Glycolic Acid

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Glycolic acid is a fairly potent substance typically used to remove wrinkles and prevent skin from aging. It's also often included as an ingredient in solvents and additives for paint and ink to enhance flow properties and create gloss. As an alpha hydroxy acid, it's derived primarily from sugar cane and has a small molecular structure.

Historical Uses of Glycolic Acid

Glycolic acid has been historically used as a treatment for hyper pigmentation, acne and other skin problems. Glycolic acid has also been used for a number of years to clean metal parts. It's often refined for cosmetic uses so as to avoid posing harm to those who use this substance on their skin.

Glycolic Acid's Effectiveness in Stretch Mark Cream

When it comes to stretch mark creams, the effectiveness of glycolic acid is questionable. This is because, in order to be most effective, this acid has to be used in concentrations that are much greater than what human skin can handle. As a result, a number of stretch mark creams containing glycolic acid don't have a high enough concentration of this acid to be effective.

Safety of Glycolic Acid

Glycolic acid is widely marketed for industrial use in concentrations of 70-percent or higher. However, glycolic acid can be terribly dangerous for human use at these levels, especially if exposed to the skin. For this reason, the US labels as hazardous any glycolic acid concentration exceeding 10-percent. While this is safe for human use, this low level of concentration has little to no benefit for human skin. The FDA regards any concentration of glycolic acid above 10-percent to be hazardous.

Glycolic Acid: Final Word

Glycolic acid is a fairly popular moisturizer and exfoliator for human skin which has a multitude of uses. However, best stretch mark creams do not contain this acid, as there is still an ongoing debate concerning its overall safety and effectiveness.