Skin Antioxidants and Chirality
Chirally Correct Skin Care
In the world of beauty products, there are many hot phrases and odd terms used to educate, entice and even confuse the customer. You may have heard about important delivery systems, must-have ingredients and, of course, antioxidants; but, have you ever heard about chirality and its importance in skin care?
The word chiral (sounds like “spiral”) is derived from the Greek word for hand and is a mathematical approach to the concept of handedness. The term chiral is used to describe something that is non-superposable on its mirror image, which means that the object or objects can never be identical to their mirror image. Sound confusing? You’re not the only one who thinks so. An easier way to understand chirality is to take a look at your hands, which are possibly the best accessible example of chirality. No matter how you position or orient your hands, the major features of the hands will never coincide.
Chirality in chemistry almost always refers to molecules. In a chiral molecule, the two mirror images are usually known as optical isomers and labeled as right- and left-handed. These isomers have different effects on your body and skin. One isomer will provide benefits, while the other will either be disposed of by the body or even cause harm. In some cases, the isomers will cancel each other out completely. This is why some expensive, seemingly well-formulated skin care products don’t supply the results you expect of them! If the formulation isn’t chirally correct, your skin care beauty product could be neutralized even before you apply it, or, even worse, actually damage the skin.
When an antioxidant skin care product, or any other skin care product for that matter, is chirally correct, it means that the company manufacturing the product has actually isolated the separate optical isomers and included only the beneficial isomer in the formulation. By doing this, your skin receives all the benefits of the ingredient without any of the side effects. Chirally correct skin care products can even be used by sensitive skin types as the irritation-causing isomers aren’t in the formulations!
Chirally correct ingredients can be easily distinguished as they always feature either an L- or D- at the beginning of their name. For instance, L-ascorbic acid is the chirally correct form of vitamin C. It provides all of the benefits of an antioxidant vitamin without the side effects seen with achiral (not chiral) vitamin C. While many skin care brands use chirally correct ingredients, there are only three lines that promise each of their formulations to be completely chirally correct: CosMedix, PCA Skin and Sircuit Skin.
Chirality in antioxidant skin care products is key. Even if a product is absolutely filled with antioxidant ingredients, achiral molecules could cause so many free radicals that the benefits of the product are never seen.