Dermatologist Recommended: Unveiling the Best Vitamin C Serums and their Benefits
Growing up, our relationship with vitamin C was a glass of OJ in the morning or was waiting in the medicine cabinet when we felt a cold coming on. The last few years, this seemingly basic antioxidant has become a powerhouse in our medicine cabinets for very different reasons. A well-formulated vitamin C serum helps fade dark spots and hyperpigmentation, helps skin appear more radiant-looking, promotes the production of collagen and elastin, prevents damage from sun exposure and the environment, and even makes your sunscreen more effective. In short, we’re never without one in our product rotation. “Vitamin C is a triple threat when it comes to optimizing your skin health: it brightens, firms, and fights free radical damage that can lead to accelerated signs of skin aging,” says Dr. Whitney Bowe, board-certified dermatologist, Dermstore medical advisory board member, and founder and CEO of Dr. Whitney Bowe Beauty.
Navigating through the world of vitamin C can be tricky since so many forms and concentrations of the ingredient exist. That’s why we did the work for you, breaking down how to use vitamin C, its benefits, and how to find the best skincare products with vitamin C so your skin can reap all the benefits.
Table of Contents:
- What Are the Benefits of Using Vitamin C for Your Face
- Vitamin C FAQs
- What are the Best Vitamin C Serums for Your Face?
What Are the Benefits of Using Vitamin C for Your Face
No matter your skin type (it’s safe for most skin types to use) or age, the benefits of vitamin C on the skin are so good that there’s no reason why vitamin C shouldn’t be a staple in your skincare routine. So, what exactly does vitamin C do? While everyone chooses to integrate the ingredients for different reasons, these are the most significant benefits of vitamin C on the skin, which makes it a favorite time and time again.
Brightens the skin and reduces hyperpigmentation: One of many reasons why fans of vitamin C love the ingredient is because it helps to lighten discoloration and give the skin a healthy, natural glow. By reducing skin dullness, vitamin C provides a more even tone to the skin. Also, vitamin C is known to help control melanin production, which gives color to the skin. By inhibiting melanin, vitamin C helps to fade dark spots, age and sunspots, acne scars, and melasma for a brighter complexion.
“I recommend Vitamin C to my patients who are looking for a powerful skin brightening ingredient. It can be one of the most effective ingredients in terms of helping to address hyperpigmentation, lifting pigment out of the skin, and evening out skin tone. I counsel my patients who struggle with sun spots (lentigos), melasma, or post inflammatory hyperpigmentation (eg: dark marks left over after acne) on how to incorporate a Vitamin C”, Dr. Bowe says.
Hydrates the skin: Topically using vitamin C on the skin promotes moisturization levels for healthier, better-hydrated skin since it helps to decrease transepidermal water loss. Prevents and treats wrinkles: Vitamin C is well known for its anti-aging and wrinkle-reducing benefits. Using vitamin C for your face is clinically proven to reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles and skin roughness due to increased collagen production. It has anti-inflammatory benefits: Inflammation is a known skin ager, but using an anti-inflammatory ingredient on the skin, like vitamin C, can help limit inflammatory effects for less redness and puffiness. Vitamin C helps prevent free radical damage by acting as an anti-inflammatory. It can improve the look of tired, dark, puffy under-eyes: One of the best uses of vitamin C is for perking up tired eyes. The ingredient can plump and hydrate the eye area to help decrease the look of undereye circles and darkness. Boosts collagen: Collagen is the cornerstone of healthy skin, but it starts to decline naturally with age. Vitamin C for your face has collagen-forming properties to diminish the look of fine lines, wrinkles, and saggy skin. UV protection: Vitamin C can defend the skin from sun damage, especially when used with sunscreen, to keep the skin’s integrity intact so that it doesn’t succumb to the effect of UV rays or environmental pollution. It is an antioxidant: Vitamin C is an antioxidant, so it helps protect the skin cells and prevents free radical damage. Skin and wound healing: Doctors recommend vitamin C on the skin to help with overall wound healing, reducing inflammation, infection, and scarring. A lack of vitamin C can prolong the healing process. Reduces redness: Thanks to vitamin C's anti-inflammatory properties, it can limit oxidative stress and damage and quell inflammation, helping to reduce redness in the skin. Anti-aging: Vitamin C is one of the best ingredients to use for anti-aging benefits. Not only does it protect the skin from free radical damage, but it also improves dull skin while smoothing out wrinkles and fine lines for younger-looking skin. Vitamin C is also critical for collagen synthesis, giving support and structure to the skin.
