Saturday, September 15, 2007

DIY Topical Vitamin-A

I made this article so that everyone suffering from ACNE might be able to benefit from the good effects of vitamin-A. First off, the only thing that could reduce ACNE and too much oil production is Acutane which is of course a form of Vitamin-A. High amounts of retinol-palmitate taken orally can also reduce too much oil production but this is of course dangerous to the liver as high amounts of retinol palmitate accumulates on the liver and is toxic. The safe dosage of vitamin-A is only about 5,000 IU per day.

Skin care companies made topical versions as safe alternatives. They are of course in the form of Retinoic Acid ( Retin-A) which causes the skin cells to divide at a faster rate. The increase in skin cell turnover prevents comedo formation and prevents pore blockage. In effect it inhibits acne formation but does too little in decreasing oil production of the oil glands. The side effects of retinoic acid is of course skin irritation and redness.

Another alternative would be to use Vitamin-A ( retinol palmitate, retinyl palmitate ) topically at high amounts. Retinoic Acid effects on the skin is very pronounced and cell division could be very aggresive to the point of causing it to form skin flakes and redness. Topical retinol palmitate is less aggresive and also does not cause too much redness associated with retinoic acid. One company sells topical Vitamin-A solutions which is http://www.thevitamincure.com/. Their product use about 30,000 IU of Vitamin-A per drop. If you live in the U.S. you might be able to readily get that product but if you are outside US that could be a problem.

I personally made a homebuilt version of that product because i live outside US and shipping charge and customs duties for that product would make that product cost prohibitive. I would assume that most countries have "AFAXIN" which is Retinol Palmitate available over the drugstore. This is manufacture by Sanofi-Synthelabo packaged in a plastic bottle that contains 100 softgel capsules. You should buy the 50,000 IU softgel capsules. The softgels are about 9mm in diameter and contains an oil suspended vitamin-A which is about 0.5 mL in volume.

To use:

1. Cut open the 50,000 IU AFAXIN capsule
2. Squeeze out the oil-suspended Vitamin-A from the capsule
3. Spread the Vitamin-A over the facial skin affected by acne.

My Personal Results:

1-2 weeks - The fastest and most visible result that you can see is refining of pores and a much softer skin. There is also a healthy "matte glow" of facial skin as the old skin is rapidly shedding. ( vitamin-A topical or oral stimulates faster skin turnover)

3-4 weeks - Much better skin tone. Healthy skin glow is also observed but at this time i got breakouts. ( this is more or less expected as any oil suspended vitamins are comedogenic - this depends on the type of oil vehicle in which the retinol palmitate is suspended. But for the most part we can safely assume that they are at most comedogenic, which means they block skin pores causing breakouts ). Take note that this breakout phase is expected and would tone down as skin cell turnover rate increases with time. At this breakout phase us antibacterial agents such as Benzoyl Peroxide.

5 weeks - Skin tone is still great and visibly refined pores. Still have some breakout and I am still using Benzoyl Peroxide to control the breakout. Moderate reduction in oil gland activity.

Would update later pls. check back:

5 comments:

diytech said...

great site you have.. i might add your link on our partner site http://www.acnetreatmentlab.com

Nitrile Gloves said...

Skin care companies made topical versions as safe alternatives. They are of course in the form of Retinoic Acid ( Retin-A) which causes the skin cells to divide at a faster rate.

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Unknown said...

Hey, thanks for the great post. Just wondering how often you apply the aflaxin and if you just use 1 capsule at a time?
Thanks!

john smith said...

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alfachemistry said...

Our trained chemists work on custom projects designed specifically for the needs of each client. Retinol palmitate