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“A radiant complexion begins at the Pond’s Institute…” If you’re old enough to remember those commercials—featuring gracious glass doors opening onto a clinical setting where friendly people in white lab coats helped models wash their faces—then you’re probably at a point in life when you’ve toyed with the idea of buying medical-grade skin care.
Even if the term “medical grade” isn’t on your radar, you’ve likely gotten the gist that some skin care just feels more… science-y. It might include words such as “medical” or “clinical” in the brand name or come in minimalist packaging that looks as if it was plucked from the shelves of a laboratory, not unlike that OG beauty lab, the Pond’s Institute. But what you might not know—and what this story is about—is exactly what is inside these little bottles with three-figure price tags.
Allure editors have found that friends and family members (especially those over 40) are asking us more frequently if medical-grade skin care is always the way to go. And it’s not an easy question to answer. But we can assure them that, yes, some skin care is backed by more science than others. Every Allure editor has a bottle of SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic at home, for instance. And if you’ve tried Obagi Medical Hydrate Luxe Moisturizer, you know there’s something special about it. Plus, Allure has staked its reputation on separating the brilliance from the BS in the beauty world, and that includes parsing through (with the help of independent experts) thousands of studies—we’re talking stacks upon stacks of data on things like wrinkle depth. So we do know that certain products have receipts.
What we don’t know is what, exactly, “medical-grade” skin care means. Is it all created equally by scientists carefully calibrating ratios of polymers to peptides until bioengineered skin cells age in reverse in petri dishes? Or is this just clever marketing at play?
We set out to get answers for you (and for our next dinner party). And with those answers in hand, we put together a shopping list for anyone looking for a science-backed skin-care upgrade.
What is medical-grade skin care?
That depends on who you ask. Yep. The beauty category that’s supposed to be most rooted in science is a bit nebulous. The irony is not lost on us.
Ask the FDA and representatives might say, "It beats us what medical grade is." (Okay, it would probably be more official-sounding than that, but you get the idea.) Despite how clinical the term sounds, “medical grade”—like “clean” or “green”—is not regulated, which means there’s no concrete, by-the-book definition for it. And even if there was, there would be no one to make sure brands abide by it. Anyone can call anything medical grade.
From a regulatory perspective, there are only three big ingredient categories in skin care: over-the-counter drugs; over-the-counter pharmaceuticals; and cosmetics.
Over-the-counter drugs are exactly what they sound like: ingredients regulated as drugs by the FDA, such as sunscreen and benzoyl peroxide. A good way to tell if an ingredient is a drug is to check the label; if you see the term “active ingredients” followed by a percentage, that means it’s considered an over-the-counter drug, explains cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowski.
Over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, which are also regulated by the FDA, are ingredients that can earn something called a USP monograph for meeting purity and potency criteria (USP stands for United States Pharmacopeia). Niacinamide, salicylic acid, allantoin, and retinol are all ingredients that can qualify for a USP seal.
Everything else is a cosmetic ingredient, and these are the ones listed on most of your beauty products. There are safety measures in place to protect against the use of harmful mercury or lead in products, for example, but brands don’t have to prove the efficacy of cosmetic ingredients or submit drug requests with clinical studies to the FDA or any other regulatory body.
You will notice medical grade is not one of the three categories of ingredients. So, if you want to be efficient about it, the short answer is that there’s no such thing as a medical-grade OTC product or ingredient.
Ask a cosmetic chemist and you will get the longer, more nuanced, probably most accurate answer: Some medical-grade products contain over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, a.k.a. ingredients with USP monographs. To find out if a brand’s ingredients have a USP monograph, you need a pricey subscription to the USP-NF database. Or you need to have an “in” with that brand (hi!). In the shopping list below, we include some of our favorite products that use USP ingredients.
The USP ingredients you can find in OTC skin-care products are also pure enough to be used in actual medications, explains cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos. The fact that the glycerin, dimethicone, or glycolic acid in your cream could also go in a drug tells you that “it must be manufactured under good manufacturing practices and be of high quality,” she explains.
Brands might also use the term “medical grade” because their product contains high levels of a certain cosmetic ingredient, like an acid or a retinol. But a high percentage isn’t always a good thing. Retinol, for example, should come with guidance from a trusted professional because it can irritate skin. And just last year, the FDA issued a warning against certain chemical peels sold online, citing acids in “varying concentrations that are too high to be used safely at home without supervision by a dermatologist or other licensed and trained practitioner.” Using these products, the FDA stated, could lead to “serious injury from chemical burns.” The FDA has also said that 10% glycolic acid is safe for over-the-counter products, but anything more concentrated should be administered by a professional (although, in the US, it can be legally sold to anyone).
