Ar
Arbutin
ArbutinActive
A gentler dark-spot fader that blocks the enzyme skin uses to make pigment. Most products now use the more stable alpha form.
What it does
It’s hydroquinone with a sugar attached. In lab tests on cells it blocks the enzyme skin uses to make pigment by taking its place, not by stopping the enzyme being made.
The EU’s ingredient database lists it as an antioxidant (slows reactions with oxygen, like going rancid).European Commission, CosIng (© European Union, CC BY 4.0) · uses put in plain words by Drop ↗
The evidence, graded
expert consensusTreating post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation begins with the inflammation that caused it. The treatments themselves can cause or worsen PIH by irritating the skin, so the review counsels caution with every one of them. Azelaic acid and niacinamide are among the agents it names — azelaic as a 15% gel or 20% cream, niacinamide at 2–5% and not studied for PIH in darker skin. Daily broad-spectrum SPF 30 is part of it: UV darkens the marks. Epidermal marks fade faster than dermal ones.Davis 2010 · Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology ↗
expert consensusIn April 2008 the SCCP (SCCP/1158/08), asked about beta-arbutin at up to 7%, considered that use unsafe because the bioavailability of hydroquinone under conditions of intended use is of concern. In January 2023 the SCCS (SCCS/1642/22) was of the opinion that beta-arbutin in face creams up to 7% is safe, also alongside alpha-arbutin, with hydroquinone kept as low as possible.SCCP 2008 · European Commission SCCP (adopted at the 15th plenary of 15 April 2008) ↗
emergingStart alpha arbutin and an exfoliating acid one at a time, with daily sunscreen: in one small study, skin pretreated with glycolic acid tanned more under UVB. Alpha arbutin blocks tyrosinase, the enzyme step that makes melanin. In cell studies glycolic and lactic acid block it too, whatever their acidity, so the acid clearing a path for the brightener is not what anyone measured. No study Drop has read applied the two to the same skin, so nothing measured says the pair helps or hurts.Maeda 1996 · Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics ↗
Graded per the methodology: strong · moderate · emerging · expert consensus. A weak source on a strong claim gets the weaker label.
Also known as
beta-arbutin
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