Discovery Health :: What Women Use to Treat Skin

Skin Care Products

What do cleansers, toners, acids and sunscreen do for your skin?

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What Women Use to Treat Skin

By Pat Hyland

Here's a quick snapshot of what various skin-care products do for your skin.

Cleansers and toners — clean the skin
Moisturizers — combat dryness
Alpha-hydroxy acids, AHAs, include lactic acid, glycolic acid and citric acid at a concentration of (10% or less) and level of acidity (optimally around 3.8pH) — reduce roughness, diminish fine lines, and exfoliate the skin
Beta-hydroxy acids, BHAs — chemically unrelated to AHAs, but used at lower concentrations for the same reason
Retinoids — include Renova, the first FDA approved medicine to treat sun-damaged skin, meaning wrinkles—promote collagen, reduce fine lines and wrinkles, diminish age spots and other irregularities.
Hydroquinone bleach — is used with varying effectiveness to diminish age spots and other pigmentation irregularities. (Concentrations over 2% must be prescribed by a physician.)
Vitamin C in active concentrations of five percent or higher — boosts collagen, fills in fine lines, lightens age spots and protects against sun damage.
Sunscreen SPF 15 or higher — prevents sun damage.

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