Why topical hyaluronic acid is over-hyped plus the debate over tretinoin frequency & strength 

Huge respect for addressing the debate and disagreements head on!

I can 100% say as a decades long cosmetologist…For me & my clients..In the NV High Desert..Too much H.A. dries out our skin..Took a few ‘years’ for us to pin point H.A. by process of adding and subtracting products & ingredients..But, I stand by my 300+ Client Findings..”In Our Often Dry Climate.”😌

You're fabulous! Thanks for pushing on and expanding the discussion. ❤️

I’m sorry you had to endure the internets mob mentality. Dont let it back you down from offering alternative perspectives. We love the chance to have a fresh new view on these mechanisms. Hope youre having a good year so far!

Looking forward to see cosmetic chemists and toxicologists in future series 🔥.

Love that you addressed all the concerns around the earlier interviews an Dr. Natalia is excellent. Love her book despite still loving my skincare ;)

Dr. Shereene Idriss, a dermatologist RU-vidr in NY, talked about how hyaluronic acid does not penetrate the skin awhile ago. She said it is too big of a molecule and can actually take moisture out of your skin. I have tried to avoid HA every since. It’s hard to avoid because it is in EVERYTHING!

Another great interview! Thank you Clare.

Another great interview and conversation. It's very informative. A great educational session for us.

Appreciate your doing this.

Love! 🙏🙏🙏 a great video, so helpful as always, thank you 😊

Good interview!

I'm glad a dermatologist has cleared things up about the use of tretinoin. Debate is ok only if it doesn't involve economical interests like with the previous panel. As for me, I started using tretinoin at age 29 for a severe form of cystic acne (I went to several dermatologists and endocrinologists). Combined with a hormonal cure, tretinoin saved my skin from deep scars and brought it back to life. I have some pretty shocking photos of me at age 30 (when I literally just finished clearing my acne) and if I compared my skin back then, even with no acne and my skin now after almost 17 years of everyday use of tretinoin, I'm much better now. Of course, the aging process continued so I don't look 30 anymore (although some people who don't know my age think so) but the quality of my skin is on a totally different level. I had two very pronounced wrinkles on my forehead at 30 and now I have zero. No botox on my forehead. I only use it on the corner of my eyes very lightly once per year since age 40 to prevent crow's feet but both I and the doctor say that I still don't need anything on my forehead, which for my age is impressive. Considering my very poor baseline and genetics (My skin is not elastic at all, I took from my father's side). All this is to say that the adjustment period is well worth it. I also recommend people start slowly, tretinoin is not a sprint, is a marathon, and the skin needs adjustment. I started from a very low percentage for 6 months (In Italy we had the 0.01%, then after 1 year I was steadily using 0,05% with no issues and I then started with 0.1% again without issues. Now they have discontinued the 0,1% and I'm not panicking at all, I'm back to 0,05% and my skin is still doing great. As long as I can use it every day I can see the benefits. There are rare times when I discontinue the usage, namely when I have to wax the sides of my face (I have hypertrichosis and unfortunately I need to do it) or a few days before and after a TCA chemical peel. And when I got pregnant (lost the babies but I wasn't using tretinoin at the time, totally unrelated reasons). I also enjoyed listening to the Hyaluronic acid opinions. I also noticed it is everywhere and I personally prefer other substances, or better put, my skin prefers other molecules like glycerin, panthenol, and (incredibly for a skeptical like me) snail mucin. I also have some serums containing hyaluronic acid but I didn't buy them for it, but rather for the overall formula that my skin truly liked. And I'll only stick to what my skin tends to like, no need to use 300 products. I test products for a living but just for the time necessary to form an opinion about the efficacy of my skin. Because at the end of the day, the judge of my products is not me but my skin :)

Thanks so much for asking questions we're all interested in.

Thank you for sharing this video on hyaluronic acid & tretinoin. Great information.

Yessss! I absolutely agreed this, compared to the previous videos with that doc and scientist, make me confused😵!! Tq😃😃 for sharing this now i feel this videos deserves subscriber and likes 💕👍

That was really interesting Clare. Definitely picking up her book too.

Iam 59 and living in Australia, I will never used hyaluronic acid serum on my face because it only works in humid countries not on a dry climate, I have really dry skin and using Profilo

Excellent!!

You go girl! 💜

Dr Dray’s video was excellent, as she debunked the gentleman’s statements…point, by point. Wonderful interview‼️I’m really enjoying your channel and you really have interesting people on…keep at it‼️❤️✅

Great info thanks

Thank you for having an actual dermatologist on. I think when we want advice on our skin it's best to follow a dermatologists advice as they are the experts.

good video natalia !

Was so interesting. I've been using dermatica for 13 months or so and the difference has been huge. My skin was sensitive at the beginning but is doing fine now. Wouldn't be without it lol.

