The benefits of Azelaic Acid for your skin
Thanks to its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, azelaic acid is an effective treatment for acne, rosacea, and melasma. It’s known for being milder than most acids, and it is suitable for all skin types.
What Is Azelaic Acid
Azelaic acid belongs to the group of dicarboxylic acids and is obtained from cereals such as wheat, rye, and barley. It’s usually used in concentrations of 4-20%, but it is from 10% when a medical prescription is necessary. It’s a treatment for various skin conditions, such as acne, Melasma, among others.
What Should You Know About Azelaic Acid?
Azelaic acid is a non-photosensitive acid with anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. It also has keratolytic action. This makes it an excellent treatment for acne and other conditions, like rosacea. As such, it’s ideal for people with oily skin and hyperpigmentation.
It’s safe to use it daily in the morning and at night. However, you should use it only once a day if you have sensitive skin. Likewise, it’s advisable to use azelaic acid with niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and glycerin to hydrate your skin. However, you shouldn’t use alpha and beta hydroxy acids with it to avoid dryness and irritation.
Take into consideration that it takes several weeks for the azelaic acid to take effect.
Benefits of Azelaic Acid
- Anti-inflammatory: it reduces the skin swelling, something beneficial in cases of acne and sun exposure.
- Anti-bacterial: azelaic acid is a bactericide that alters bacteria’s pH and fights them. This includes the bacteria that causes acne, Propionibacterium acnes.
- Anti-seborrheic: it reduces excess sebum by inhibiting the enzyme five alpha-reductase.
- Keratolytic: it helps reduce the thickening of the skin and thus helps to prevent pores from clogging. It avoids excess keratinization and the appearance of blackheads.
- Depigmenting: it inhibits the enzyme tyrosinase, responsible for producing melanin. This can decrease the appearance of spots on the skin.
- Antioxidant: azelaic acid fights against free radicals.
Side-effects of Azelaic Acid
Azelaic acid might cause burning on your skin, as well as peeling skin and dryness or redness. It’s also capable of provoking a slight irritation, especially when it’s the first time you use it.
Although rare, this acid may also cause allergic reactions like swelling, pain in the joints, itching, difficulty breathing, and others. You must stop azelaic acid use and see a doctor immediately if you suffer one of these reactions.
Since azelaic acid thins the skin, it might make your skin more prone to sun damage.
How to Use It
You can apply a thin layer of azelaic acid on your skin to further clean it after washing it with water. It’s necessary to let the skin dry before using the acid. It’s recommended to use it twice a day, but only once if you have sensitive skin.
It’s possible to find this acid in the forms of foam, gel, or cream. Usually, the cream is indicated for dried skin, while the gel is more used for oily skin. But regardless of it, you should apply and evenly spread a marble-sized amount of azelaic acid to your face and neck.
Our recommendations
Azelaic acid is an excellent natural treatment to treat skin conditions like acne. But despite being gentler than most acids, it can still dry out the skin. For that reason, you should use it with moisturizer and hydrating products to avoid this problem if your doctor prescribes azelaic acid.
We recommend you to use azelaic acid along with:
- Argan oil.
- Almond oil.
- Jojoba oil.
- Hyaluronic acid.
- Glycerin.
- Niacinamide.
By using such components, you can provide your skin with the moisture it requires and help it to retain it. That way, your skin will not suffer dryness when using azelaic acid.