Is Anti-aging Cream Harmful to Your Skin

Updated on November 21, 2020
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As we get older, it is a very common tendency to use anti-aging and wrinkle-resistant creams. Unhealthy lifestyle factors contribute to poor and sagging skin. Additionally, constant exposure to the sun can further damage the skin and cause wrinkles. Today, we can get numerous anti-aging creams in the market. These creams promise to remove wrinkles and claim to undo the sun’s damage caused by UV rays. But should we always believe that these creams are effective? Doesn’t it have any side effects?  

The effectiveness of anti-aging creams depends on its ingredients. That’s why cream, which is sold without a prescription, is usually aren’t scientifically proven for its effectiveness. 

Basic and Common Ingredients in Anti-aging creams:

Moisturizing alone can develop the look of your skin. Temporarily, It plumps the skin, making lines and wrinkles less noticeable. Basically, moisturizers are types of lotions, creams, gels, and serums made of water, oils, and other ingredients, like proteins, waxes, glycerin, lactate, and urea.

Anti-aging or wrinkle creams often are moisturizers with active ingredients that offer extra benefits. These added elements are intended to improve skin tone, appearance, fine lines, and wrinkles. The benefits of these products depend on your skin type and the ingredients it contains.  

Here, some names of the common ingredients that may develop your skin appearance. 

  • Retinoids: These elements are used for vitamin A compounds, for example, retinol and retinoic acid. These ingredients help to repair sun damaged skin and reduce fine lines and wrinkles from your skin.  
  • Vitamin C (ascorbic acid): It is a powerful antioxidant, which protects the skin from free radicals. We know that unstable oxygen molecule that breaks down skin cells and causes wrinkles. Vitamin C can improve those unstable oxygen molecules. Vitamin C also may help protect skin from sun damage and reduce fine lines and wrinkles. But remember one thing, anti-aging cream that contains vitamin C must be stored in a way that protects them from air and sunlight.
  • Hydroxy acids: Alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) carry glycolic, citric, and lactic acid. Usually, they help to remove dead skin cells. Applying an AHA product regularly prepares your skin to absorb other products better and stimulates the growth of smooth and soft, evenly pigmented new skin.
  • AHAs: AHAs, beta hydroxy acids, and a newer form called polyhydroxy acids have also been shown to reduce fine lines and wrinkles.
  • Coenzyme Q10: This element may help reduce fine wrinkles around the eyes and save the skin from sun damage.
  • Peptides: These molecules happen naturally in living organisms. Specific peptides can stimulate collagen production and have been shown to improve skin conditions and wrinkling.
  • Tea extracts: Green, black, and oolong tea carries compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Various anti-aging creams use green tea extracts. 
  • Grape seed extract: Because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, grape seed extract may boost collagen production.
  • Niacinamide: It is a powerful antioxidant. Niacinamide is related to vitamin B-3. It can prevent water loss from the skin and may develop skin flexibility.

Even though aging is unavoidable, we can keep it under control and look young for longer these days because of popular anti-aging creams or cosmeceuticals available in the market. But a question may arise in our mind, are these anti-aging products safe to use? The answer is yes, and no. If you don’t have any allergies to a certain ingredient of the cream you are applying, limited usage of anti-aging creams won’t harm you. But, excessive usage can cause quite some nuisance. The side-effects are: 

Increase the Risks of Cancer

The maximum commercial anti-aging creams are contains with certain chemical compounds named MEA (monoethanolamine), DEA (diethanolamine), TEA (triethanolamine), hydantoin Diazolidinyl, imidazolidinyl urea, and so on. Generally, these chemicals are used to balance the pH level of the product. But, these components also have strong carcinogenic properties. If you use these for a long time, you may increase your risk of developing liver and kidney cancer.

Affect Nervous System

Most of the anti-aging creams contain Propylene glycol, and it is also known to have enough harmful effects on our body. The organic compound can directly affect our nervous system, which is horribly bad for the health of our internal system. It can hamper most of our vital internal organs’ everyday activities and ultimately lead to liver damage or kidney failure.

Result Into Skin Rashes

Like many other skincare products, anti-aging creams also carry parabens. These are particular substances used to put off the growth of microorganisms in beauty or skincare products, thereby growing their shelf life to a great extent. However, many studies have shown that parabens’ long-term usage makes our skin sensitive to them and causes severe rashes and skin diseases.

Cause Harm in Pregnancy

Parabens in anti-aging creams are not only responsible for skin rashes, but they can also cause extreme harm to pregnant women. These extensively used preservatives can take a toll on our endocrine system’s functions and get in the way of the hormonal balance of our body. It also may be connected to unproductiveness, tardy development of fetuses, and even breast cancer.

Lead to Ugly Breakouts

There are various anti-aging creams, which contain substantial amounts of mineral oils. They are supposed to improve our skin and protect it in many ways. But it is also a fact that mineral oils disrupt our endocrine system’s normal functioning and disturb the hormonal balance in our bodies. Because of this, you may get skin diseases like acne, pimple, etc.

Cause Allergic Reactions

Some anti-aging creams contain certain chemical compounds that are extremely harsh for our skin. It is valid for products that have a strong fragrance and heavy texture. If used for a prolonged time, these creams can give you various allergic reactions, such as spots, redness, large red patches, blisters, irritation, itchiness, severe burning sensation, etc. These allergic reactions can become unbearable over time and damage your skin. 

Apart from these, there are many other slight to significant side effects of anti-aging creams that can be experienced upon prolonged use. So, you should follow a healthy skincare routine regularly and stick to natural or organic anti-aging creams to avoid undesirable situations.

The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.