Vitamin C FAQs
Adding any new product to your routine can be confusing, but especially so when it’s a potent antioxidant like this one. That’s why we compiled some of the most pressing vitamin C questions and ran the answers by Dr. Bowe to make incorporating it as easy — and as accurate — as possible.
- Vitamin C is a skin-safe ingredient that should be used daily if your skin can handle it. The effects of vitamin C are cumulative, so sticking to a consistent routine that includes the vitamin will provide more of a benefit than using it just a few days per week. If a vitamin C serum leaves your skin irritated, sensitive, or even broken out, then it's likely that the product isn't the best vitamin C for your face.
- Vitamin C can lighten dark, stubborn spots on the skin that arise from sun damage, injuries, and even acne. It works to slow down the production of tyrosinase, the enzyme responsible for creating melanin. Using a vitamin C serum topically can lighten dark spots over time for more even-looking skin. It's important to know that vitamin C has more brightening effects on the skin than whitening or bleaching.
- Vitamin C serums work best when applied to the face in the morning after cleansing but before applying moisturizer when the skin is exposed to the sun and pollutants. Vitamin C isn't a substitute for sunscreen, but when used with it, the two work better than on their own to protect the skin from UV and environmental aggressors. However, some skin types can handle a daytime and nighttime vitamin C serum.
Vitamin C serums deserve a place in all skincare routines. However, the best vitamin C serums are stable and effective and absorb quickly into the skin.
What are the Best Vitamin C Serums for Your Face?
We pride ourselves in curating our virtual shelves with the best of the best formulas from the brands dermatologists recommend most, and our favorite vitamin C serums are no exception. Whether it's from SkinCeuticals, iS Clinical, Obagi, SkinMedica, Paula’s Choice, or any of the others among our curation, adding a vitamin C serum into your routine is going to be a game changer if you haven’t already.
1. SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic (1 fl. oz.)
5704 reviews
$182.00
2. Obagi Medical Professional-C Serum 20% (1 oz.)
1006 reviews
$142.00
3. SkinMedica Vitamin C + E Complex (1 oz.)
299 reviews
$106.00
4. Sunday Riley C.E.O. 15% Vitamin C Brightening Serum 1 fl. oz
355 reviews
$85.00
5. Revision Skincare® C+ Correcting Complex 30%™ 1 fl. oz.
106 reviews
$185.00
6. Eminence Organic Skin Care Citrus Kale Potent CE Serum 1 fl. oz
78 reviews
$118.00
7. iS Clinical Pro-Heal Serum Advance Plus (1 oz.)
350 reviews
$158.00
9. BeautyStat Universal C Skin Refiner 20% Vitamin C Brightening Serum, 1-oz.
105 reviews
$85.00
10. Allies of Skin 35% Vitamin C Perfecting Serum (1 fl. oz.)
81 reviews
$148.00
Teresa Greenfeld has worked in fashion and beauty for over 15 years as a writer, editor and content strategist. She has been privileged to work at Carbon38 as a Senior Editor, at OliviaPalermo.com as the Fashion and Beauty Director, and has amassed a resume that includes Vogue, Allure and Elle magazines. Her passions include back-to-back sheet masks, reading peer-reviewed papers on skin care, and obsessive sunscreen application. Though born in Manhattan, she currently lives in LA, and will always consider herself a New Yorker at heart.
