In our everyday modern world, we always seem to be looking for a quick-fix to the problems in our lives. The field of skincare is no exception to this "quick-fix" mentality as people are just trying to find easy ways to have perfect skin. This could range from painful peel-off masks that do more harm than good or burning your nose with ginger because "an influencer did it and it worked." Other skincare products contain ingredients that may seem beneficial on the surface level, but the research for these ingredients is just not there.
In recent years as cannabis has become decriminalized and legal in multiple states, it has become a trendy ingredient to use in products ranging from dog treats to drinks. Cannabinoids have become increasingly popular in the skincare field because it has been marketed to be anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, hydrating, moisturizing, and good for treating acne. There has been some research to back this, including one study that found that CBD suppressed sebum secretion and had some anti-inflammatory action on human skin cultures (Oláh, A, et., al., 2014). Another study found that CBD can reduce itching in patients with pruritus (Jhawar, Nikita, et., al., 2019)
Although these benefits sound promising, there is still not enough research of the cannabinoid family to give a concrete answer of its effects. One group warns that a lack of research of a product that has multiple strains and that isn't federally regulated could cause all these benefits to turn into something worse (Jhawar, Nikita, et., al., 2019). This is where more clinical research will be important so that all the marketing that surrounds CBD in skincare can be backed with science.
In hopes of becoming a dermatologist someday, I have learned through my own skincare experience that if a skincare product sounds too good to be true, it usually means that the product isn't always what it seems. Doing more research on cannabinoid skincare products seems crucial to fully understand the benefits of it and once the research has been done, maybe then it can be seen as a "miracle" product.
References
Jhawar, Nikita, et al. “The Growing Trend of Cannabidoil in Skincare Products.” Clinics in Dermatology, vol. 37, no. 3, 2019, pp. 279–281., doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clindermatol.2018.11.002.
Oláh,, A., Tóth, B., Borbíró, I., Sugawara, K., Szöllõsi, A., Czifra, G., Pál, B., Ambrus, L., Kloepper, J., Camera, E., Ludovici, M., Picardo, M., Voets, T., Zouboulis, C., Paus, R. and Bíró, T. "Cannabidiol exerts sebostatic and anti-inflammatory effects on human sebocytes." Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 124, no. 9, 2014, pp. 3713-3724.,https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI64628.
Wow that's really interesting! I was curious if CBD is more beneficial for skincare if it is taken orally or tropically so I did more digging. In one study, they studied the effects of tropical cannabidiol to treat epidermolysis bullosa which are blisters that are very challenging to treat. The researchers found that when tropically used, the patients reported faster wound healing and less blistering (Chelliah, M, et., al,., 2018). So maybe in the near future, after further research, CBD oils can be more accessible. I am also curious to see if there is a difference in using CBD vs. THC. Did you happen to read up on anything regarding THC and skincare?
ReplyDeleteChelliah, Malcolm P., et al. “Self-Initiated Use of Topical Cannabidiol Oil for Epidermolysis Bullosa.” Pediatric Dermatology, vol. 35, no. 4, 2018, doi:10.1111/pde.13545.
I've found myself looking for alternative skincare recently, since breaking out from wearing a mask all the time. I've heard a lot about CBD in skincare, but I was also wondering if a topical THC administration would also be effective. I looked into it, and while THC is less frequently used to treat acne etc., I found a couple studies showing low doses of THC might have anti-melanoma effects, and combinations of THC and CBD were found to substantially inhibit tumor growth in mice with melanoma xenografts (Toth, K.F et al 2019; Armstrong, JJ. et al. 2015).
ReplyDeleteThis is super interesting, especially considering alternative treatments in the future of medicine. It's very cool to be in the early stages of exploration of THC and CBD, especially as more research shows unexpected benefits! I would be very interested, in a few years, to see some long term studies of CBD use regarding skincare.
Armstrong J.L., Hill D.S., McKee C.S., Hernandez-Tiedra S., Lorente M., Lopez-Valero I., Eleni Anagnostou M., Babatunde F., Corazzari M., Redfern C.P.F., et al. Exploiting cannabinoid-induced cytotoxic autophagy to drive melanoma cell death. J. Investig. Dermatol. 2015;135:1629–1637. doi: 10.1038/jid.2015.45.
Tóth, K. F., Ádám, D., Bíró, T., & Oláh, A. (2019). Cannabinoid Signaling in the Skin: Therapeutic Potential of the "C(ut)annabinoid" System. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 24(5), 918. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24050918