Why use vitamin C in topical skin care?
According to the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, vitamin C has many favorable aspects for the skin, including: • scavenging of free radicals (reacts with the superoxide anion or the hydroxyl radical); • suppressing pigmentation of the skin (by inhibiting the enzyme tyrosinase); • decomposing melanin; • triggering collagen production and thereby increasing skin firmness; • enhancing sunscreen protection (see below). Dr. Jeannette Graf also adds in Dr. Burgess’s Cosmetic Dermatology text: • “Topical vitamin C increases levels of tissue inhibitors of collagen-degrading matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1). ” According to a study in the British Journal of Dermatology, topical application of vitamin C has been shown to prevent UVA-mediated phototoxic reactions in porcine [pig] skin, as well as to supplement depleted vitamin C levels after UVA exposure. According to the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology, UVA-induced damage includes the release of oxidative species, resulting in
