Vitamin C is best known as a powerhouse antioxidant for brightening the complexion. But, as we continue to learn more and more about our skin and how our favorite products can help keep us looking and feeling our best, new indications for even the most tried-and-true skin-care ingredients come out of the woodwork, totally revolutionizing the beauty world as we know it. Most recently, researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology, in collaboration with Hokuriku University and ROHTO Pharmaceutical, have made the industry-shaking discovery that vitamin C can do more than just enhance radiance.
How Vitamin C Works at the Genetic Level
While we often think of skin-care ingredients as working primarily on the surface, the researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute have made the incredible discovery that vitamin C’s work in the skin goes much deeper. “Vitamin C seems to influence the structure and function of epidermis, especially by controlling the growth of epidermal cells,” explains lead researcher Dr. Akihito Ishigami. “In this study, we investigated whether it promotes cell proliferation and differentiation via epigenetic changes.”
To test vitamin C’s true capabilities within the skin, the Tokyo researchers used laboratory human skin epidermal equivalent models and applied vitamin C at both 1.0 and 0.1 mm concentrations—dosages similar to that of those typically transported through the bloodstream. Upon testing, the researchers found that the skin treated with vitamin C had a thicker epidermal cell layer with no compromise to the outer layer of dead skin cells after seven days. After 14 days, even more thickness was found in the inner layer of the epidermis, while the outer layer was thinner, suggesting that vitamin C promotes both the formation and division of keratinocytes, revealing that the ingredient helps with skin cell growth by reactivating genes associated with cell proliferation, thus enhancing skin health, thickness and, most importantly, youthfulness.
