Glycolic Acid Cream
Glycolic acid cream is the most commonly used product in the range of glycolic acid skin treatments. Although the use of glycolic acid in skin treatment has attracted a fair amount of controversy, the creams usually come well within the accepted guidelines. The controversy has arisen because the cosmetic industry objects to the viewpoint of some governments that any concentration level of over 10% in a glycolic acid product is dangerous. There are many in the industry itself who take the exact opposite view, claiming that lower glycolic acid concentrations than this simply do not work.
If you are worried about the condition of your skin, the obvious first step is to try one of the milder treatments first like a glycolic acid cream. There is nothing to stop you from experimenting with stronger glycolic acid products if your initial attempts don’t really yield any results. There are treatments available which use chemical peels with a far greater concentration of the active ingredient, but these will inevitable cause side effects. Your skin will certainly end up looking burnt for a short time after one of these intensive, highly concentrated treatments. Although the skin should recover to a cleaner and healthier state than it was originally, nothing is ever 100% predictable when you are dealing with strong acid.
By starting with a glycolic acid cream, you are giving your skin a chance to respond to a much milder version of the treatment. Should this happen, you will not need to take whatever risk is inherent in the harsher and more concentrated treatments. Your skin will be with you for a long time, and it really shouldn’t matter to you that the treatment will be over a period of several weeks, so long as there is a steady, ongoing improvement. The more mild glycolic acid creams allow you to make consistent progress without the need for the extreme side effects of other treatments.
The cream is applied directly to the skin, and then allowed to be absorbed. Glycolic acid is excellent at absorption into the skin, and at attacking the dead skin which is bound by lipids to the living, healthy skin. There is nothing more to do at this stage than simply sit or lie back and allow the active ingredients to their job. This is not, of course, a miracle cure, and it will take several treatments over many weeks before the skin reaches its optimum condition.
When the glycolic acid cream has been absorbed into the skin and allowed to do its work of binding with the dead cells it can then be washed off with water or, if you prefer, you can use some other chemicals from the alpha hydroxy line to counter the acidic properties of the glycolic acid in the cream. This will also have the effect of moisturizing the skin, which is essential after a treatment involving glycolic acid. The cream will then need to be applied at regular intervals in the coming weeks to ensure that whatever progress was made is maintained and built upon. This type of long term, steady progress has a vastly reduced potential for problem side effects, and is the recommended way of approaching skin care. The greater inherent safety is one very good reason for the use of a glycolic acid cream.