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Caring for the skin around your eyes is serious business. As the thinnest skin on your body, it’s one of the first places where signs of aging start to appear, and derms often recommend retinol to smooth and reinvigorate the area. While your standard retinol eye cream can be great, the latest masks from Murad take things one step further to deliver a super dose of the stuff deep into your skin.
Experts in This Article
the director of dermatologic surgery at The University of Texas at Austin
Zion Ko Lamm, MD, is board-certified internal medicine physician based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Murad Retinol Youth Renewal Eye Masks — $42.00
Retinol is a vitamin-A derivative that helps your skin create collagen, which increases its firmness and elasticity to soften the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The masks are soaked in Murad’s Retinol Tri-Active Technology, the main ingredient in the brand’s top-selling Retinol Youth Renewal Serum ($89). It includes a triple-threat of retinoids: a fast-acting retinoid that works to instantly plump skin, a time-release retinol that continues these effects over time, and a retinol booster that ensures these ingredients are delivering maximum benefits.
The retinol is undoubtedly potent, but because it’s encapsulated, it’s gentle enough to be used on all skin types. The formula also includes blue algae extract, which offers visible firming results, and passionfruit extract to minimize puffiness.
Though you can already find Murad’s retinol triple threat in the brand’s Youth Renewal Eye Serum ($87), the new mask delivery system allows the active ingredients to sink further into your skin to deliver more efficacious results.
“The skin is an incredibly great barrier. It’s good at its job; it keeps things out, including many medicines,” S. Tyler Hollmig, MD, director of dermatologic surgery at The University of Texas at Austin, previously told Well+Good. “And so if you just put a topical medicine on the skin, you’ll probably get some absorption and some effectiveness. If you put a topical product on the skin and then occlude it, meaning put a wrap around it, put some sort of barrier that would prevent evaporation, that would pin it close to the skin so more of it gets in.”
These Murad masks were made in collaboration with Zion Ko Lamm, MD, a board-certified internal medicine physician based in Charlotte, North Carolina, who chose to make these masks out of bio-cellulose because of how effective it is.
“It was imperative that the mask was made out of bio-cellulose, which was first used in the hospital setting for burn and chronic wound victims,” says Dr. Ko. “The science and manufacturing process of these nanofibers allows for ultra-high penetration, up to 14 times higher when compared to non-woven masks.” What’s more, the material doesn’t slip around on your face the way other eye patches tend to do, and biodegrades in about 45 days.
Having tried them for myself, I can confirm that these masks feel amazing. They’re nicely saturated, and make your skin feel hydrated without sliding all over. Because vitamin A is deactivated by UV rays, you’ll want to use these patches at night. And since the retinol works so well, you’ll want to limit your application to three times a week, max, to avoid irritation, and only use them on nights when you aren’t using other retinoids.
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