Vitamin C: A Retold Story

The Fall and Rise of Perhaps the Most Powerful Anti-Aging Principle

L-Ascorbic Acid is the only form of Vitamin C that can be utilized directly by the skin. It is highly absorbable when applied topically and can offer concentrations of 200 times or more within skin tissues than Vitamin C that is taken internally. L-Ascorbic Acid is one of the few compounds that have shown to be of short- and long- term benefit to the skin in more than one thousand clinical studies.

Topical L-Ascorbic Acid (when stable) in high concentrations offers the following health benefits to skin tissues:

• Perhaps the most significant cause of aging is the presence of free radicals within all tissues, including the skin. Free radicals cause significant damage to each and every cell, leading to the development of lines, wrinkles, pigmentation problems, loss of firmness and textural damage. Many factors lead to the presence of free radicals within the skin: general body metabolism, UV radiation, stress, pollution and the environment. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant. It binds to free radicals so that they are unable to damage skin cells instead. Through this strong antioxidant activity, the skin benefits both in the short term and the long term. In the short term, the skin is able to recover much more quickly and efficiently, leading to a radiant, even tone with fewer imperfections. In the long term, the skin maintains its health better and is further protected against all the factors mentioned above. In many cases, the skin is positioned to appear 10 to 15 years younger and maintain this appearance for 10 years and beyond.
• Vitamin C triggers the production of collagen, leading to increased presence of this substance within the skin. Increased collagen production minimizes the appearance of lines and wrinkles, while restoring an even tone to the entire skin surface. These results are visible within a few days and their improvement continues 8 to 9 months into the treatment program.
• Vitamin C helps improve the skin’s repair rate from physical damage, which includes visible and invisible damage caused by the environment, aggressive scrubbing, harsh chemicals, physical trauma, laser treatments, injection treatments and surgery. As such, topical Vitamin C in high concentrations offers superb adjunct therapy potential for many procedures.
• Vitamin C is a potent corrector of hyper-pigmentation, as it interferes with overproduction of melanin (skin pigment) by melanocytes (cells responsible for production of melanin). Through this interaction, not only does Vitamin C reduce the appearance of dark spots, freckles, melasma, sun spots and other pigmentation disorders, but it also increases overall skin radiance and brightness.
• Vitamin C increases the skin’s ability to fight UV-induced damage through multiple mechanisms, the leading of which remains the high antioxidant potential of L-Ascorbic Acid. Oxidative stress is increased significantly through UV radiation. Unlike sunscreens, this approach is one of supporting the skin’s own ability to repair sun damage than one of preventing sun damage. Used together with sunscreen agents, Complex31 can offer a full spectrum of protection from sun-related aging.
• Vitamin C helps improve circulation which, when combined with the brightening effect described earlier, leads to an overall glowing, healthy appearance.

The maximum topical concentration of Vitamin C that can be absorbed efficiently by the skin is just higher than 23%, the amount present in completely stable form in Complex31.