Melatonin in skin care products has been trending for the last year. Is it safe, what it does for your face, do you need it, and what need to know to make that decision?
First, melatonin is a hormone that easily and efficiently penetrates into skin when applied in a skin care product. Melatonin is a small molecule – small enough to get through your skin’s sturdy barrier. Once melatonin is absorbed into the skin, blood levels of melatonin also rise.Â
Melatonin also readily penetrates skin cell nuclei (where DNA resides) and mitochondria (the cells power generator and regulator of many important cellular functions). It also penetrates deeply into the dermis where collagen loss leads to wrinkles and premature skin aging.
Melatonin’s super power for skin penetration comes from its affinity for lipid structures (we call this lipophilic properties) such as your skin’s barrier and cell membranes. When you apply a melatonin skin cream it gets into your skin and into your bloodstream.Â
How do you decide if this is something you want?
Melatonin is a hormone, antioxidant and is also anti-inflammatory. It was originally discovered to be made by the brain’s pineal gland as a hormone that helps your body to regulate day/night circadian rhythms and seasonal biorhythms. It is produced by the pineal gland when you are in darkness and less light enters your eyes. Light entering your eyes will cause melatonin production to stop.
Melatonin does more than regulate sleep/wake circadian rhythms, it is also a potent antioxidant, and has anti-inflammatory function. The most important of these functions for skin is the antioxidant activity.
Melatonin’s antioxidant activity is highly effective at neutralizing an extensive array of free radicals, helping to protect the skin from UV and environmental damage. It works by two mechanisms.
Skin actively makes melatonin. It also has receptors for melatonin that help regulate skin homeostasis. Basically, the skin depends on melatonin for overall skin health.Â
It is known that black skin has the highest concentration of melatonin. Serum melatonin levels decline with age. This has been correlated with increased skin aging. I could not find studies on skin melatonin levels correlated with age.Â
Melatonin protection of skin from UV damage has been studied for 20 years. Most studies were done on cell cultures in the lab, which are not directly relevant to whether melatonin will function the same way in your skin. Some clinical studies on humans have been done.
It is important to know that melatonin cream needs to be applied before UV exposure to provide benefits. That said, melatonin may benefit skin even better than other antioxidants such as vitamin C or E.Â
Oral melatonin does not get to skin in significant amounts due to what is called ‘first-pass degradation’ of melatonin by the liver. This means that after taking an oral supplement of melatonin, the liver quickly removes it. Injections of melatonin do significantly raise serum melatonin levels and have been associated with worrisome darkening of moles and freckles; experts do not recommend melatonin injections for safety reasons. Similarly, skin application of melatonin penetrates skin well and elevates blood levels of melatonin.
Because melatonin is readily absorbed by skin, topical application will increase melatonin levels in skin better than taking oral supplements but I still think we need more safety studies. – Dermatologist Dr. Cynthia Bailey
Melatonin is a hormone. Other hormones such as estrogen, testosterone and cortisone are well known and everyone knows that topical application of them can have both benefits and side effects.
I think caution is needed with melatonin until we have better studies on how to use it topically. – Dr. Bailey
The gap for melatonin in skin care is that there are not good studies guiding us regarding concentration or best practices. We know that it needs to be present on skin before sun exposure to reduce UV induced redness. We don’t know if that correlates with reduced UV damage or just redness.
Also, melatonin levels naturally rise at night during sleep and it has been used to help regulate sleep. So, would applying it during the day disrupt the sleep/wake cycle? Melatonin is well absorbed through skin and blood levels of melatonin have been shown to rise after topical application so it is reasonable to assume there may be some systemic impact on the sleep/wake cycle of circadian rhythms.Â
Melatonin is readily absorbed into skin in very significant levels. It is a powerful antioxidant with the potential to protect skin from damage in important ways.
Melatonin is an intriguing skin care ingredient for powerful age fighting and skin protecting benefits. I would like to see good scientific studies looking at safety and side effects before recommending it. – Dr. Bailey
The current understanding we have of melatonin suggests that it may have significant benefits when used in a night cream with retinoids and during the day formulated in a mineral zinc oxide sunscreen.
I recommending waiting until more safety studies have been done on melatonin in skin care.
Get all three of the best proven and safe antioxidants in skin care in my Antioxidant Anti-Aging Skin Care Kit by adding the Retinol option; this is a Complete Skin Care Routine built from compatible products.Â
I have to tell you that the Antioxidant Kit is amazing; I’m using it on my hands and face look so much younger and have never felt so soft. That vitamin C feels like your putting pearls on your skin. Hillary
Author: Dr. Cynthia Bailey M.D. is a Board Certified dermatologist practicing dermatology since 1987. She has done well over 200,000 skin exams during her career and authors the longest running physician written skin health blog in the world.
“I love empowering people to take good care of their skin by educating them and putting the ‘self-care’ into their skin care so that they love the skin they’re in!†Dr. Bailey
Curious About The Different Kinds Of Gua Sha Tools And Their Usage? Here's How To Choose… Read More
6 Tips For a Healthy Skin Microbiome Your skin is a guard that protects your… Read More
Why You Need to Start Taking Care of Your Skin Microbiome Does the term “skin… Read More
What you eat is a vital part of keeping your skin radiant for the long-haul.… Read More
A product I always like to have on hand: spot treatment for acne, because you… Read More
I'm still on the search for an affordable dark spot treatment I can easily incorporate… Read More