Ask a dermatologist and she might tell you, “In its true, genuine, unadulterated form”—meaning, in an ideal world—“medical-grade skin care has been subjected to a lot more rigorous scientific research, so the claims have more validity and backing to them.” At least that’s what Mona Gohara, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Hamden, Connecticut, tells us. And she should know: Dr. Gohara is one of the experts who has pored over pages of clinical studies on skin care for Allure. One standout brand for her is Alastin, which does so much testing on its products that it has more than 60 peer-reviewed studies published in medical journals.
As a dermatologist Dr. Gohara will also tell you that seeing the words “dermatologist approved” on a product “doesn’t mean much”—it can just mean that one or two dermatologists tried a product and said they liked it. It’s not the same as clinical testing on whether a product really smooths wrinkles.
Additionally confusing, the term “prescription strength” doesn’t tell you much either; it’s also more of a marketing term. But, explains Dr. Gohara, there are some medical-grade products with appropriately high levels of ingredients, like 2% salicylic acid for treating acne or 10 to 20% vitamin C for evening out skin tone. “Start with lower concentrations, and consult dermatologists if unsure about tolerability,” she advises. “Some brands also provide guidance on appropriate usage levels for different skin types.”
So what does all this mean for your skin?
If you’re dealing with skin concerns like acne, melasma, or wrinkles, a skin-care brand billing itself as medical grade might—we repeat, might—have formulas that will give you better or faster results. A product that has USP ingredients or in-depth clinical studies behind it might be a surer bet than a lot of other skin care out there. But it’s on the consumer to get from might be to will be. (That’s where we can help—we’ve put together a list of vetted medical-grade products below.)
Dobos encourages consumers to look for brands that share “quantitative data from instrumental measurements,” like a potential change in wrinkle depth. “Are there any clinical studies that the manufacturer is providing that look beyond the claims that are just ‘visible difference’?” Dobos asks. “They're always like, ‘98% of consumers saw improvement in just one use.’ Any moisturizer makes your skin look better after one use. Don't expect quick results—look for the duration of time.”
Certain medical-grade skin-care brands do prove their products live up to their claims. For example, they might subject their products to single-case (a study of just one person or group over time) or double-blind (where neither study participants nor the researchers know which product or treatment the participants are getting) studies under the guidance of a dermatologist or plastic surgeon. Says Dr. Gohara, “They may be biopsying the skin to look at how much collagen is there or they may be looking at stains in the skin and taking histological data to prove that the effect that you want, which is more collagen, more hyaluronic acid, decreased sun damage, is actually happening.”
This data is not always readily available, but some brands do publish it in peer-reviewed journals or on their websites. “Medical-grade skin-care brands often highlight independent research or dermatologist-led trials, so checking company websites, medical literature, or even reaching out to the brand for study details, can be helpful,” Dr. Gohara notes.
Who is medical-grade skin care best for?
Dr. Gohara typically recommends medical-grade skin-care products for patients dealing with acne, fine lines, and rosacea, but she doesn’t consider it the be-all and end-all of the skin-care world. “Do I think there's a place for medical-grade skin care? Absolutely. I think it's more efficacious, more cosmetically elegant, and I think there's more science behind it,” she explains, citing vitamin C as a great ingredient for medical-grade skin care, given its finicky nature and instability. “But it’s also more expensive, and for us to live in the real world, that can’t be the only platform.”
She continues, “As a dermatologist I can't be totally myopic, thinking that everybody can afford a $150 bottle of serum…. We have to find alternatives that may not be ‘medical grade,’ but are still scientifically sound—and I do that all the time.” For this purpose, she says, her go-to brands are usually the “fancy French drugstore alternatives” La Roche-Posay, Vichy, and Avène.
At the end of the day, Dr. Gohara says, she’s a “huge proponent” of a “diligent and good skin-care routine” as the true foundation for better skin, regardless of price point or formulation. “Here's the thing with skin care,” she explains. “Your return on investment is hard to see. I think skin care holds a major place, because it's like the anchor to skin health. The sunscreen, the antioxidant, the retinoid—it's like flossing and brushing your teeth.”
