True or False: Cosmetic retinol products that you can buy from skincare brands are a total waste of your time and hard-earned money.

TRUE. Virtually no one can sensibly argue that retinOL is better or more effective than RETINOIDS (like tretinoin or adapalene, also known by the brand name Retin-A or Differin, respectively – these are pharmaceutical grade medications). Most 'actives' don't penetrate the skin at all but retinoids are lipophilic meaning they are attracted to lipids (fats) and can easily penetrate the epidermis (However, retinol (retinyl) esters such as RETINOL (retinyl) PALMITATE do not penetrate the skin due to their chemical structure). Only tretinoin (retinoid) and tazarotene (retinoid) are approved by the FDA to treat photo aged skin.

Remember, retinOL refers to the weaker type of retinoid available globally without a prescription and used in formulations made by skincare brands.

However, if you have ever googled these products before you might get a little confused when you hear people saying that retinOL is ‘just as good’ or ‘is better than’ a pharmaceutical-grade RETINOID. What’s going on here?

A lot of misunderstanding and some blatant lying to gain market share and sell products by Big Skincare, of course.

There are certain countries where you can buy a decent quality pharmaceutical grade RETINOID over the counter at your local pharmacy. Dubai is one of these places (it costs about £4 for a tube!). Spain is another country where you can pop over to your local pharmacy and pick up a 0.02% tretinoin combined with a 4% AHA for €40 (Interesting combo, btw – not sure if I would recommend that to anyone!) 0.025/0.05/0.1% tretinoin for €20.

Mexico is another place you can pick up some decent retinoid from a local pharmacy. In the UK, some of the states of the USA and in some European countries, you have @dermatica.skin where you can get a retinoid as a prescription if deemed appropriate for you by the clinical team after filling out the online consultation.

So why are some people trying to tell you that retinOL is better than pharma-grade retinoid? Money. There is one blatantly unethical yet well-known dermatologist in a European country who actually posts about this on her instragram and says that skincare brand retinOL is superior to retinoid because retinoids ‘cause chronic inflammation in the skin’; this is completely untrue and this doctor does not provide a reference or any evidence for this statement.

She is also a big seller of a very expensive skincare brand that also sells a 15 g tube of tretinoin for close to £100 per tube as part of the £600-£700 set of ‘skincare’ products they claim is the ‘secret’ to great skin. And she works in a country where pharma-grade tretinoin is available to buy over the counter.

Remember – when faced with skincare confusion – this is a billion-pound industry, most people are not looking out for your skin or wallet’s best interest and it’s a business. Sadly, even doctors have fallen prey to this which negatively affects the entire medical profession. Please don’t judge us all by the one or two bad seeds among us. And don’t shoot the messenger.