Your Body Wants Retinol Too

We don't need to tell you about retinol and all its brightening, line-smoothing magic. You've heard about it, you've read about it, you've probably even shared a TikTok about it. Now, retinol is making its way off the face and being used more on the body, too, thanks to genius new formulas.

Changes to the skin on your arms, legs, torso, and elsewhere become more noticeable around age 40, which is why dermatologists and skin care experts recommend retinol as part of a regular body skin care routine. Board-certified dermatologist Corey Hartman, founder of Skin Wellness Dermatology in Birmingham, Alabama, is happy that the body is starting to get the love it deserves. "Most people only pay attention to protecting and hydrating the skin on their bodies. But if we can get in the habit of using multipurpose products, like body retinol lotions, then it's a step in the right direction," he says.

THE BACKSTORY ON BODY RETINOL

Retinol is nothing new: The vitamin A derivative aids cell turnover and stimulates new collagen for firmer skin. It's one of the most well-known and well-studied skincare ingredients, and has the scientific data to back up the brightening, plumping, smoothing claims.

Retinol use on the face has pretty much been mastered. "In general, skincare for the body has lagged way behind skincare for the face," medical aesthetician Amy Peterson, and the founder of Skincare by Amy Peterson, in Miami says. She credits the recent uptick in the use of retinol on the body to an increase in well-formulated, more practical body products that are less irritating. For example, formulation advancements, like time-released stabilized and encapsulated options, help reduce irritation and dryness, typical side effects of retinol.

Besides just hydrating the skin on the body, there are aesthetic reasons to care for it, like improving pigmentation, tone, texture, wrinkles, scars, and more. Saggy skin below the neck, which occurs from a slow yet steady loss of collagen, resulting in a decrease in elasticity, is a big aging concern. "We know retinol works well on the face for those concerns, so why not use it on the body?" board-certified dermatologist Purvisha Patel, also the founder of Visha Skincare, says.