Enter, the cosmeceutical!
You may have heard the term ‘cosmeceutical’ , which refers to a product that gives both cosmetic and pharmaceutical benefits. This includes medical-grade ingredients that have been proven to provide results for certain skin problems. These products can’t be picked up over-the-counter, they can only be obtained from a trained professional, ideally in a clinic setting.
Cosmeceutical or medical-grade products can usually penetrate deeper into the skin and contain high strength key active ingredients. In fact, you may even experience a skin reaction initially when you start using them, but this will be expected and will have been explained by the prescriber. However, this is nothing to worry about and is simply the active ingredients getting to work.
What’s wrong with over-the counter skincare?
High street or over-the-counter products can be purchased by anyone and from anywhere. Therefore, they are limited to the ingredients they can have, and generally only contain less effective active ingredients, if any. If you read the list of ingredients on one of these products, you will find that water is usually the first one, meaning it’s the main ingredient. They are also likely to contain more bulking agents, which are non-nutritive additives used to increase the bulk (volume or weight) of a product.
