
Both Henry and Gohara recommend SkinMedica’s iconic TNS serum to their patients, and Gohara says that you can usually see results in two weeks, with improvement continuing through 24 weeks, which tracks with my own experience.
Sente face serum skin#
… Those are all the things that give our skin its strength and its elasticity and will give our skin its lift,” she says. “You want stimulation of collagen, you want to stimulate elastin. Michelle Henry, a board-certified dermatologist based in NYC, told me that growth factors work well with most skin types but are especially beneficial for a woman of my age (40). But after a couple of weeks, I noticed that the rough texture on my skin (from the breakouts) disappeared and the scars began to lighten. I decided to start using the serum twice a day without thinking about it too much.

As fate would have it, I was scheduled for my first facial in over a year: the DiamondGlow facial, which used SkinMedica products, including the brand’s famed TNS Advanced+ Serum ($236). I went too hard! I immediately stopped using the products and stuck to a sensitive wash and light moisturizer for a week to let my skin calm down. Even if I wasn’t using them together, it was too much for my skin to handle. That’s when I realized it was probably my cocktail of vitamin C and glycolic serums giving me all this trouble.

Then, when those began to heal, the others would return. When the pimples on one end of my jawline started to disappear, a cluster of new zits would pop up on the other side. Huge.Īt first, I thought the breakouts on my chin were a result of maskne or a hormonal breakout. In the words of Julia Roberts i n Pretty Woman : Big mistake. I figured that as long as I didn’t use them at the same time, I would probably be all right. In an attempt to treat the pigmentation I had that was left over from acne scarring, I began to use glycolic acid nightly, in addition to the vitamin C I was already using every few days.

I had used a couple of them in the past but didn’t make an effort to use them regularly until I had a recent mishap involving acids. Growth factors were not exactly new to me. Luckily, there are some great topical growth factor products that are meant to address all of that and more.

“They are responsible for supporting the repair of damaged skin, making components that provide firmness and elasticity to the skin while helping to maintain skin’s protective functions.” As we get older, we begin to produce fewer growth factors, resulting in a massive reduction of collagen and elastin, which then leads to fine lines and wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, sagging (basically, all of those age-related concerns that some of us try to avoid). “Growth factors are naturally occurring, potent proteins that fight against aging and maintain epidermal health,” explains Mona Gohara, a board-certified dermatologist based in Connecticut. Scientists Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen first discovered growth factors way back in the 1950s, which subsequently earned them a Nobel Prize in 1986. Water (Aqua), Butylene Glycol, Dipropylene Glycol, Cyclopentasiloxane, PEG-12 Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Dimethiconol, Dimethicone, Laureth-23, Laureth-4, Glycerin, Heparan Sulfate, Pentylene Glycol, Retinyl Safflowerate, Retinol, Lysophosphatidic Acid, Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3, Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17, Ethyl Safflowerate, Ethyl Flaxseedate, Dipalmitoyl Hydroxyproline, Allantoin, Panthenol, Hyaluronic Acid, Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Alanine, Arginine HCl, Asparagine, Aspartic Acid, Cystine, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Histidine HCl, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine HCl, Acetyl Methionine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Tyrosine, Valine, Calcium Pantothenate, Folic Acid, Inositol, Niacinamide, Pyridoxal HCl, Riboflavin, Thiamine HCl, Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Phosphate, Beta-Carotene, Polysorbate 80, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide, Fragrance, Tromethamine.While epidermal growth factors, aka EGF, may not have the buzzy recognition that other skincare ingredients like retinol does, they have been studied extensively, especially in regard to their potential reparative and wound healing benefits.
