skin won’t respond later on

Let’s take a look at both of these arguments.

Is Vitamin C Pro-oxidant?

While in some circumstances vitamin C can act as a pro-oxidant after it reacts with metals and potentially lead to collagen destruction, vitamin C is also known to have effects that are the exact opposite:

Vitamin C on its own is a potent antioxidant that soaks up free radicals and prevents the oxidative damage that results from UV light and other environmental stressors, as well as normal biological processes
Vitamin C is an essential cofactor that’s required for enzymes that crosslink and stabilise collagen (prolyl and lysyl hydroxylase)

So how do we tell which of these actions, pro-oxidant or antioxidant, wins out? Science, of course! More specifically, we have quite a lot of clinical trials on vitamin C where vitamin C serums are applied to actual human skin, and its effect is measured. Vitamin C is one of THE best researched skincare ingredients.

None of the clinical trials on topical vitamin C (that’s vitamin C applied to the skin) found a decrease in collagen. In fact, a whole bunch of studies found that vitamin C increased collagen. In these studies, the volunteers were also exposed to air pollution and other cosmetic products, which were proposed to be the sources of metals that would cause a pro-oxidant effect in the article. Clearly the antioxidant effect is winning.

Studies where vitamin C increased collagen:

BV Nusgens et al., Stimulation of collagen biosynthesis by topically applied vitamin C (open access), Eur J Dermatol 2002, 12, 32-34.
BV Nusgens et al., Topically applied vitamin C enhances the mRNA level of collagens I and III, their processing enzymes and tissue Inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 1 in the human dermis (open access), J Invest Dermatol 2001, 116, 853-859. DOI: 10.1046/j.0022-202x.2001.01362.x
RE Fitzpatrick & EF Rostan, Double-blind, half-face study comparing topical vitamin C and vehicle for rejuvenation of photodamage (PDF link), Dermatol Surg 2002, 28, 231-236.
M Haftek et al., Clinical, biometric and structural evaluation of the long-term effects of a topical treatment with ascorbic acid, Exp Dermatol 2008, 17, 946-952. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0625.2008.00732.x

Most studies on vitamin C measure its effect on photodamage. These studies generally measure the effect of vitamin C on wrinkles. While this isn’t a direct measure of collagen, lack of collagen causes deeper wrinkles, so if vitamin C was having a pro-oxidant effect you’d see a worsening of photodamage (which is actually caused partially by increased oxidation). In these studies, vitamin C improved photodamage:

My Ultraceuticals RVR90 Skin Brightening Experience

30 June 202224 March 2017

Ultraceuticals is an Australian cosmeceutical skincare brand with a strong focus on scientifically-backed, effective products. I was invited to take part in their RVR90 program where I had to commit to using their products and treatments for 3 months (fellow beauty bloggers will know how crazy this is). I’m excited to share my results with you today!

Ultraceuticals was founded in 1998 by Dr Geoffrey Heber, a cosmetic physician was the first to bring alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) to Australia. As well as take-home products, they offer in-clinic treatments at a variety of spas and salons around Australia.

RVR90, which stands for Real Visible Results in 90 Days, involves 3 steps. First, you discuss your skin concerns with a skin technician and decide what you want to work on. Next, you receive an RVR90 starter pack for your skin type, containing cleanser, lotion and sunscreen, plus an appropriate serum ($199). Finally, you’re prescribed a treatment and homecare plan to address your specific concerns. Ultraceuticals believes that 70% of results are achieved through homecare while 30% is from in-clinic treatments, so if you don’t like in-clinic treatments you can still get most of the benefits.

I decided to target my hyperpigmentation, since I have some pigmentation happening on my cheeks (yay Asian genes), and the treatment would also help with congestion and acne as well. I was prescribed the Oily/Normal pack (surprise!), and was given the Ultra Brightening Serum to start with, then the Ultra A Skin Perfecting Serum a bit later on.

I was given three 30 minute Radiance Plus+ in-clinic treatments over the 90 days by Tracey Beeby, the Head of Global Training at Ultraceuticals. This consisted of:

Double cleansing with the Ultra Balancing Gel Cleanser and Pre Peel Skin Preparation, using the UltraSonophoresis machine
15 min mask using the Ultra A Skin Perfecting Concentrate and Ultra Brightening Accelerator Mask, which contain 8 skin brightening agents that act on hyperpigmentation, dark spots and blotchiness
After removal of the mask, application of Ultra Protective Antioxidant Complex and sunscreen

I was initially a bit skeptical that I’d see much of a difference in 90 days since my skin was already pretty good and the treatments were pretty painless (slight prickling and heat but nothing close to burning), but when I saw my before-and-after photos and skin analysis I was very impressed.

Here are the photos, with Day 0 on the left and Day 86 on the right (I couldn’t make it in on Day 90). I look a bit like I’m going into surgery with the hair net…