Growth Factors and Retinol: Benefits and Side Effects Compared

Growth Factors And Retinol: Which One Works Better For Skin Rejuvenation?

Vitamin A derivative, Retinol, has been one of the most popular anti-aging ingredients over the past few decades.

“Ask any dermatologist about the most successful anti-aging ingredients used in beauty products, and they’ll tell you about the squad of sunscreen, retinol, peptides, and antioxidants.”

However, recently one more active anti-aging ingredient has entered the group of skin guardians, i.e., growth factors.

Moreover, growth factors are abundantly found in your body.

These proteins communicate the relevant growth, healing, and survival-related messages between the skin cells.

Keeping this in mind, many skincare products have recently started adding growth factors to their product.

But are growth factors safe in skin care?

While retinol is still the favorite of most skincare enthusiasts, you have growth factors too!

Read further to know all about retinol and growth factors in skincare.

Growth Factors And Retinol: Two Of The Best Active AntiAging Ingredients

To start with, let’s know what growth factors in skincare are.

What Are Growth Factors In Skincare?

To understand in a layman’s language, growth factors are the natural protein produced by the skin cells to keep the skin healthy and young.

To be more precise, they are responsible for repairing the damaged skin and maintaining the firmness. Plus, they provide elasticity to the skin as well.

Moreover, many confuse growth factors with growth hormones.

However, they are NOT the same at all!

Adding to this, the production of skin growth factors is comparatively more in youthful skin than the aging one.

To clarify, the secretion of growth factors declines with increasing age.

Therefore, many consider the assistance of topical growth factors for skin rejuvenation.

Moving further, let’s have a brief comparison between the old, trusted servant and the newbie, i.e., Retinol and Growth factors.

Retinol VS Growth Factors: Which One Is Safer And Why?

Where retinol is the old and most trusted way to reduce the signs of aging, an inclination towards the growth factor products has been recently seen.

The reason behind it is, while retinol has numerous benefits like collagen production, reducing fine lines, and fewer skin breakouts, it has several side effects as well.

Retinol has some negative effects like flaky skin, skin redness, skin burning sensation, irritation, and photosensitivity.

Moreover, using retinol is not recommended for pregnant women and nursing ladies.

Adding to this, retinol may damage the skin barrier which is responsible for protecting the skin from external aggressors like pollutants.

Thus, making the skin more susceptible to irritation and inflammation.

Now, talking about growth factors, the major reason why these are nowadays used in the place of retinol is because they are sensitive-skin friendly.

“Growth factors are pro-healing proteins that are comparatively safer for continued use; they do not damage the skin barrier and is suitable for every skin type.”

These growth factors are now found in high concentrations in skincare products to fight the aging of the skin.

But where do these growth factors come from in the skincare products and are they safe?

Let’s find out!

Growth Factors In Skincare Products: Where Do They Come From & Are They Safe?

Multiple sources of growth factors are created in the past few decades by advanced biotechnology.

Some of them are:

#1. Cell Grown Growth Factors As growth factors are found in the skin cells, they are possibly derived from the laboratory-grown different human cells.

For instance, skin cells, bone marrow, and stem cells.

#2. Platelet Rich Plasma [PRP] If you are a fan of Kardashians, you must have heard of “Vampire facial”.

This trendy facial uses the growth factors extracted from your own blood to treat acne and provide a smooth texture to your skin.

#3. Non-Human Sources There are non-human sources of growth factors as well.

For instance, snails and some specific plants.

By now, I believe you must have understood why are growth factors important in skincare.

Moving on, are growth factors safe in skincare products and can growth factors in skincare cause cancer have been the most asked questions related to growth factors.

Coming straight to the point, while most of the growth factorrelated searches are related to wound healing, a detailed study regarding its long-term use is lacking.

Two of the major concerns regarding the use of skin care products containing growth factors are: #1. Long–term and regular use of growth factors. #2. Over-proliferation of skin cells due to regular use might cause cancer, though it is purely theoretical.

However, don’t forget growth factors are new in the skincare product range and not backed by many credible pieces of research.

While both retinol and growth factors have their own pros and cons, it now depends on you to choose what suits you the best.

Before You Go! Both Growth Factors and Retinol work well to remove the signs of aging.

While retinol is the old and trusted one, growth factor serums are the new hit that is compatible with every type of skin.

While you have the option to choose any one of them, you can use both of them together too to get more benefits.

Retinoid used in combination with growth factors leads to its better effects in the skin layers.

Whether you chose one or go for both of them, it’s all up to you to decide.

So, get ready to reduce the signs of aging and enjoy a more youthful skin with growth factors and retinol!!

However, remember to keep it light and also pay attention to your diet and exercise routine for both mind and body youthfulness.