Compounding has become a very popular way of creating and dispensing pharmaceutical products. There are veterinary compounding pharmacies, human medicine compounding pharmacies, and now dermatology compounding pharmacies. To be fair, this latter type of compounding pharmacy was a spin-off of skin medications for acne, rosacea, and psoriasis, but has recently become a lot more. To get a better idea of how skincare and pharmaceuticals have come together, here is more info on dermatology compounds and what they are used for.
Anti-Aging Chemicals
People are constantly trying to fight the aging process. As such, they are using anti-wrinkle creams, anti-dark spot or anti-"liver spot" creams, anti-cellulite creams, and anti-skin sag or skin tightening creams. All of these creams have special acids or amino acids in them that have been shown to make some effect against the aging process.
The active ingredients are present in most OTC topical medications, so the only thing compounding pharmacies have to do is increase the active ingredients to make the compounds more potent. A more potent active ingredient means that the pharmacies need your doctor's permission to make the compound for your skin. If your doctor says it is safe for you, the compounding pharmacy makes the compound and fills a pharmaceutical squeeze tube with it.
Skin Peels
Skin peels are the result of pharmaceutical testing to find just the right acid that eats dead skin cells at the surface, but will not harm people's deeper skin tissues. These acids have been used in applications in aesthetic skincare spas for more than a decade now. It should not surprise anyone that they are now being made into compounds and "bottled" for compounding pharmacy consumers. You may even recognize the acid names retinol and/or glycolic acid.
Skin Bleaching
Skin bleaching became a thing when people in a lab realized that old skin does not have to equal dark skin discolored by a lot of extra melanin. Oddly enough, people of different races and darker skin colors have begun to buy these products from compounding pharmacies in order to lighten their skin and pass for "tan Caucasian." Regardless of your own reasons for bleaching your skin, the safest ways are through the careful and balanced compounding practices of the compounding pharmacies. The compounding pharmacies have the correct "recipes" for combining skin bleaching chemicals with the inert ingredients in these creams so that you do not damage your skin.
