Glycolic acid: myths and reality

Danne Montague-King, Doctor of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, founder of DMK (USA)

Blessed with the ability to hydrate the skin, peel off excess years like the skin of an onion, lift breasts, eliminate acne and hyperpigmentation, and trigger the massive production of new collagen in all tissues of the body (hence the breast lift), glycolic acid was for a time considered the safest and most effective effective tool in the world. The side effects of its irrational use have not yet appeared.

This substance is not a very interesting topic for me, since I have dealt with it for decades - since its “reign” in the 1980s, when glycolic acid was added to everything and touted as an exemplary effective skin care ingredient.

Suppliers of glycolic acid made billions while thousands of people, especially in Asia, suffered skin damage and strange cystic acne in those who were overactive.

Personally, I've always thought of glycolic acid as an obnoxious little molecule that, when dosed incorrectly, causes "hot spots" in the depressions of the face, which probably explains why doctors of the era applied it for 10 minutes and then washed it off.

What it is?

For those wondering what glycolic acid is, let me put it this way: while it is touted as a safe, naturally fructose-derived acid keratolytic, many of the details of commercial production remain behind the scenes, although the process typically involves sugarcane extracts and other fruit by-products. . As well as formaldehyde and carbon monoxide.

This does not mean that these toxic substances end up in the final product, and with it on your face. I’m just pointing out that the industrial process for producing glycolic acid, which is also used in other industries, such as fabric dyeing, is very far from the image of squeezing an orange formed by marketers (it is the photo of an orange that most often appears in advertising).

The final product is known as hydroxyacetic acid. If I were to produce it myself, I would prefer the biochemical process of fermentation of sugar beets or unripe grapes, which requires less energy in production, but is also very labor-intensive.

How it works?

All α-hydroxy acids (AHAs) are hygroscopic in nature: their effect not only temporarily lowers the pH of the skin and releases a lot of “glue” that holds dead cellular material to the epidermis, but also causes dried out excess keratinized cells to swell - they swell like tiny balloons until they burst and detach from the underlying layer of new, young cells.

When performed by professionals, this is an extremely effective procedure that removes outdated defense mechanisms from the skin (everything that we don’t like in the mirror is just skin defense mechanisms that stubbornly refuse to go into the shadows). But I prefer to use reliable lactic acid with its larger molecules and very little glycolic acid - this way the doctor has much more control over the process.

Given the hygroscopic nature of AHA acids and their ability to attract all available moisture into the epidermis, at first they were mistakenly considered “humectants”. In reality, the effect was exactly the opposite. Men and women around the world have found that daily use of these "natural" products leaves their skin as dry as sandpaper, thins the epidermis and makes them easy victims of hyperpigmentation (especially those with darker skin tones), and often contributes to the appearance of strange cystic spots. lumps under the skin, roughened by acid.

So I had to develop a powerful enzyme therapy to remove excess glycolic acid from the tissues in order for any effective treatment to actually work.

In the 80s and 90s, my numerous articles on this subject brought upon me loud discontent from companies that produced entire lines of products based on glycolic acid. A Swedish doctor called me crazy in print, and that's how I learned that at least in this part of the world my articles were being read!

The whole storm died down when the marketing machine switched to looking for other trends to advertise as the "new revolutionary discovery." But glycolic acid lasted at least two more generations thanks to its strong reputation and the understanding that it could be a very good tool when used exclusively by professionals .

It, as I already noted, works well in combination with other ingredients of a keratolytic nature, including retinoids (which have a special ability to remove and restore tissue, which is based on the stimulation of fibroblasts). In my opinion, the right thing to do is to use glycolic acid to further speed up the process, but not to let its tiny size set the tone for everything.

One of the biggest mistakes was mixing it with hydroquinone or other melanin inhibitors, supposed to help these pigmentation components penetrate deeper into the epidermis.

Any acid with a pH below 3.7 causes hardening of the stratum corneum. All pathologists know this, which is why they preserve animal or human specimens in a formaldehyde solution. While quicklime (lye) was used in the past by bandits to get rid of the body by dissolving and quickly desquamating its tissues.

To get to the edges of melasma or other manifestations of hyperpigmentation, treating the skin with an alkaline preparation with a pH of at least 12 for several minutes and keeping it moist to avoid alkaline burns is appropriate; this process can be compared to opening a door, whereas the use of acid slams the door shut.

First published in "Les Nouvelles Esth étiques Ukraine" No. 4 (110) 2018