Recently, I heard an online rumor that retinol was about to be banned in skin care. And without putting a lot of thought into it, such a situation does seem possible — after all, retinol is one of the few over-the-counter ingredients that is mentioned in study after study to actually be effective and make a profound difference in the appearance of the skin. According to research by Fisher et. al, retinoids are effective in preventing and treating signs of photodamage. Fisher et. al also demonstrated that application of retinoids inhibits the activity of collagen-degrading matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which means you can theoretically have younger looking skin for longer. So I could see regulators not wanting people to harm themselves with such an efficacious ingredient.
But, despite all of this measured efficacy, retinoids are still not likely to be banned in skin care anytime soon in concentrations of 1% or less. Here’s why:
1.) 0.5% retinol is similar to 0.025% tretinoin; 1.0% retinol is similar to 0.05% tretinoin.
One reason why the FDA tends to ban ingredients is when they are shown to be causing harm amongst users. But you’re not likely to hurt your skin with 0.5% or 1.0% retinol, because you’re getting what studies show is about the same effects as 0.025% or 0.050% tretinoin, respectively (Cosmetic Dermatology – Baumann). Over-the-counter retinol needs to be converted to its active form within the skin, which is why it is about 20 times weaker than tretinoin, resulting in the above concentrations listed being equivalent. So it’s important that you use retinol according to the instructions listed — applying too much or too often can result in irritation. But if you follow the guidelines closely, it is about the same as the prescription version anyway.
2.) Vitamin A toxicity is very rare in the U.S., unless someone is nursing or pregnant.
Vitamin A gets an big fat “A” in physicians’ and nutritionists’ playbooks for a reason: Vitamin A plays an important role in bone growth, tooth development, reproduction, cell division, gene expression, and regulation of the immune system. Vitamin A is also an important antioxidant that may play a role in the prevention of certain cancers (Colorado.edu). A potential issue with overdose arises because Vitamin A, D, E, and K are what are known as fat-soluble vitamins. (Vitamins B and C are water-soluble). This means that vitamins A, D, E, and K tend to pass through the body, be used as needed, with excess stored in fatty tissue, and the excess released when needed. On the other hand, vitamins B and C will pass through the body, used as needed, and excess is not stored in the fatty tissue. But despite the fact that excess vitamin A is temporarily stored in fat, Vitamin A toxicity is still rare in the U.S.  The typical American diet is not rich in dairy products, fish, liver, carrots, pumpkin, winter squash, dark green leafy vegetables and apricots, all of which are excellent vitamin A and beta-carotene sources (Colorado.edu). Appropriate recommended daily allowances, according to the Mayo Clinic, for adults are as follows: 900 micrograms daily (3,000 IU) for men and 700 micrograms daily (2,300 IU) for women; for pregnant women 19 years old and older, 770 micrograms daily (2,600 IU); and for lactating women 19 years old and older, 1,300 micrograms daily (4,300 IU). Most Americans don’t even come close to this, even with vitamin supplementation.
But, if you eat a healthy diet and supplementing with vitamin A-rich multivitamins, know this: Symptoms of vitamin A toxicity include dry, itchy skin, headache, nausea, and loss of appetite. If you experience these symptoms, you should keep a record of your vitamin A consumption with a food diary (I like MyFitnessPal), examine the labels on any vitamins you may take, and stop taking vitamin A-rich multivitamins if necessary.
The average application of a 0.5% retinol treatment will give you only 93 mcg of vitamin A — less than 5% of your daily total allowance. (The average application of a 1.0% retinol treatment will give you 186 mcg, less than 10% of your daily total allowance).Â
Using retinol nightly on your skin  is not likely to send your vitamin A levels off the charts, as the typical application of a 0.5% retinol cream gives you only an extra 93 mcg a day — less than one-seventh of the amount you are allowed total in a day!
The full calculation
0.5% retinol = 5/1000 retinol = 0.0002 ounces in a one-ounce bottle = 0.0000033 ounces in an application =  93 mcg (less than 15% of your daily allowance for women, less than 9% of the daily allowance for men).
But only one-third of the retinol will be absorbed through the skin and enter the bloodstream for potential storage. So this equals 31 mcg (less than 5% of your daily allowance for women, less than 3% of the daily allowance for men).
So it is highly unlikely that your retinol cream is causing you an overdose of vitamin A.
3.) It is really hard to get ahold of pure retinol.
I’ve talked about this before on the FutureDerm blog, and it’s really important that the consumer without proper training in chemistry, cosmetic chemistry, or laboratory science not make their own skin care. I know it’s all the rage on certain DIY sites (and Pinterest), and I’m all for empowering the consumer. But at the same time, there are so many ways you could potentially harm your skin: measuring too much of the active ingredient, not buffering to a pH that is healthy for the skin, not calculating the proper concentration, and using the improper system for calculating concentration (some concentrations are volume of a diluted solution to volume of total solution, whereas others are mass of ingredient to volume of total solution), just to name a few. I’ve heard of people burning the heck out of their skin with lemons, for crying out loud.
I’m also not saying this just because I sell my own line of skin care — I strongly advise any consumer buy any brand that is produced in a laboratory with full bacterial/micro, stability, and formulation safety testing before ever even trying to make their own. As Estee Lauder once said, “You only get one face.” And saving a few dollars isn’t worth burning or even permanently scarring your face. There are enough brands out there where you can find one that meets your needs and your budget.
One of the reasons why the FDA would ban retinol in beauty products is because consumers are increasingly getting ahold of their own sourced ingredients on the internet. Retinol, as mentioned before, is one of those skin care ingredients that actually has efficacy. Consumers could seriously harm themselves if they accidentally made a 3.0% retinol solution.
Yet it is not likely that consumers would be able to source pure retinol easily to begin with. Unlike many cosmetic ingredients, it’s rather difficult (and expensive) to find pure retinol in small quantities, and even more difficult to stabilize retinol to get it formulated into viable solutions. We work with a source to produce and manufacture our retinol, and another to mass produce and bacterial/stability test our formulation, and believe me, it was no picnic to find these sources. If the FDA considers the risk from a realistic standpoint, they will is highly unlikely the mass consumer would be able to get ahold of pure retinol, much less stabilize it enough to get it into a product in concentrations that could be harmful. Since the risk is nil, the risk of being banned is also small.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is, it is highly unlikely that consumers are hurting themselves with retinol. As-is packaged products are not contributing very much at all to consumers’ total vitamin A exposure. And it is hard for consumers to get ahold of pure retinol and to stabilize it into their own household products. Since the risk to the consumer is small, so is the likelihood that it will be banned, in my opinion.
What are your thoughts? Let me know in Comments below!
Want to Learn More About Retinol in Skin Care? Check out these posts:
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