Medical Skin Care vs. Drugstore Skincare

A lot of people seem to think that all ingredients are created equal when it comes to skincare. Spoiler alert: they’re not! I’m here to educate you because although a bottle might say it’s vitamin C doesn’t mean it’s actually vitamin C serum. You have to remember, your skin is your largest organ, so we need to be using quality products on it! We’re going to talk about 6 different things to take into consideration when deciding between medical skincare and your drugstore skincare; quality, testing, formulation, ingredients, delivery and cost.

QUALITY
Purity, size of molecules and obviously quality of the products are super important when it comes to overall product quality. Medical skincare has standards where it must have up to 99% purity, unlike other brands or lines. Non-medical skincare loads their products with fillers to save money on overall production of the products and these fillers do really do anything to give you results. Another factor that goes into quality is the size of the batch. Drugstore products are made in large batches in order to distribute and sell. Medical skincare isn’t made in as large of batches which ensures a better product with more quality control.

TESTING
Medical lines have strict stands they must meet whereas drugstore products do not. Remember, they don’t need to reach that 99% purity for their products or go through clinical studies like medical skincare does. I’m not sure about you, but I am not about to use a moisturizer that hasn’t been tested or had studies done on it, a little scary if you ask me! Which leads me to my next point, a product can certainly say “dermatologist tested” but most of these drugstore companies don’t invest the time or education into the product and formulation. Just because a product is tested by a dermatologist does not mean that the focus is on skin health and formulation in the lab. A dermatologist is able to diagnose a client and prescribe a treatment plan, you can’t expect them to know everything when it comes to the ingredients in your skincare and how it was formulated. Formulation is paramount! This is another reason why you only see medical skin care lines sold at doctors offices or with estheticians who work with a doctor to carry it.

FORMULATION
This is the next biggest point. Let’s start with drugstore products and MLMs. Most of these companies don’t invest the time or education into the product’s formulation. Medical skin care invests the money into the ingredients that work well together and will work on your skin well. This means they’re investing in stronger ingredients, which naturally makes it a bit more expensive.

INGREDIENTS
There’s ingredients and then there are active ingredients. Buying a retinol or vitamin C from the drugstore could only have .5% of that active ingredient. By comparison, medical skin care will be 1% or more! So your drugstore and MLM products will give you slower (if any) results. 

DELIVERY SYSTEMS
Medical skin care is formulated to penetrate into the dermis, the deepest layer of your skin and where products are best absorbed. Your dermis is where collagen is, and where change can happen in your skin. Other skin care is too thick and not formulated to penetrate the skin so it just sits on the surface, your epidermis. Very little change (if any at all) can be seen or done on this layer. Invest in that medical skin care for your largest organ babes!

COST
Drugstore and MLM products invest their money in the marketing and ads you see on TV, social media, influencers, etc. Sure, it looks good, and people promote it, but does it really work? Is the formula tailored to you and your skin? Does it have enough of the active ingredients to even be working at all? These are all questions to be thinking about when you’re purchasing your skincare. If you’re looking for medical skin care, a medical spa is where you’ll find it. It’s rare that you’ll find them advertised the way drugstore or MLM products are. That’s because they put their money into the ingredients and formulation.

See your trusted esthetician and find out what works best for you!