When to exfoliate?

Dr. Irwin
October 12, 2014
Is it necessary to use AHA to exfoliate your skin before using retin a micro gel (brand). I am 66 and have dry skin and have been using retin a for over ten years with great results. I just read an article that retin a does not exfoliate old skin but simply builds collagen. Would appreciate your advice.

Ok –  maybe it’s just me – but I get frustrated with the amount of misinformation out there right now on an number of things.   This is one of them.  More on exfoliation.

Whoever wrote that never went back and looked at all the studies that have been done on Retin A/Renova/ etc.     If they had, they would see clear microscopic proof (biopsy proven) that this class of topicals smooths (exfoliates) the outer dead layer of skin (stratum corneum).

Exfoliation refers to the smoothing of that outer dead layer by thinning it a little, or in some case a lot, or even too much.   That smoothing/thinning can occur chemically (retinoids or AHA/BHAs, peels for example) or mechanically (microdermabrasion or scrubbing for example) or both.    Maybe people are getting confused about what exfoliation really is??

Dr. I

Dr. Brandith Irwin, MD

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Hi, I’m Dr. Irwin. I believe that consumers deserve a medically trained and unbiased skin care advocate.

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