Tretinoin and Retinol: Are you right to be wary about Vitamin A skincare?

It's no secret there are a million lotions and potions out there promising the wearer better skin, from BB creams to sperm facials (seriously). But since the seventies, Vitamin A has been knows as a bit of a wonder for skin. It's anti-ageing, great for breakouts and makes skin glow.

Vitamin A and it's derivatives are found in over the counter skincare lines (an ingredient know as Retinol, a weaker derivative of Vitamin A), or can be prescribed by your GP or by a dermatologist (known as Tretinoin). If you've ever suffered with acne, you may have heard of Accutane (isotretinoin), an oral form of Vitamin A which requires regular hospital trips, dries out the skin and lips, and can cause severe birth defects.

Topical Vitamin A, though, increases the production of skin cells and thickens the dermal layer at a cellular level. So, mixed with a cleansing routine that sloughs away congestion and the top layer of skin, it promotes a healthy looking complexion. Basically, it gives you thick, soft skin.

It also helps with collagen production by stimulating the skin's fibroblasts to produce more. The more collagen your skin has, the more youthful it looks. Put very simply, it gets rid of fine lines, wrinkles, and helps scars look smoother. You probably know that collagen production slows down in our mid twenties, I've seen it myself and I'm 30 next year. OH THE WRINKLES. So anything that kick-starts collagen production is great.

It also helps reduce pigmentation from sun damage.

It's a wonder cream, surely. Who needs botox and expensive facials when you can just slap on some Vitamin A every night? Well, the reason why people fear it so much is because used incorrectly, it can cause you to look like you're a snake shedding its skin. Redness and irritation is widely reported as a side effect,  even in lowest of the low doses of 0.025%.

Clearly Vitamin A is a potent little beast.

So say you suffer from problematic skin. Say you're noticing lines appear where they never were before. How can you go about safely using Vitamin A?

If you're in no rush to get your skin looking grand, find an over the counter cream that contains retinol. It won't work as fast as Tretinoin, but it's perfect if you have sensitive skin or don't want the chance of peeling and irritation. Once applied to the skin, it takes an extra step to convert to the active ingredient found in prescriptions. But hey, those wrinkles and sun spots didn't appear overnight, right?

If you're suffering with scarring or want to see dramatic results, see if your dermatologist will prescribe you Tretinoin, but at no more than 0.3%. You'll need to apply it at night, leaving a two to three day gap between applications until your skin builds up a tolerance after a few weeks.

It should be on the top of your skincare priorities anyway, but Vitamin A does make skin more photosensitive, so a broad spectrum SPF of at least 30 should be worn every morning. Combine with a Vitamin C serum in the morning to protect the skin from oxidisation (you know what happens to an apple when you leave it out and it goes brown? That's oxidisation) and you'll be well on your way to healthy skin from the inside out.

So what do you think? Are you a fan of retinol and Vitamin A, or are you too timid to try it? Let us know the products you rate below.