Azelaic Acid

Azelaic acid is undoubtedly the new ‘cool kid’ on the block in the skincare industry.

It is a powerful dermatological ingredient that is used in both over-the-counter and prescription-strength skincare products and is aimed at treating a variety of skin issues such as acne, redness, and hyperpigmentation.

Although azelaic acid can be found naturally in whole grain cereals, is it actually manufactured synthetically for skincare purposes. Despite being an organic acid, it does not in fact belong to the family of AHAs or BHAs and has no direct exfoliating properties. It instead offers a wide range of benefits that will be discussed in more detail below.

The prescription-strength gels, foams, and creams use very high concentrations of the ingredient (15-20%), whereas the regular skincare products use concentrations up to 10%, although usually much less (i.e., 0.3% for leave-on products).

Even though the benefits discussed below were tested using concentrations of 15-20%, the lower concentrations are still mildly beneficial and have the added benefit of not causing the irritation that may come from using the prescription-strength products.

The most popular use of azelaic acid is to treat acne, a disease that manifests as painful inflamed and clogged pores. Azelaic acid works in multiple ways to reduce and prevent the formation of closed comedones and blackheads, although studies have observed that this improvement usually only begins after at least 3 months.

It starts by killing or disabling various strains of bacteria that live on acne-prone skin (namely Cutibacterium acnes, the main culprit). It also normalizes the abnormal shedding of dead skin in hair follicles, thus preventing them from getting clogged.

Remember when we said that azelaic acid does not exfoliate? That is still true – it just normalizes the overactive keratinocytes. To some extent, it can also slowly reduce the abnormal production of sebum in the skin, making it less oily.

Lastly, it has some direct anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions that can help to soothe the inflamed spots.

The second most popular use of azelaic acid is to treat rosacea (which manifests as chronic redness and dilated blood vessels on the cheeks, forehead, and nose, often accompanied by painfully inflamed pimples), the skin disorder than it was actually originally approved for.

Azelaic acid can effectively aid in reducing the redness, inflammation, and infection associated with rosacea-prone skin, in a similar way to how it treats acne.

Lastly, azelaic acid is also often used as a tyrosinase inhibitor (i.e., as an anti-pigment ingredient). It is able to normalize the function of overactive melanocytes (pigment-producing skin cells) and is effective against melasma and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

It is important to note, however, that it has no depigmenting actions on normal skin, freckles, old age spots, or birthmarks.

You’ll be happy to hear that this powerful and versatile ingredient has been declared safe for use even during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

It is often combined with other anti-acne and anti-pigment active ingredients, and there are no known combinations that should be avoided. Nevertheless, it is still important to patch-test every new combination on your skin, to make sure that it is not too irritating.