Is it true that … retinol thins the skin?

Side effects from using the vitamin A derivative may give people the wrong impression about how it works

Retinol has long been hailed as a gold-standard ingredient in anti-ageing skincare, but it’s also surrounded by misconceptions. One of the most common? That the vitamin A derivative “thins the skin”.

Dr Rosalind Simpson, a medical dermatologist from the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology at the University of Nottingham, says that this is not quite true.