What is medical grade skincare?

Medical grade skincare products, also known as cosmeceuticals, are products that have biologically active ingredients for a therapeutic effect on your skin, from the cellular level to the surface. Active ingredients may include vitamins, minerals, fruit enzymes, collagen peptides and more to boost topical nutrition and support cell function for more beautiful, healthier skin.

RejuvAus was developed by Cosmetic Physician Dr Garry Cussell to have high concentrations of multiple active ingredients in each bottle. The combinations of active ingredients work in synergy to help achieve better results for your skin.

When using medical grade skincare for the first time, we recommend you introduce it to your skin slowly. Start by applying your new products a few nights per week and eventually work up to daily use.

We also recommend regular use of an exfoliating cleanser and serum. As your active serums improve your natural cell turnover, you need to clear away the dead skin cells to prevent build-up and enable your active serums to absorb properly.

All our active ingredients are ensconced in therapeutic bases of soothing, anti-inflammatory organic essential oils and natural gel immersions to soothe the skin while nurturing its health, because each ingredient has a purpose.

The entire RejuvAus range boasts over 100 ingredients, but they can be broken down into eight main categories.

Antioxidants

Antioxidants are ingredients that protect your skin from free radical damage. Free radicals are molecules that carry oxygen. They react with other molecules in your body and, when the balance between free radicals and antioxidants becomes skewed, free radicals can cause minor damage and ageing, known as oxidative stress.

Antioxidant ingredients may include Vitamins A, B, C and E as well as plant extracts such as Willow Herb, Songyi Extract, Jojoba Oil, Olive Extract and Resveratrol (extracted from grapes).

Vitamins

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is one of the most highly trusted skincare ingredients. It has two main purposes; anti-ageing and anti-acne.

It’s effective with acne because it helps regulate the natural oils in your skin (known as sebum) and improve cell turnover to reduce congestion.

Improved cell turnover also helps with anti-ageing as old cells are more regularly removed to reveal healthy, fresher cells.

The main reason that Vitamin A is so effective for anti-ageing is because it helps promote collagen production and growth. After the age of 25, our skin produces 1% less collagen every year. This means our skin loses elasticity and starts to crease or sag. Vitamin A helps to activate more collagen generation in your skin.

Our products contain Retinaldehyde which is the strongest yet least irritating form of Vitamin A.

Vitamin B

Vitamin B is a potent antioxidant and an even better anti-inflammatory. In some instances, it can calm atopic skin conditions like eczema (but we recommend that you check with a professional before using it for this purpose).

In addition to soothing inflammation, Vitamin B can help your skin regulate its natural moisture levels and restore your skin’s natural moisture barrier. It is often recommended for dry, sensitive skin types. It can also help counteract the sensitivity that some people experience when they first start using Vitamin A in their skincare.

Vitamin B may also be labelled as Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) or Panthenol (Vitamin B5)

Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps to brighten the skin, even out your skin tone and reduce visible signs of sun damage and pigmentation.

Vitamin C also has some anti-ageing properties. While Vitamin A promotes collagen production, Vitamin C helps to synthesise new collagen. This means that it interacts with the amino acids inside the collagen cells so that they can do a better job at rebuilding the collagen fibres.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is another antioxidant with a long-running history in skincare. It protects the skin from free radical damage. It’s also a fat-soluble anti-inflammatory, which makes it a popular ingredient in active moisturisers. It may be labelled as “Tocopherol” instead of Vitamin E.

Collagen Peptides

Technically speaking, peptides are amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Proteins are essential building blocks of collagen, and collagen fibres are the building blocks of skin.

As we get older, we start to lose some of these building blocks, and visible signs of ageing appear. When we apply collagen peptides to the skin, they help the collagen proteins rebuild to restore a youthful texture. They also signal existing collagen peptides in the skin to remodel themselves.

As a bonus, collagen peptides can also help minimise the appearance of large pores.

Growth Factors

Growth factors are naturally occurring proteins that stimulate healing and regeneration in living tissues, including the collagen fibres in your skin. Growth factors used in RejuvAus are sources from plant proteins with skin identical properties. Our sh-Oligopeptide is sourced from barley proteins.

When applied to the skin, it can help accelerate the growth of healthy skin cells and repair damaged skin tissues to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and acne scarring.

Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic Acid is a lightweight fatty acid that occurs naturally in your skin’s moisture barrier. It helps with hydration and plumping of the skin as it holds up to 1,000 times its weight in water.

This hyper-hydrator comes in regular and low molecular weight. The regular molecular weight helps to hydrate and plump the surface of the skin while the low molecular weight can permeate the slightly deeper layers of the skin. As a non-irritating ingredient, Hyaluronic Acid is included in most RejuvAus serums and moisturisers.

Pigment Inhibitors

Pigmentation can be caused by sun exposure, hormonal changes or ageing. It presents as dark spots or unevenly toned areas of the skin.

Pigment inhibitors can be used to reduce existing pigmentation and prevent further pigmentation from forming. Many of them are naturally derived, and they work by inhibiting tyrosinase, the pigment stimulating hormone in your skin.

Products that have a combination of multiple pigment inhibitors are often more promising than products with only one or two active ingredients.

Hydroxy Acids

Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs) such as Lactic Acid and Citric Acid are often derived from fruit acids and they help exfoliate the skin and clear away congestion. They work by gently dissolving the glue that binds dead cells to the surface of your skin so they can be washed away easily.

Beta-Hydroxy Acids have a similar purpose, but they also help to regulate natural oils in your skin.

Using hydroxy acid cleansers and serums is like having a mini facial peel at home. They’re gentle and they clear congestion so that the active ingredients in your other skincare products can penetrate deeper and work more effectively.

Phyto Anti-Inflammatory Ingredients

These are natural, plant-derived ingredients that calm and soothe the skin. Ingredients may include Aloe, Chamomile or oatmeal extracts.

Many of these extracts have anti-inflammatory, anti-infective and anti-microbial properties. They also provide a pleasant, all-natural fragrance that don’t irritate the skin as harsh perfumes can.

RejuvAus Medical Grade Skincare

RejuvAus was developed and formulated with a view for transparency and education on how active ingredients can work to promote the health and vitality of your skin.

Visit our product pages for an overview of the key ingredients in each RejuvAus Serum, Moisturiser, Cleanser and Sunscreen.