Do anti-aging skin care products really work?

The answer is yes, but its effect has very clear boundaries. It is neither an IQ tax, nor can it "erase all wrinkles and reverse age ten years" as advertised.

I have been doing skin care with ingredients for almost 5 years. I have encountered many pitfalls in the past two years. I first followed the trend and bought high-concentration retinol essence, but I did not establish tolerance for the rotten face for half a month. Later, I honestly started using it with a low concentration of 0.1%, combined with ceramide cream repair, and persisted for more than two years.

However, I have also met many people who think that anti-aging products are purely IQ taxes. I have a best friend who is 3 years older than me. She spends tens of thousands on anti-aging products every year, and she still gets wrinkles. When I asked her, I found out that she stays up late every day to catch up on plans. She relies on mask paste for sun protection when running business in the field, and is too lazy to apply sunscreen. The aging damage of ultraviolet rays to the skin is cumulative. No matter how expensive anti-aging ingredients are, they cannot withstand this situation.

When I went to a tertiary dermatology department for a follow-up visit, I specifically asked the doctor about the source of this controversy. The doctor said that it was essentially a mismatch of expectations. The penetration depth of anti-aging skin care products reaches the superficial layer of the dermis at most, and its function is nothing more than to help you remove excess free radicals and stimulate the regeneration of a small amount of collagen. It is equivalent to "daily maintenance" for the skin. Just like wiping dust and oil on your bicycle every day can make the car last three to five years with less breakdown. But if you expect that just wiping oil can put back the deformed wheels, you must find a car repair shop. If static lines and saggy skin have already formed, you will have to rely on medical aesthetic methods such as Thermage and fillers. Skin care products cannot achieve that depth of effect at all.

Nowadays, many brands make false claims in order to sell products, such as "smear-on Thermage" and "3-day lightening of nasolabial folds", which are so impressive that many people buy them with such unrealistic expectations. After half a month, they find that they have no effect. Naturally, they feel that all anti-aging products are scams. There are also people who want to see results after just two days of use. Anti-aging is a matter of months or even years. It takes three days to fish and two days to dry out the net, but no product is used.

Seriously, if you have a limited budget, instead of buying a bunch of over-the-top anti-aging products, it is better to weld sunscreen on your face first, and then choose an anti-aging ingredient that is legal and has a concentration suitable for you (such as low-concentration retinol, peptides, and Bose). If you insist on using it, it will be better than anything else. Anti-aging is a long-term thing, so there is no rush.