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9 Essential Things to Know Before Using Retinol and Retinoids

When it comes to defense against fine lines and maintaining a healthy glow, there’s no ingredient in skincare more lauded than retinol. The irony? Even though the revolutionary youth-enhancing active is a mainstay of drugstores, department store counters, and dermatologist offices alike, it still manages to mystify. And thus, it’s often underutilized or misused.

Here, experts break down how to carefully incorporate the powerhouse ingredient into your skincare routine to achieve a supernaturally fresh-faced complexion, now and for decades to come.

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To bring it back to the basics, retinol-alongside other retinoids, such as retinoic acid and retinyl palmitate—is essentially a derivative of vitamin A, which is one of the body’s key nutrients for boosting cell turnover. Marisa Garshick, MD, board-certified dermatologist at MDCS Dermatology explains the retinols must be converted to retinoic acid, which means it can take longer than those prescribed retinoids and can be a less irritating option for the skin that has many benefits.

Retinol is a powerhouse of an ingredient for a reason: it targets most of our top skin concerns. “It’s added to topical skincare products to promote skin renewal, brighten skin tone, reduce acne, and boost the collagen production,” explains New York City-based dermatologist Whitney Bowe, MD. “It also functions like an antioxidant to help address free radical damage, which leads to visible signs of aging.” The way board-certified dermatologist Francesca Fusco, MD, sees it, it’s the ingredient that does it all in dermatology, both cosmetically and medically. “I consider it a gold standard in skincare and often explain it to my patients as something that sweeps away dead skin cells, clogged pores, and dull skin,” she explains.

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