LOVE LOVE❤these discussions & interviews, Clare. Don't understand the negative comments - for goodness sake, if we can't have a disagreement of opinion on a certain skin ingredient or its effects, what kind of world would it be! We'd never bother to do further research on anything. Tretinoin is not for everybody, Ivan's advice to take a break every now and then felt right to me....and this dermatologist has some good information too. Enjoyed the hyaluronic acid section also. It's in almost everything now. Val x

You're amazing! ❤️ I'm happy I stumbled upon your channel during The Great T Debate! I'm looking forward to watching more of you and your content! Thank you!

This was eye opening & fabulous as usual! I used Renova & Refissa for many years & loved it; but then it was difficult to get a hold of because the cost was exorbitant! Although, I'm still using tretinoin on & off, & during the off time I use the Osmosis Renew, & like that a lot!!! Thank you so much, Clare!

I would recommend you should interview Paula Begone of Paula’s Choice the Skin Care Cop. She is a scientist and a skin care developer with Euler 40 years experience in industry.

With the hyaluronic acid topic I had wanted to add a separate product to my regimen but not over spend as like you said it’s in everything so I picked up good molecules hyaluronic acid essence I used it a few times and I’m happy I actually went back to the package re read the ingredients to find out what am I liking and like the doctor said usually it’s the mixture that makes us like the product in the ingredients I found urea which is an ingredient I don’t use which was probably what has made it stand out for me I was asking myself wait there is something just a lil different with this particular product so then I go and google urea and find it’s a beneficial ingredient but it goes to show that brands will brag about the hype ingredient when there probably is even better less hype ingredients they should mention more but that’s the marketing part , the other great discussion you both had was about creams and moisturizer and evaporation in water based products which brings a good segue convo into oils and sealing in that moisture with topical oils or if oils are beneficial I am seeing a lot of topics on cold pressed Avocado , sunflower , oat , Grapeseed , and other oils to seal in moisture and if it could be beneficial in a night regimen to prevent water lose by adding an oil in a final step

I find using the Tret .05 3 nights per week works perfectly for me. Other nights I’ll apply a gentle serum or face oil. Paula’s choice 2% BHA exfoliant a couple of times a week keeps any flakiness at bay. Vit c in the morning followed by sunscreen. Have been doing this for years and it works so well for my skin. Thanks so much for this follow up discussion. I really enjoyed her practical thoughts on the topic so much.

Why in some countries, like Poland for instance, tretinoin is unavailable? We can only have adapalen for prescription.

Claire I'm with dermatica like you were. I'm the same age as you similar skin I think. What I don't understand is why you just didn't stick to 0.25? You've sort of thrown the baby out with the bath water her, it didn't work at 0.5 so you've given up so to speak. I've been on tret for about three years, it's the best thing I've ever done. Twice I tried to go up to 0.5. most recently before Christmas. Both occasions the irritation wasn't worth it. I discussed with dermatica they pushed me back down to 0.25. said basically don't worry you'll still get there in the long run just takes longer. You will have seen the research papers that say that 0.25 has the same long term results as higher doses. I still can't do every night on 0.25. I also can't really add vit c or any other harsh actives, everything else in my routine is super super simple. This is sort of what this Dr said at the start of the video, use the medical prescription to do its job. I know we have good retinals etc so if you really can't use tret it's no Biggie. But I just don't understand why you persisted on 0.5 if it didn't work. Other point with dermatica they have other formulations below the tretinoin in strength. Also check what it was bundled with. Hydroquinone? That's also a possible trigger, strip that out if too much. Talk to them basically they've been very good to me. No I don't work for dermatica !

Have you tried using the sandwich technique with your Tret, Clare? Moisturiser then Tret then moisturiser, to help with the dryness.

Yes! Only use RA every other day and with moisture on top. I’ve been doing this and no irritation and still have the benefits. You can always increase as your skin adjust, if you want, but I never felt the need to risk dry and flaky skin and I still had great improvement with .025 and never increased strength

Every time I use the product with hyaluronic acid my skin feels more dry. I tried so many products from different brands but all of them made my face dryer from inside out. I have dry skin and HA makes my skin extremely dry.

Hi Clare, I was wondering if there are any settings on your end that limit the length of comments as every time I try to give you the info on retinols I promised you it posts then when I renew the page it vanishes. I am so confused... not sure what to do. thanks

I didn't know the sun sensitivity using tretinoin when to weigh after 6 months. Is this true as I've never heard that I've always heard you should stay out of the sun when using tretinoin. Thanks for this info would love and update on your usage and how it's going down the line.

I wish the hyaluronic hype would cease to be. I'm not a fan of it. It's one reason why I won't use a lot of The Ordinary products.