In Dobos’s opinion, the best way to get the “high level of efficacy” you want from a product is to ditch Instagram-ad impulse purchases and go back to basics: product recommendations from a trusted source, like a dermatologist, chemist, or Allure. Better yet, get the best advice from all three in one place:
Shopping List
Our top picks for cleansing, moisturizing, and treating complexions with medical-grade skin care:
IS Clinical Cleansing Complex and Active Serum. Do you really need a medical-grade face wash—something you rinse off seconds after applying? Probably not, but if you’re in the market for a luxe cleanser, wow, this one is good. “The gel formula is unique in that it's both clarifying and intensely hydrating, which is hard to find,” said Allure contributor Kaleigh Fasanella in her review of it. “Much to my surprise, I noticed a significant improvement in my skin immediately after cleansing with it—my complexion looked visibly brighter, smoother, and less irritated. I'd never had a face wash that made such a difference in my skin before.”
The IS Clinical Cleansing Complex contains two ingredients with USP seals—hydrating glycerin and antioxidant tocopheral acetate—along with pore-cleansing willow bark extract. In fact, IS Clinical uses a handful of ingredients with USP seals throughout its line, including brightening niacinamide (find it in the brand’s Poly-Vitamin Serum) and exfoliating salicylic acid (in its Tri-Active Exfoliating Masque) and lactic acid. IS Clinical’s best-selling Active Serum, with USP glycerin, comes with the kind of before-and-after photos—showing improvement in acne at four weeks, pigmentation at six weeks, and wrinkles at 12 weeks—that Dobos recommends looking for.
SkinMedica TNS Advanced+ Serum. If you are looking for a data-backed skin-care ingredient, you won’t find much better than SkinMedica’s TNS. It stands for “tissue nutrient solution” and it’s a blend of growth factors that revolutionized the skin-care business when it launched 25 years ago. (SkinMedica is now owned by Allergan, the pharmaceutical company behind Botox.) "Numerous clinical studies have since backed TNS growth factors," Mina Amin, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Los Angeles previously told Allure.
"It's one of the most clinically supported growth-factor serums on the market, offering firmer-looking skin in as little as two weeks," agreed Blair Murphy-Rose, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City and Newport Beach, California. All that science comes with a silky feel that’s made this smoothing and firming serum a consistent favorite among Allure editors and dermatologists, who tend to recommend it for mature skin.
“SkinMedica’s TNS Advanced+ Serum is probably the single-best growth-factor product in the US market, and it’s the one that started it all,” Saami Khalifian, MD, a double board-certified dermatologist in California, has told Allure. “It combines growth factors—proteins that stimulate cellular repair and regeneration, boosting collagen and elastin production to improve skin firmness and texture—with other advanced ingredients to target fine lines and wrinkles.”
And at skinmedica.com, you’ll find before-and-after photos that show improvements in wrinkles on patients in their 60s after two and 24 weeks of use. “It is one of the very few serums I’ve ever tried that actually has a noticeable difference on my skin,” says Allure’s content director Kara McGrath, who uses it regularly. “It’s made my fine lines less visible, reduced redness, and improved the overall texture of my skin—I look so glowy when I’m using it.” Our 48-year-old executive beauty director Jenny Bailly is also a fan: “My skin looked noticeably duller when I recently ran out of this serum after several years of regular use.”
Obagi Medical Moisture Restore Hydration Replenishing Cream and Clenziderm M.D. Pore Therapy. If you’re in the mood to play scientist, head on over to Obagi Medical’s site—their newest moisturizer is hyped by some very cool, interactive before-and-after photos to explore, and you can get real nerdy watching blotchiness vanish (it’s oddly satisfying). Moisture Restore’s photos demonstrate improvement in redness and skin tone after eight hours, and clinical data shows improvement in skin texture after one month of daily use.
“There’s nothing wrong with my skin, it’s just starting to look drab with fine lines now that I’m 42, and I’m always trying new moisturizers to try to make my skin pass for glowy again,” says Allure’s deputy beauty director Elizabeth Siegel. “This Obagi moisturizer is the rare formula that makes a real difference in my skin’s radiance—I could maybe pass for 30s, at least on Zoom….”
And Obagi is another brand that uses some ingredients with USP seals, like 20% glycerin in its Clenziderm M.D. Therapeutic Moisturizer, to make skin softer and more hydrated, and the salicylic acid in its acne treatments, Clenziderm M.D. Daily Care Foaming Cleanser and Clenziderm M.D. Pore Therapy.
SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic. If you’re after a more even complexion with less hyperpigmentation and more radiance, vitamin C is an excellent choice—and it’s an ingredient that makes a lot of sense in medical-grade skin care, says Dr. Gohara. That’s because it’s so finicky: It can break down easily when exposed to other ingredients in a formula or even to sunlight, but medical-grade brands might do more testing to show their vitamin C is stable and effective, she says.
SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic is generally considered the gold standard for vitamin C serums, with 15% vitamin C that’s kept stable by vitamin E and ferulic. It was formulated by the late Sheldon Pinnell, MD, a dermatology professor at Duke University who pioneered the use of topical vitamin C in the 1980s.
If you “go lower than 10%, you risk choosing a product that isn't as effective as it could be," Michelle Henry, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City has previously told Allure. And SkinCeuticals has had a "patent for stabilized ascorbic acid," she added, with a formula that has been backed by impressive clinical data since it launched in 2005. Though the patent just expired—most do after about 20 years—it remains to be seen if other brands will be able to re-create the brightening, smoothing magic. “I think we're going to get a lot of competitors jumping in and trying to create a dupe product for lower cost,” Dobos has speculated to Allure, but will they be “as high-quality and safe as something from SkinCeuticals?” As Romanowski told Allure, “Somebody can put in vitamin C, not stabilize it, put in the vitamin E and ferulic acid, then say it's the same as SkinCeuticals” even though it’s not.
PCA Skin Acne Gel and Blemish Control Bar. The 2% salicylic acid in PCA Skin’s acne treatment and cleanser is a double whammy: It’s got a USP seal and the only concentration of the ingredient that can be found in prescription and over-the-counter formulas, explains Dr. Gohara. (Prescription formulas can have higher concentrations too.) “Salicylic acid is oil-soluble, which means it penetrates into pores—ideal for treating blackheads, whiteheads, and inflammatory acne,” explains Dr. Gohara. And at the prescription-strength level, it has some extra benefits: “At 2%, salicylic acid exfoliates inside the follicle, helping prevent clogged pores; it has anti-inflammatory properties, which can calm redness and irritation; and it has some keratolytic effects, meaning it helps shed the top layer of skin to promote turnover.”
Dr. Gohara says PCA Skin Blemish Bar is “a nice multi-use option for oily-skin types and body acne,” while the Acne Gel is “great for spot treating with an azelaic acid derivative and salicylic acid, which is a power duo for targeting both acne and post-acne marks.” On PCA Skin’s site, you can check out before-and-after photos for the Acne Gel after three days and two weeks of use. Dr. Gohara also loves PCA Skin Pigment Gel HQ Free, because it “is excellent for post-acne hyperpigmentation,” she says. “It has kojic acid, lactic acid, and azelaic acid—a triple threat for dark spots.”
Teoxane RHA Serum. This Swiss company knows hyaluronic acid: Inside its lab in Geneva, scientists work on fine-tuning the ingredient for injectable fillers and, now, for making skin care too. Teoxane has run its serum through clinical testing, showing it can make recently filled skin look more plump, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology.
And it’s a pleasure to use. “A lot of hyaluronic acid serums are just too sticky for me. This one feels like silk and keeps my skin feeling hydrated all day, even in a New York City winter,” says Bailly. “A nice bonus of its quenching powers: I notice an immediate—but, yes, temporary—softening of the crepey little lines around my mouth and eyes after I use it."
Alastin Skin Care C-Radical Defense Antioxidant. Getting your skin to create more collagen and elastin—so it's firmer, with fewer wrinkles—is the holy grail of skin care, and it's really hard to do. (If it wasn't, we'd all look like we were 24 again.) But this antioxidant serum's firming claims are supported by four different studies published in peer-reviewed journals. One of those studies, published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, showed increased levels of collagen and elastic fibers in skin biopsies collected from 36 participants after three months. Another study, published in the Journal of Dermatologic Science, found the serum could influence the production of collagen and elastic fibers in cultures of different types of skin, suggesting it might even play a role in treating notoriously hard-to-fade stretch marks.
If you're game to peruse medical literature, Alastin links to a whole bunch of peer-reviewed studies under the Scientific Publications tab at the end of this page on its website. Two studies published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, for example, found that Alastin Skincare A-luminate Brightening Serum could improve hyperpigmentation related to different causes (sun damage, melasma, inflammation like acne, and a medical condition called dyschromia). Another study published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal found Alastin Skincare Regenerating Skin Nectar was associated with increased collagen and elastin production and thicker skin on the body after three months.
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