As we age, the cells that make up our skin become altered and misshapen. The ability to naturally exfoliate the skin cells on the surface of our skin becomes slower, and the moisture that we were once able to retain slowly dries up. As this ageing process progresses dead skin cells start to build up on the surface of our skin, which blocks pores and makes patches of skin discolouration visible. Retinol-A has been found to help reduce this ageing effect, and to also reverse some of the damage that has been done; but how?Â
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What is Retinol-A?
Vitamin A has many different structures; each one having a different name that represents it’s various form and strength.  The three main ones that are used in skin treatments are; Retinol, Retinoic Acid, and Retinyl Palmitate. Vitamin A is beneficial because it is one of the only few substances that has a small enough molecular structure to penetrate the skin. One of the structures; Retinoic Acid; more commonly known as Tretinoin is the substance that is used in Pharmaceutical grade acne treatments such as; Retin-A, Atralin, Renova, Avita and Altinac. This form of Retinol is too strong, and also too unstable a formula, to be used wihout a Medical Practitioners guidance and so the less potent form; Retinyl Palmitate; has been developed for beauty products. Retinyl Palmitate is the most common form of Retinol that is used in beauty products because it is the most stable form of Retinol, and therefore people tend to have the highest tolerance and fewest side effects to it.Â
How does it work?
Within the lower layers of our skin Collagen and Elastin reside. Collagen maintains rigidity in our skin and the Elastin helps retain elasticity.  Unfortunately Elastin stops being produced after puberty, and therefore, because we cannot produce any more, the only way to make our skin remain youthful is to repair the damage that we may have caused.; this is where Retinol-A may help. When any form of Retinol-A is applied to the skin it converts into the active form Retinoic Acid; which is why Pharmaceutical grade cream must be closely monitored by a Medical Practitioner, as ‘neat’ Retinoic Acid is being applied directly to the skin, whereas Retinyl Palmitate converts to much smaller amounts, and can therefore be sold over the counter in beauty products.Â
Once we have applied the cream containing Retinol-A to our skin, and the Retinol-A has turned into the active form of Retinoic Acid, two things will happen; our skin will naturally use the Retinoic Acid to produce Collagen, and increased cell production will start to occur. As a result of this relationship, cells will naturally ‘plump’ up. Therefore, what were once misshapen cells now appear fuller and rounder. As these new, more youthfull cells push up to the surface of our skin, the old misshapen cells are pushed out of the top layer and exfoliation starts to increase, wrinkles will diminish, and pigmentation from UV rays will reduce.
Things to consider
Because Retinol-A promotes a higher rate of cell turnover, and the new cells on the surface of our skin are younger, they will be more vunurable to UV rays. This new sensitivity can be suprising to those of us that have been used to an outdoor lifestyle, and precautions need to be taken. There is no point in trying to repair damaged skin, just to go straight back outside and not look after what we have achieved! So, with this in mind, make applying a good UV screen part of your daily regime, and don’t forget that UV rays are present even if the Sun is not.
Hiya, Before i buy this product, please can you give me alittle more info. How much rentinol is in and can i use it around my eyes? If not, are there any recommendations for the eye area? Thank you and look forward to hearing from you.
Deborah White.
Comment by Deborah White — April 28, 2009 @ 10:00 pm
Dear Deborah,
Thank you for your enquiry.
Our Retinol-A Cream contains 300,000 I.U of Retinol per ounce, and our bottles contain 4 ounces in total. This means that each bottle has a Retinol percentage of 4.6% by weight.
Our cream is extremely well tolerated around the eye area, however, as I would suggest to anybody using a new product, ALWAYS do a patch test before applying to the whole of the desired area, as each person is different.
I hope that this has answered your queries, but if you have any further questions / comments please feel free to contact us.
Comment by Head Girl — April 29, 2009 @ 10:07 am
Good evening, I wonder if you have any reviews on your retinol a cream, I am very interested in purchasing but would like to know other customers views on it
Comment by lynn menzies — June 21, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
Dear Lynn,
Thank you for posting your question. We have been selling the Retinol-A Cream and Gel for approximately five years, and within this time we have received many reviews on the product. We always post our most recent reviews on the website, so it’s always good to keep an eye on our Testimonial Pages for the latest feedback. However here is the latest review on the Retinol-A Cream; this review was posted on 06th June 2009 by a lady called ‘Liliana Vieira Ramos’ and she wrote; “I would like to Thank You for selling the Retinol-A Cream. What an excellent cream! Without a doubt the best cream that I have ever used. Most other products made my skin red and didn’t make much difference. Only Olay products are the ones that I think are quite good as they worked on my skin, but your skin creams are better than Olay, they are just in a different level. They are the best ever!”
I hope that this has gone some way in answering your query, but if you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate in contacting the team here at Virility Health.
Comment by Head Girl — June 25, 2009 @ 2:57 pm
Hi Lynn, I know you have to use a sun factor when using retinol A. Would you use the sun factor before apply the retinol A or after?
Comment by Liz — July 3, 2009 @ 3:20 pm
My advice would be to apply the Retinol-A Cream first, and then wait for it to fully absorb. Once this has been done, apply a high sun factor, or even better a total sun block to protect your skin.
Comment by Head Girl — July 6, 2009 @ 9:53 am
Hi
Is Retinol A cream safe to use on young skin or is it intended purely for mature skin for it’s anti-ageing properties.
Thanks
Laura
Comment by Laura — July 6, 2009 @ 7:52 pm
Hello,
Thank You for your question. Products containing Retinol can be used on young skin as a preventative measure, however, remember that Retinol can make the skin more sensitive, and a good Sun Cream (or even better Sun Block) should also be used.
Comment by Head Girl — July 10, 2009 @ 7:53 am
hi there
can you tell me what the difference is between the cream and the gel
thanks
Gemma
Comment by Gemma — July 28, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
Thank you for your question Gemma.
There is no difference at all between the key ingredients in the Retinol-A Cream and Retinol-A Gel. We stock both products to allow our customers to choose which product they would prefer to use. Both work as well as one another.
Comment by Head Girl — July 28, 2009 @ 2:40 pm
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