New retinoid: hydroxypinacolone retinoate
An ingredient with a great future, the evidence base for which should grow
In the article «Retinoids: vain fears. Barriers in prescribing cosmetics with retinoids», we recently talked about this interesting, ambiguous ingredient in relation to it by cosmetologists. Let's continue the topic.
Tatyana Shalagina, cosmetologist-aesthetician, author of the online project for advanced training of cosmetologists Skinstory Education
Vitamin A derivatives are by far the most popular ingredients in the cosmetic industry, and they can only be compared with vitamin C. It should be noted here that science has been studying retinoids for a long time, and the first article on topical retinoids on PubMed dates back to 1952. Retinoids are considered the drugs of first choice for acne correction [1], they are proven to increase the amount of collagen and extracellular matrix in the dermis [3], and help in the fight against photoaging [2] and hyperpigmentation.
The largest amount of scientific research concerns retinic acid, or tretinoin, the final form of vitamin A conversion and not approved for use in cosmetics. Therefore, the cosmetic industry is left to try to find alternative forms of retinoids that are closest to retinoic acid, yet are allowed in cosmetics.
And such a new retinoid has recently become hydroxypinacolon retinoate, abbreviated as HPR (Fig. 1). One of the options for its release is raw materials with the trade name Granactive Retinoid, or translated as «granactive retinoid» (INCI: Dimethyl Isosorbide (and) Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate). Granactive retinoid is a 10% solution of hydroxypinacolone retinoate in Dimethyl Isosorbide solvent. Therefore, if the product description says 2% granactive retinoid, then this means that the product contains 0.2% hydroxypinacolone retinoate and 1.8% solvent. There are also other variations of HPR raw materials, such as the product under the trade name SymRenew HPR, but these are less common.
(Fig. 1). Hydroxypinacolone retinoate (HPR)
Hydroxypinacolone retinoate is an ester of retinoic acid, therefore it is directly combined with its receptors and does not require preliminary enzymatic transformation in the cell. This theoretically makes it much more active compared to retinol and retialdehyde. According to the manufacturer's research, it has a significantly lower irritant potential compared to retinol when comparing 0.5% granactive retinoid (0.05% hydroxypinacolone retinoate) with 0.5% retinol [4]. But in fact, the ingredient is new, and there is not much research on it. My own experience confirms that the component works, but what does the science say?
*Full version of the access article in Ukrainian and Russian
First published in a magazine PRO Cosmetology by «Косметолог» №1, 2022