Love your content, and this video is no exception. I used to use tons of different products until I discovered Dr. Julia Hunter last summer. She is an absolutely amazing individual with an abundant wealth of information on not only skin, but whole body health! I absolutely loved her passion, dedication and approach to truly "wholeistic" dermatology that does not only address 'symptoms', but actually tries to address the 'root' cause of the problem. I have since switched to using her skincare exclusively, as it is chirally correct and does not contain many of the fillers and toxic ingredients that many other, even so called 'clean' skincare lines, have. I would highly suggest to check out her videos here on RU-vid. Her products are exceptional, and my skin has never looked or felt better.

I have to say HA dries out my skin....... Go figure?...... Saw Dr Drays vlog too 🙏for me the proof is in the pudding I use tretinoin and I won't be stopping anytime soon

Just discovered your channel as a fellow skin fanatic. So interesting 🙌 I’m nearly 40 and I do admit using retinol is good but I think it does cause thinning. I’ve seen friends who have had peels and can almost see their veins in the face. Il do anything to keep the fullness and the only thing that works so well for me is skinceuticals c e furulic and a basic Cerave moisturiser. Tried the skinceuticals HA serum and it’s lovely but it’s temporary effects. Recently purchased an LED mask but won’t be using more than once or twice a week and then carefully monitor! My main issues recently have been slight laxity in lower area but I’m sticking to lower facial yoga and collagen building foods as a starter. Also think less is more , the more serums I think the more dry and damaged the skin barrier gets 🤷‍♀️

Regimen Lab has a hydrating serum called Wave 2.0 that was reformulated w/o HA after they spent a year researching hydrators. I respect they keep researching and don’t rest on their laurels. Ingredients seem great when analyzed on incidecoder. I wonder if anyone has used it and can comment?

Regarding HA I can attest to the fact that it can DRY OUT YOUR SKIN. This happened to me. I have oily skin. Started using Cerave moisturizer, which has HA (also use the cleanser with HA). After maybe 6-8 weeks my skin became so dry, flaky, irritated. Like a sunburn. I was initially perplexed. After looking at the ingredients of my cleanser, moisturizer, eye cream, sunscreen I noticed they all had HA. I stopped using everything- except the cleanser and my skin returned to normal. It was horrific, left me with a face full of discoloration that is still not completely gone, even though it’s been nearly 6 months. Now I steer clear of HA never want to experience its negative effect again.

Here in Houston Tx plenty 😊moisture in the air. Already figured out it HA might just be, ‘snake oil’

I've been using tret 0.01% for about 10 years. I don't use it everyday, as I do get dry skin around my mouth and nose. So i just use it every 2/3 days. At 42, my skin is pretty good!!!

hello, what happened to the update you promised regarding your skincare regimen? I asked one month ago and you wanted to wait till your 50th (ie right about now). Hope you can share an honest and very minimalistic routine with max one gadget. It really gets confusing for us users when youtubers use a multitude of products and gadgets to know which is actually having an effect. I understand you get sponsorship but given that you have called your channel the honest channel I look forward to it living up to its name. I've so far used one of your highly raved about products and seeing minimal to negligible results (daily and persistent use).

Can I mix my Tretenoin with my night face oil?

I would love to hear Dr. Spierings thoughts on the data produced by Bhawan and Olsen that show dermal thinning.

I stared using Tretinoin every day 14 months ago and suddenly I got milia and clogged pores on my forhead and on the sides of my nose. I am in my 70 and have never had these problem.

Your channel and questions is what those with the hunger for knowledge look for, even though they could be controversial sometimes. I'm a bit disappointed in the hostility some people have shown towards the speakers just because they do not agree with the opinions.

Clare have youu ever heard that retinols/ tretinoin are hormone disruptors? Would love for you to do some more research on that as our hormone health is so important.

was hoping the claim that Hyaluranic Acid damages the stratum corneum would be brought up.

What about the topic of inflammation in the high vs low molecular weight debate? Skin penetration has been discussed a lot, but the low molecular weight also seems to cause inflammation and is actually a very poor choice for a skincare routine because of it. Unfortunately that is also the one being put into nearly every cosmetics product, including make-up. High molecular weight should be fine but isn't essential, just try to stay away from the low molecular weight. All the more reason for keeping it simple I guess; the more products you use, the more ingredients lists to go Inspector Gadget on. And who wants to be contacting all these companies asking about kilodaltons all the time?

Tret ruined my skin...no matter how I went about it. I rmb my esthetician telling me my skin looked burnt. She explained to me how my skin was in constant "inflammation" mode. Anything that disrupts the skin aka tret. Causes some type of inflammation. I stopped using it and my skin was balanced and looked so much healthier. Also, Japan and korea, where skin research is much more advanced, don't hype the use of tretinoin. It's so rare to come across a Korean or Japanese brand with retinol in it.

