Skincare
Longevity skincare routines built on what the trials support: retinoids, sunscreen and little else.
Topic overview →Best longevity skincare routine to slow visible aging.
Only two skincare interventions have randomised human trials showing they slow visible ageing: daily broad-spectrum sunscreen, which reduced measured skin ageing over four years in a randomised trial, and topical retinoids (tretinoin by prescription, retinol or retinaldehyde over the counter), which have decades of controlled trials on wrinkles and photodamage. A second tier — vitamin C, niacinamide, alpha-hydroxy acids and the copper peptide GHK-Cu — has smaller trials with modest, real effects. Collagen drinks, most 'anti-ageing' peptides, stem-cell and growth-factor creams rest on thin or manufacturer-funded evidence. The routine that follows from this is three products, not twelve.
PharmD-reviewed · Updated
Best acne treatment, ranked by evidence.
Two over-the-counter ingredients have decades of randomised trial evidence for acne: benzoyl peroxide, which kills the bacteria implicated in acne and does not cause resistance the way antibiotics do, and adapalene, an OTC retinoid that normalises the shedding of skin cells that clogs pores. Salicylic acid and azelaic acid have smaller but real trial evidence as a second tier — salicylic acid for blackheads and mild acne, azelaic acid for inflammatory acne and the dark marks it leaves behind. Hydrocolloid patches have modest mechanical evidence: they do not treat the underlying acne, but they protect an active spot from picking and absorb fluid from popped ones. The routine that follows from this is two active ingredients, not a ten-step shelf.
PharmD-reviewed · Updated
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