A clear, spotless, glowing and dewy skin is something that we all desire. To accomplish this desire we often try various skin care techniques that might or might not work. If you are someone who is looking for something that can help you to treat acne, reduce skin inflammation and heal your skin then Azelaic Acid is your answer. A naturally occuring acid that can be easily found in grains such as barley, rye and wheat. Azelaic Acid helps you to reduce inflammation and get rid of conditions such as rosacea due to its anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. Also known as the dicarboxylic acid, this topical acid consists of a tyrosinase enzyme that is involved in the production of melanin pigment cells.
Skincare Benefits Of Azelaic Acid
Let us take a deep look at the benefits of using Azelaic acid for glowing skin from Dr. Vibhuti Dhaundiyal, Aesthetic Medicine, Skincare advisor, Cofounder Rishi & Vibhuti.
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#1. Treats Acne Scars
Getting ready for an event and observing acne and acne scars on your face is one of the worst nightmare for many of us. You can take a sigh of relief as azelaic acid is something that can help you to get rid of acne scars and prevent the occurrence of acne and pimples in the coming future. Acne scars are post inflammatory hyperpigmentation spots that are more prevalent in people with dark skin tone. A regular application of azelaic acid topical treatment on these scars can help you to reduce the inflammation that in turn helps in treating post inflammatory hyperpigmentation and decrease the appearance of acne scars.
#2. Treats hyperpigmentation
Hyperpigmentation is a skin concern that is usually harmless but turns your skin to have dark patches all over. This darkening of skin happens due to the increased production of colour pigment melanin in the skin. Hyperpigmentation is a condition that tends to affect a person’s entire body and occurs in small patches. It mainly occurs in three types- melasma, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation and sunspots. All these three types of hyperpigmentation occur due to various causes that can be increased due to sun exposure. A regular application of azelaic acid on the hyperpigmentation spots helps to reduce their appearance and provide you with an even toned skin by reducing the function of pigment cells melanocytes.
#3. Treats Rosacea
Rosacea is a skin condition that results in visible blood vessels on your face due to which they appear like flushed red blush. This might also cause a person to have small bumps on the skin’s surface that are filled with pus. Most commonly observed in middle aged women, rosacea is a condition that can affect anyone and in many cases is confused with acne. This condition can be identified with the symptoms such as visible veins, facial blushing, enlarged pores, burning sensation, swollen bumps, enlarged nose and even eye problems.
According to studies the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory rich azelaic acid is known to effectively treat this skin condition by reducing inflammation.
#4. Inflammation
Skin inflammation is something that generally occurs due to an immune system response. As soon as some kind of foriegn particle, microbe or infection is detected by the immune system, it results in inflammation. With skin being an important part of the body involved in the immune system functioning, skin inflammation generally results in rashes that are caused due to allergic reactions, infections or some kind of disease. Skin inflammation can result in making your skin itchy, bumpy, red, scaly, cracked or one might also experience warmth in the inflamed region.
Adding azelaic acid in your skincare routine and applying it onto the inflamed skin can help you to soothe skin, reduce redness and reduce inflammation. This azelaic tropical treatment is capable of doing so because of its anti-inflammatory properties that helps it to fight inflammation.
#5. Pore clearing properties
Pores can simply be understood as small openings on the skin’s surface that are responsible for the transportation of sweat and oil onto the skin’s surface from their respective glands. A blockage in these pores prevents the secretion from reaching the surface due to the blockage created by dead skin cells. As a result of these clogged or blocked pores skin conditions such as blackheads, whiteheads, acne and pimples take place.
Also Read: Know The Difference Between AHAs And BHAs For Skin From Expert
A gentle exfoliator, azelaic acid is a comedolytic which helps to break down the pore blockage. By doing so it not just helps to clear out the pores and get rid of dead skin cells but also prevents any kind of blockage in the future.
#6. Skin Lightening
A light and bright complexion is something that we all crave from. As society has fed us with the idea of fair and lovely from an early age, skin lightening is a topic that has always grabbed our attention. For those of you who are still looking for products to lighten up your skin, azelaic acid is the answer. Azelaic acid anables skin lightening by decreasing the hyperactive and abnormal melanocytes.
#7. Safe in Pregnancy
Also Read: Pregnancy & Skincare: Skincare Ingredients To Avoid During Pregnancy
Azelaic acid is a skin acid that surely deserves some brownie points for being an ingredient that is safe to be used during pregnancy. Many chemical based skincare products available in the market consist of harmful substances that when seep through the layers of skin and get into your body, can harm the child and mother’s health as well. The case is totally opposite with topical azelaic acid. This naturally occurring acid is totally safe to be used during the time of pregnancy and would not cause any harm to your child’s health.
This article is based upon a post by Dr. Vibhuti Dhaundiyal, Aesthetic Medicine, Skincare advisor, Cofounder Rishi & Vibhuti on her instagram handle.