I use to love dr Natalia's no nonsense approach, that is until I actually tried what she recommends and my skin was in its worst possible condition (and no it wasn't temporary I gave it a good few months). Her restrictive approach doesn't work for everyone, not everyone can use tretinoin/retinoids and just vaseline. skincare is extremely personal and everyone's skin is different. the tunnel vision and lack of nuance made me lose faith in her approach. to each their own.

Good luck avoiding HA, it’s the new “buzz” ingredient and in everything!

Finally a dermatologist. Your initial interview should’ve been done by a dermatologist in the first place

Yo, that ain't Dr. Dre.

After using tretinoin for 9mths I found it to be pointless...I was patient but felt it was just all hype ..I had a dermatologist write me a prescription & €175 huge mark up for her !!!!NEVER AGAIN I will invest in a good quality SPF basic skincare..its all about marketing products we don't need 😊

I have a bottle of The Ordinary hyaluronic acid + B5 at my sink and it’s barely used, and another bottle of brand new marine hyaluronic acid… I honestly do not know what to do with them 😅 because of how it can draw water away from our skin rather than moisturising it 😂 and especially because almost everything has hyaluronic acid in them nowadays 😂

My humble opinion. At the core of acne is the health of the gut. At the core of gut health is the food a person ingest! No cream or potion would solve the issue permanently until the diet is fixed. Avoid ingesting any type of oils, including olive oil unless you are certain of its purity as many sold are mixed with vegetable oils. Another culprit is sugar which is at the core of inflammation.

Maybe we should just leave the science out and enjoy skincare without the overthinking.

This channel mentioned of wanting to have a range of different views is one thing...but the channel's video on tretinoin thinning skin having a fake experts to make a claim misleading people about tretinoin is not acceptable. At least can see some effort on damage recovery in this video by having a qualified expert (dermatologist) to share her expertise on tretinoin.

The opinion that Hyaluronic Acid does not penetrate the stratum corneum, and there is no evidence that it does, is just totally wrong. Here is the conclusion that just ONE paper makes: LMW HA of approximately 50 kDa shows better penetration abilities than larger-sized HA. In addition, LMW HA influences the expression of various genes including those contributing to keratinocyte differentiation and formation of intercellular tight junction complexes without showing proinflammatory activity. These observations contribute to current knowledge on the effects of LMW HA on keratinocyte biology and cutaneous physiology. This study looked at a few molecular weights 20, 50, 130, 300, 800 and 1,500 kDa. Our own transdermal penetration research shows that we can deliver molecules up to 300kDa into the dermis, so yes, you wont get the really high molecular weights HA's through the stratum corneum eg 1.2MDa and >2MDa but then I would only ever use those as occlusives. We are in fact very careful with really low molecular weight HA (~5kDa) since it penetrates efficiently and can cause toll-like receptor activation and inflammation. Low molecular weights of HA can be used to assist in the transportation and deposition of actives into the dermis eg curcumin and glutathione. You don't need formal clinical trials to show this! Here is the abstract of another paper: Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a linear polysaccharide with repeating disaccharide units composed of glucuronic acid and N-acetyl glucosamine. In contrast to other glucosaminoglucans such as dermatan sulphate or keratin sulphate it does not contain any sulphur. HA is one of the major matrix substances in which cells and fibrous constituents of the matrix such as collagen (1) and elastin (2) are embedded. Another unique characteric of HA is it’s enormously high water binding capacity. In solutions HA exists in a flexible, coiled configuration that contains approximately 1000-fold more water than polymer (3). This special feature enables HA to contribute largely to the maintenance of the extracellular space and to control tissue hydratation (4). Additionally, HA seems to play a pivotal role in tissue regeneration since recent studies suggest that the integrity and balance of matrix components themselves, which undergo degradation and reconstruction, assure normal tissue function and contribute to the regulation of wound healing (5, 6). These outstanding properties predispose HA to be a valuable component of cosmetical applications where it could deploy its abilities resulting in antiageing and anti-wrinkle effects. However, this plethora of potential beneficial features is limited by the molecular size of HA, which can reach up to 2,000 kDa and thus interferes with efficient skin penetration. This issue could be addressed simply by fragmentation of high molecular weight HA if not recent studies had shown that HA fragments with a molecular weight less than 20 kDa were recognized by so-called Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 2 and 4 resulting in activation of these cells and production of proinflammatory mediators (7-10). It was therefore the aim of the present study to identify a low molecular weight (LMW) sized HA molecule that combines strong anti-aging and moisturizing abilities with efficient skin penetration but is devoid of the negative effects mediated by TLRs. Unfortunately YT doesn't allow to post links but maybe Clare can post them if I email them to her.

she is not a scientist...is her mum her only patient? thank you for the video💗