Homemade Topical Retinyl Palmitate

I made this article so that everyone suffering from ACNE might be able to benefit from the good effects of vitamin-A. The only thing that could reduce ACNE and too much oil production is Accutane which is of course a form of Vitamin-A. High amounts of retinol-palmitate or retinyl 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 of vitamin-A 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 the formation of whiteheads and blackheads but does too little in decreasing the sebum output of the oil glands. The side effect 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 aggressive to the point that it causes skin flaking and irritation. Topical retinol palmitate is less aggressive and also does not cause too much redness associated with retinoic acid. One company that sells topical Vitamin-A solution 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. A do it yourself version could be made using "AFAXIN" which is Retinol Palmitate available over the drugstore. This is manufactured 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.

Procedure:

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.
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.

(source: http://diyacnecare.blogspot.com partner site)

References:

• Penetration and Metabolism of Topical Retinoids in ex vivo Organ-Cultured Full-Thickness Human Skin Explants C. Antille, C. Tran, O. Sorg, J.-H. Saurat Department of Dermatology, University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland
• http://www.thevitamincure.com
• A. Chiu, A.B. Kimball (2003) Topical vitamins, minerals and botanical ingredients as modulators of environmental and chronological skin damage British Journal of Dermatology 149 (4), 681–691. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2133.2003.05540.x

Page last modified: December 07, 2007