Obagi Review

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Overview

The Obagi skin care system is designed to combat and heal skin damage caused by sun and pollutants. Dr. Obagi's skin care philosophy is to customize a treatment for your whole skin surface. The system discourages focusing solely on problem areas and encourages putting the focus on the entire surface area of your skin. The claimed result of the Obagi medical products system is that your skin age will fall dramatically, leaving you looking healthier and younger. Most Obagi products are prescription only, which means that you will need to consult a licensed dermatologist. This can be inconvenient if you're looking to sample Obagi products. There are approximately 3,500 physicians in the United States that prescribe Obagi.

The Obagi skin care system was developed by Dr. Zeine Obagi in 1988, and has grown to become a recognized global presence in the skin care industry. As well as addressing photodamage from UV rays, Obagi products also focus on the treatment and prevention of age spots, acne scars and facial melasma. The Obagi system is formulated to provide a "Therapeutic cascade" effect that will help push new, healthy skin cells to the surface of your skin. The full Obagi Nu-Derm system is an interlocking series of products, each designed to provide a different function when it comes to producing healthy new skin cells. There are several different products available for each step of the Obagi Nu-Derm process, which can be confusing and make it difficult to focus in on the products intended specifically for your skin type.

Product Details

The 5 steps of the Obagi skin care system are: Prepare, Improve, Stimulate, Protect and Control. Each component of the skin care regimen has been formulated to incorporate active ingredients that affect the desired result for that step of the process. Generally, the Obagi system avoids using soap in any of these products. Several of the products in the Improve and Protect categories incorporate vitamin C. However, vitamin C's effectiveness has been called into question as it can be unstable as an active ingredient when used in topical creams.

Other active ingredients in Obagi products include the natural astringent alum, the restorative toner hydroquinine, the two exfoliants hydroxy acid and phytic acid and the skin stimulant Tretinoin. The protective products made by Obagi feature micronized zinc oxide, which has been shown to help screen against UV rays linked to deep wrinkles and skin cancer.

The Good:

  • Obagi's official website offers a physician finder to help you try to track down a doctor near you to prescribe Obagi products.
  • Since Obagi is prescription strength, your doctor will help you build a skin care regimen.

The Bad:

  • Prescription strength products can be difficult to obtain and/or sample. They are not sold through the official website and, as with any prescription product, purchasing online is strongly discouraged.
  • As an active ingredient, Vitamin C has proven unstable, making its success unpredictable.
  • Multi-step skin care systems can take a long time to apply every day.

  • Hydroquinine is a popular ingredient in skin lighteners, but it has been shown to dramatically increase sensitivity to sunlight, and also to cause irritation in sensitive skin.

    The Bottom Line

    Obagi is an intensive skin care regimen, formulated with powerful ingredients. Think about what you're hoping to ultimately achieve with your new skin care treatments. Given the prescription nature of Obagi, people who are not actively suffering from a serious clinical condition but who wish to achieve firmer skin and treatment of light lines may wish to explore simpler nonprescription options as well.

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