Skin Does Not Absorb Everything

Learn the true science

We are exposed daily to harmful molecules from our laundry, our water, our foods, the air we breathe. But what about our skin care? Truth is very little gets into your body. Learn why medical grade cosmeceuticals are designed to make your skin healthier, stronger, & not weaker.

brick wall barrier

How many times have you read this on Google – 60-100% of your skin care gets absorbed into your bloodstream. From a medical & scientific perspective this is simply incorrect information, and this is virtually impossible. If the skin was that permeable, we would be unable to exist – not only would everything leak in, but everything would also leak out of our bodies! Nobody knows where is figure came from, and no scientific publication exists to support this figure. Let’s now examine the science of skin absorption.

60-100% of your skin care is not absorbed by the skin

Here are the scientific facts:

skin care absorbed on skin
  • Standards exist in the USA and Europe which prevent the use of toxic & unsafe ingredients in skin care & cosmetics.
  • The skin’s epidermal barrier ensures that very little of our sometimes toxic world is absorbed through your skin. This is why medical skin care companies invest millions into formulation, R&D, and devices which will increase product penetration. Your skin is formidable like the Great Wall of China,
  • The only way to ensure that you are using the safest products, purchase those manufactured at FDA registered facilities, and practicing Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). In the United States, Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) are the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) formal regulations regarding the design, monitoring, control, and maintenance of manufacturing processes and facilities.  Melanopeel is manufactured at such facilities.
  • Known toxic substances are not allowed in skin care. Some countries have been known to break this rule, resulting in banned products e.g. from China, Africa & India. This is the reason you are warned against purchasing skin lightening products off the internet as they may contain dangerous substances.
  • Skin irritation is not skin toxicity – these terms are often used interchangeably by lay persons, Toxicity is measured by lethal doses (by ingestion, injection or inhalation! ). Skin irritation is different, and can be caused by active ingredients, and even extracts in “natural” products. Skin irritation does not necessarily mean that your skin care is “toxic“.
  • Most of ANY skin care product will remain on the surface of your skin. The most effective skin care for changing your skin’s behavior to younger and healthier will be medical grade cosmeceuticals specially formulated for some level of penetration.
  • Medical skin care products do not cause cancer – they are designed to make the skin healthier, regulate DNA skin cycles, and can prevent skin cancer by resurfacing and destroying precancerous skin cells.
  • The “toxic” levels of skin care ingredients and preservatives are extremely low – the patient will likely experience severe skin irritation before any toxic levels are ever reached, resulting in ceasing of product use long before any harmful effects can be felt.
  • Your primary source of “toxic” exposure to carcinogens and hormone disruptors are in your diet and the atmosphere (food, drink, smoking, air pollutants), and not in your skin care.
product absorption into skin
This does not happen in the skin

The 500 Dalton Rule:

In product formulation, it is established that virtually all molecule sizes larger than 500 Dalton are unable to penetrate the skin. Daltons are an extremely small measurement of protein weights. Every medical skincare product formulator know this – “Human skin has unique properties of which functioning as a physicochemical barrier is one of the most apparent. The human integument is able to resist the penetration of many molecules.” “The molecular weight (MW) of a compound must be under 500 Dalton to allow skin absorption. Larger molecules cannot pass the corneal layer.” Let us look further at how this rule impacts on absorption.

So how much of your skin care is really absorbed?

To better answer this, we turn to our cosmetic scientists who formulate our products – the true experts behind your skin care. To simplify this, we will look at sizes – the skin & product particle size, and try to relate this to skin anatomy & physiology.

SKIN SIZE: Products need to penetrate many layers of the outer skin, the epidermis (100,000 nm thick). First crossing will be your water-proof lipid barrier, the stratum corneum, then comes the many cell layers in the epidermis before the product can be absorbed into your dermis. The dermis is the critical layer to get to, since this will be the first entry point into your bloodstream.

SKIN CARE SIZE: Skin care needs to be approximately 500 Dalton (1 nm) or less to even begin thinking of partial penetration into the skin.

skin care absorption
Skin care must be smaller than 1 nm to penetrate to the Dermis. This will be like a pea trying to cross a football field!

SKIN DEFENSES: Let’s say that your product has begun partial penetration into the skin. Here is what happens next to most of your product – immune scavenger cells destroy it, and then skin catalase enzymes will break them down. Essentially, after your skin care has to swim a marathon across the world’s oceans to find a target to work on, it’s likely to get eaten and destroyed by a shark.

THE GREAT DISTANCE: To put this into perspective of relative sizes – a molecule the size of a pea will need to cross a football stadium to reach it’s target.

So the simple answer is this:

Very little of your skin care gets absorbed and carried into your bloodstream

Why medical grade works better:

medical grade skin care
Medical grade skin care protects & strengthens your skin rather than damage it.
  1. Products are screened for safety & efficacy.
  2. They have systems which enable better targeted skin penetration for the treatment of acne, hyperpigmentation, aging skin, & melasma.
  3. Skin strength & resilience – proper medical grade regimes actually strengthen your skin against attacks from the environment by promoting the formation of healthier new skin cells.
  4. Medical grade cosmeceuticals also have a drug-like medicated function – they can actually treat the skin.
  5. Skin protection – they can help protect your skin from precancerous lesions, e.g. retinoids and deeper chemical peels.

The bottom line:

Your skin does not absorb 60-100% of what is put on it. If this were true, you would be able to feed yourself through your skin. It is better to invest in medical grade skin care which actually aims to make your skin healthier and function at more optimum levels.

TRUE!; Melanopeel is safe Skin Care manufactured in the USA within an FDA-approved facility practicing Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)

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